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Red Horse Squadron almost done with Iraq base

BESMAYA, Iraq — Members of the 557th Expeditionary Red Horse Squadron are nearing completion of a mammoth project to build a new forward operating base for around 3,700 soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division.

The squadron’s 200 or so airmen, filling “in lieu of” taskings in which they are commanded by an Army civil engineering brigade, have erected more than 220 tents and built a water purification facility, fuel farm, helipad and other support facilities.

They also built a 14-kilometer-long, 8-foot-high earthen berm to protect the base and are working on several hard structures, including five battalion headquarters, a brigade operations center and a combat hospital.

Construction began March 6, and the tents that house the soldiers were complete within 20 days. The soldiers began arriving from Kuwait at the end of March.

“When they told us what the original schedule was, I said, ‘no way,’ ” said Senior Master Sgt. Andrew Baker, a Guardsman who is the squadron’s senior enlisted airman on site.

When the Red Horse advance team arrived Feb. 17, the base was deserted save for a few Marines advising an Iraqi Army unit nearby. Nearly all the previous buildings had been reduced to rubble, and the airmen had to provide their own security with nothing more than M16s. The area also was littered with unexploded ordnance.

“You talk about outside the wire,” Baker said. “When we first got here there was no wire. ... This is one example of where you couldn’t have contractors do it all. You need military.”

The team at Besmaya, slated to go home in early May, is about two-thirds Air National Guard and one-third active duty.

The entire 557th ERHS is spread throughout Iraq, with about 550 airmen at 11 different sites. The Besmaya project is its largest.