Virginia National Guard > News - Category 203rd Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron (RED HORSE)

Va. Guard Soldiers, Airmen awarded for rifle marksmanship excellence
May 22, 2017 — Virginia National Guard Soldiers and Airmen received awards for their outstanding performance during the Adjutant General’s 2017 Rifle Match May 21, 2017, at Fort Pickett, Virginia. Sixty-five participants competed in a variety of individual and team events May 19-20, hosted by the Fort Pickett-based 3rd Battalion, 183rd Regional Training Institute. The state-level competition included events such as reflexive fire, an urban assault course, and a course for the Army’s Excellence in Competition badge. All Virginia National Guardsmen are welcome to attend, regardless of rank or prior weapon qualification scores, because it is most importantly a training and sustainment event...

Virginia Beach-based Va. Guard Airmen return from federal duty in Southwest Asia
October 26, 2016 — More than 120 Virginia Air National Guard engineers reunited with friends and family Oct. 26, 2016, at Camp Pendleton in Virginia Beach after serving on federal active duty in Southwest Asia since March. Leaders from state government and the Virginia National Guard were also on hand to thank the Airmen for the service and welcome them home. Airmen assigned to the Virginia Beach-based 203rd Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers, or RED HORSE, completed 35 projects at 11 different locations in seven countries in support of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel and Operation Inherent Resolve...

Multi-state Air Guard team brings new training site to Camp Pendleton
August 30, 2016 — A multi-state effort to build a new airfield damage repair training site on Camp Pendleton culminated with a ribbon cutting ceremony Aug. 30, 2016, at Virginia National Guard’s training installation in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The site was constructed by Airmen of the Ohio National Guard’s 200th RED HORSE Squadron along with the Virginia Air National Guard’s 203rd RED HORSE Squadron and the Montana Air National Guard’s 219th RED HORSE Squadron, and it will provide a location for Air Force civil engineers to train on tasks associated with airfield operations and damage repair...

Airmen, Soldiers honored on 15th anniversary of 203rd RED HORSE crash
March 10, 2016 — CAMP PENDLETON, Va. — Airmen of the Virginia Air National Guard’s 203rd RED HORSE Squadron, 192nd Fighter Wing welcomed family members, friends and fellow servicemembers to Camp Pendleton, Virginia, March 3, 2016, for a ceremony commemorating the 15th anniversary of the worst peacetime aviation disaster in National Guard history. Eighteen members of the 203rd were killed alongside three aviators from the Florida Army National Guard’s Detachment 1, 171st Aviation Battalion when the C-23 Sherpa they were flying in crashed in a cotton field near Unadilla, Georgia, March 3, 2001...

Airmen, veterans, families celebrate 30th anniversary of 203rd RED HORSE
August 28, 2015 — Current and former members of the Virginia Air National Guard’s Camp Pendleton-based 203rd RED HORSE Squadron celebrated the unit’s 30th anniversary Aug. 8, 2015, at Camp Pendleton, Va. The ceremony kicked off the 203rd’s Family Day activities, which featured food, games, and a cardboard boat race on Lake Christine...

203rd RED HORSE Squadron conducts training mission in Guam
June 10, 2015 — Airmen from the Virginia Air National Guard, Virginia Beach-based 203rd RED HORSE Squadron are serving rotations on a joint tasking to Anderson Air Force Base, Guam, from March 24-June 24, 2015, providing construction support, along with their sister unit, the 202nd RED HORSE Squadron based out of Camp Blanding, Florida...

Va. Guard remembers Airmen, Soldiers on 14th anniversary of 203rd RHS crash
March 3, 2015 — CAMP PENDLETON, Va. — The Virginia Air National Guard’s 203rd RED HORSE Squadron conducted a ceremony March 3, 2015, at Camp Pendleton in Virginia Beach to remember the 21 Airmen and Soldiers killed in the worst peacetime aviation disaster in the history of the National Guard. The 203rd lost 18 Airmen March 3, 2001, when the C-23 Sherpa they were flying in crashed in a cotton field near Unadilla, Ga. In addition to the Air Guard engineers, three aviators from the Florida Army National Guard’s Detachment 1, 171st Aviation Battalion, were killed in the crash...

