The 554th Red Horse Squadron has received its last shipment from Osan Air Base at its new home on Andersen Air Force Base on Guam.
The final unpacking last week marks the end of a two-year transition from South Korea for the Air Force construction and engineering unit.
But the squadron’s move is much more involved than a new address for its 160 members, according to Col. Kevin Kersh, the commander of the 36th Contingency Response Group at Andersen.
The Red Horse squadron’s new home with the 36th is part of the Air Force’s plan to bolster the military’s ability to establish airfields throughout the Pacific region during natural disasters and crises, according to Kersh.
At the same time, the addition of the squadron shows the Air Force’s move toward creating response groups that are “self-contained” units.
The 36th Contingency Response Group will be able to deploy, secure or build an airstrip, set up communications for as many as 1,000 people, and provide food and fuel without help from outside groups, he said.
In the past, response groups gathered units from different bases during an emergency, Kersh said. “You start working with units you never worked with before,” he said during a phone interview last week. “You need to work out those kinks early on.”
The Red Horse squadron officially stood up in January, according to commander Lt. Col. Robert Eric Yates. Also last month, the 644th Combat Communications Squadron was reactivated. It eventually will grow to 145 members, Kersh said.
The Commander Warrior School, which trains airmen on securing airfield areas, also moved from Osan and will hold its first class this summer. And eventually, the 554th’s detachment at Kadena Air Base will move to Andersen by 2014, Kersh said.
The moves are also part of the Pentagon’s overall restructuring in South Korea, where troops will be consolidated them into a handful of bases in the central part of the country. The plans for the response group were already written before the Pentagon proposed moving 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam, Kersh said.
For the next two years, the Red Horse squadron will focus on building the group’s headquarters at Andersen’s Northwest Field, which hasn’t been used for years, Yates said.
Eventually, the squadron will deploy to Iraq, Afghanistan and bases throughout the Pacific to work on construction projects, he said.
One day, for example, the unit likely will return to Osan for temporary stays for specific projects. Until then, the Air Force at Osan will use its base civil engineers for building and repairs, he said.
Yates said the move to Guam, a U.S. territory, offers the airmen more than just the comforts of home. In South Korea, the servicemembers were on one-year, unaccompanied tours. The constant turnover of staff was a challenge, he said.
“Here,” he said “it gives us the chance to have accompanied tours,” which last three years. Single airmen have a two-year assignment, double the time they would have in Korea. “Now, we get at least two years of support,” he said.
