Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers

[2] RED HORSE units activated in 1966 when Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara asked the Air Force to develop its own combat construction team.

Units are self-sufficient, 404-person mobile squadrons, capable of rapid response and independent operations in remote, high-threat environments worldwide.

It participates regularly in Joint Chiefs of Staff and major command exercises, military operations other than war, and civic action programs.

With this capability, RED HORSE can rapidly deliver small specialized teams and equipment packages by airdrop or air insertion to conduct expedient airfield repairs.

Initially, the only RED HORSE unit to have air-inserted troops was the 823rd RED HORSE, in April 2003 at Baghdad International Airport, however, the 554th established an Airborne capability known as the 554th RHS Assault, Assessment, and Repair Operations (AARO, pronounced "arrow") team to provide an Airborne-inserted rapid airfield seizure and repair capability for the Pacific theater.

An airman with the 820th RED HORSE Squadron ensures a block is level at a high school construction site in Belize , 2014
A RED HORSE airman (left) and a Seabee construct building frames at a primary school as part of a joint military construction team supporting Pacific Partnership 2015
Air Force paratroopers with the 820th Red Horse Squadron, Airborne Flight conduct airborne insertion training at Nellis Air Force Base , Nevada , 2012
Heavy equipment operators from the 820th RED HORSE Squadron operate vibratory rollers to compact material under the runway at Seguin Auxiliary Airfield, Joint Base San Antonio , Texas , 2014