CENTCOM Materiel Recovery Element (CMRE) is a military organization tasked with conducting materiel reduction and engineer deconstruction operations in Afghanistan for the purpose of saving valuable military equipment and returning operating bases to local land owners, the Afghan Local Police (ALP), or the Afghan National Army (ANA).

The 593d SB, led by Colonel Douglas McBride and Command Sergeant Major Eric Taylor, comprising 3,371 active duty, Reserve and National Guard soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, Department of Defense civilians, and contractors, conducted over 110 geographically dispersed general engineering construction missions in remote and urban environments covering an area larger than Texas (250,000 square miles).

The 593d SB was replaced by the 43d SBDE commanded by COL Todd Huessner and CSM Anthony Traylor which operated three CMRE retrograde sort yards (RSY) at different airfields (Kandahar, Bagram, and Camp John Pratt) and facilitated 220 base closures and transfers.

The 43d SBDE retrograded excess materiel on the battlefield out of nearly 125 FOBs in Regional Commands North, East, South, Capital, Southwest and West.

The command team engaged stakeholders across the entire country in order to facilitate deconstruction of bases and advance the CMRE mission.

The team also invested numerous hours toward formal Officer Professional Development, advanced safety standards, and logistics and recovery efforts.

The 489th Engineer Battalion (Task Force Ironman) was led by Lieutenant Colonel Leslie Templin, and Command Sergeant Major David Douthat.