An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

REDHORSE creating legacies, one project at a time

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Orville Desjarlais Jr.
  • 455 AEW public affairs
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan --  Senior Airman Casey Anderson removes his sunglasses to wipe sweat from his eyes.

The areas behind the sunglasses, pale compared to the rest of his tan, are the only clean parts on his face. As operator of the cement-truck chute, he’s covered in cement -- from the top of his red hat to his steel-toed, desert boots -- and proud of it. He wears globs of cement like military medals.

“Everybody else is afraid to get dirty,” he says about the job nobody wants and usually the lowest-ranking Airmen get.

Airman Anderson is part of the 1st Expeditionary Red Horse Group from Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont.. He’s pouring cement to make a fighter aircraft ramp across the runway from the main base. That way, fighter aircraft can scramble to the fight without worrying about other aircraft in the way.

As the wind picks up, his sweat absorbs a fine layer of dust. It looks like he’s sweating mud.

“This wind, it dries out the cement too quickly,” Airmen Anderson says. “And during dust storms we can’t see anything and stuff gets in your eyes. The more concrete we put down, the less the dust.” 

Standing nearby, 1st Lt. Robert Loniewsky looks at the grade of a drainage area with keen interest. As the project engineer, he’s responsible for everything that has to do with building the ramp, including its slope. The ramp is poured at a grade to allow water to roll off into a drain.

The pioneers of Bagram Airfield who arrived shortly after 9-11 didn’t have time to think about drainage. They were focused on pitching tents and getting air power in the fight.

“They were like squatters, which is normal,” Lieutenant Loniewsky says. “Today, drainage is the biggest issue.”

From drainage to the materials used in cement, no detail is too small for the project engineer.

“Being here is the pinnacle if you’re a design engineer,” the lieutenant says. “We have to design everything. And if something goes wrong, it’s my fault.”

In the shade of a modified temper tent about a rock’s throw away from the construction site, Staff Sgt. Doug Ergish listens to a radio while he works.

Sergeant Ergish joined the Air Force in 1997 and worked in a transportation squadron for five years. In 2002, he joined Red Horse.

“In transportation, it’s kind of hard to see the impact on the mission,” he says as a wipes off a tool he used on a dump truck with wheels about chest-high tall.

In transportation, vehicles came in. He fixed them. Vehicles left.

As cement trucks rumble past his tent garage, filling it with dust, he says, “Here, I just have to look outside to see what I contribute.”

The vehicle mechanics maintain 80 trucks, tractors, heavy machines and dirt-movers.

“Keeping up with these guys,” he said, meaning the operators, “is pretty hard.”

Despite the age of the vehicles, which are old, and the conditions here, which are dusty and dirty, the Red Horse vehicle mechanics are keeping their machines running. Their 93 percent, in-commission vehicle rate is the highest in the group, partly because what they don’t know, they learn.

Pointing at three wheel hubs scattered about his feet, Sergeant Ergish says, “We didn’t know how to dissemble or reassemble these hubs, so, like cavemen, we had to figure it out.”

And it’s not just their knowledge that astounds the sergeant, but the vehicle mechanics’ tenacity.

“Our guys work in snow, mud and rain and always come in with a good attitude and put in a full day’s work,” he says.

Like the mail carriers who work in snow, sleet and rain, so do the Red Horse structure craftsmen building a post office on the main base.

“We had to haul out a bunch of muck, about 200 tons of dirt, mud and snow before we could lay down the pad,” says post office project manager Tech. Sgt. John Ross as he stands in the new building while finishing touches are being done.

Despite the snow, rain and wind, the Red Horse team built the post office.

Twice the size of the original post office, the 14,000 square foot building is 97 percent complete. They expect the next team of Red Horse experts to finish July 1. Mail will start flowing through the facility in September.

“To be a part of something like this, to know mail will be going through here for quite some time, is something I’ll always remember because maybe 50 years from now, when my grandkids are in the military and see this building, they can say their grandfather helped build that,” Sergeant Ross said.

The Malmstrom Red Horse team re-deploys for home in two weeks, leaving behind more than just memories during the six months they were here. They leave behind legacies, such a new post office, a ramp for fighter aircraft, a passenger terminal and a customs building.