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823rd RED HORSE support OTS mission

  • Published
  • By By Airman 1st Class Alexa Culbert
  • 42d Air Base Wing Public Affairs
MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala --  The 823rd Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineer (RED HORSE) from Hurlburt Field, Florida, supports Officer Training School in the construction of new facilities at Vigilant Warrior, a 200 acre expeditionary training site near Titus, Alabama.

The RED HORSE squadrons are the Air Force's heavy construction units that travel from base to base in the United States as well as overseas locations.

The 823rd RED HORSE squadron is currently constructing a new latrine facility, K-Span building, arched steel panel buildings, and lodging facilities to house and support cadets passing through for training.

"What we're doing is upgrading the facility here for a higher capacity of trainees to come through," said Airman 1st Class Shane Landon, 823rd RED HORSE constructor.

SrA Eric King, 823rd RED HORSE constructor, adds that their work will hopefully improve the quality of life for the trainees who are pushed through the training course.

The new additions will accommodate almost 32,000 more cadets each year raising the number from 23,000 per year to 55,000.

With the new facilities, Vigilant Warrior will now serve as the training site for Air Force Reserve Officer Corps along with OTS.

"With an investment of nearly $6 million dollars, Vigilant Warrior will now be able to fully support field training for both OTS and the Air Force ROTC. That's 85% of the future AF officer corps. On top of that, these new facilities provide a stable location for Air Force ROTC's field training program for years to come since they enable us to relocate the AEF part of field training to an Air Force site," said Brig. Gen. Paul Guemmer, Jeanne M. Holm Center commander. "We wouldn't have been able to successfully tackle such an enormous project without the outstanding support of RED HORSE, our partners at Maxwell AFB, and our local community leaders."

This project stuck out to the 823rd as a chance to have a bigger part in supporting the OTS and Air Force missions.

"The reason we picked this assignment was for the training, the close proximity to home [Hurlburt Field] and the impact we were going to have on OTS and for the Air Force as a whole," said Capt. David Leonard, 823rd RED HORSE project manager."So being able to come out here and get this type of project done is just a great experience for us."

As well as supporting a bigger Air Force mission, the 823rd RED HORSE, is using this opportunity to hone in on the skills they will need while deployed.

Since the Vigilant Warrior is an expeditionary training site, the facilities are the same as the ones in deployed location and allow the 823rd RED HORSE Airmen to receive training they will need once deployed.

The 823rd RED HORSE has been on site since August 2015 and is scheduled to finish all projects by April 2016.