203rd RHS refine skills at FTX while training for wartime missio
November 23, 2014 — Airmen from the Virginia Air National Guard’s Virginia Beach-based 203rd RED HORSE Squadron refined essential skills and expeditionary training during a field training exercise Nov. 7-9, 2014, at Camp Pendleton in Virginia Beach. Approximately 120 Airmen from the 203rd RHS participated in the multi-day FTX, which emphasized simulated wartime tasks including bare-base establishment and operations, rapid runway repair, and security controls...

203rd RED HORSE engineer projects aide VMI, Fort A. P. Hill
August 7, 2014 — Airmen from the Virginia Air National Guard’s Camp Pendleton-based 203rd RED HORSE Squadron conducted engineer projects to construct a pavilion at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va. and reconstruct a runway at Fort A. P. Hill, Va., July 7 to Aug. 1, 2014. The projects provided opportunities for the Air Guard engineers to conduct real-world training that benefited both communities...

Memorial service honors 203rd RED HORSE Airmen killed in 2001
March 7, 2014 — The Virginia Air National Guard’s Virginia Beach-based 203rd RED HORSE Squadron conducted a memorial ceremony March 3, 2014, at Camp Pendleton to honor 18 unit members and three Florida Army National Guard aviators killed in a plane crash 13 years ago. The 203rd engineers and the Florida aviators from Detachment 1, 171st Aviation Battalion, were killed March 3, 2001, when the C-23 Sherpa they were flying in crashed in a cotton field near Unadilla, Ga...

Ceremony marks change of command for 203rd RED HORSE Squadron
November 19, 2013 — After more than four years of serving as the commander of the 203rd RED HORSE Squadron, Lt. Col. Peter S. Garner relinquished command to Lt. Col. J. Stock Dinsmore during a change of command ceremony Nov. 16, 2013, in Virginia Beach, Va. “Lt. Col. Garner has led from the front in a professional manner through several deployments,” said Brig. Gen. Wayne A. Wright, Deputy Adjutant General of Virginia and senior officer for the ceremony. “He has given his all to make this a great unit.”...

203rd RHS completes Phase I of IRT project at Virginia Military Institute
July 10, 2013 — The Virginia Beach-based 203rd RED HORSE Squadron completed the first phase of an Innovative Readiness Training project while conducting their annual training from June 3-28, 2013, at Virginia Military Institute’s McKethan Park in Lexington, Va., laying concrete pads and re-locating a road to provide a safer entrance to the park...

203rd RED HORSE performing humanitarian construction in Panama
June 6, 2013 — Members of the Virginia National Guard’s Virginia Beach-based 203rd RED HORSE Squadron are currently deployed to Panama for a 12-week humanitarian construction effort as part of Beyond the Horizon 2013 led by Joint Task Force Jaguar, Army Southern Command. Work on the project began in early April...

203rd RED HORSE memorial service honors 12th anniversary of fatal airplane crash
March 7, 2013 — The Virginia Beach-based 203rd RED HORSE Squadron held a brief ceremony to lay an honor wreath March 3, 2013, at Camp Pendleton in Virginia Beach to honor the 18 unit members and three Florida Army National Guard aviators who were killed in a military transport crash 12 years ago...

203rd RED HORSE Airmen recognized at Hometown Heroes Salute
August 20, 2012 — Senior leaders of the Virginia National Guard recognized more than 120 Airmen from the Virginia Beach-based 203rd RED HORSE Squadron during a Hometown Heroes Salute ceremony Aug. 18 at Camp Pendleton in Virginia Beach. The ceremony honored the unit’s service as they completed approximately 70 projects in seven countries, at 18 different sites, during their deployment from March to October 2011 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom...

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