COB Speicher - REDHORSE Association

COB Speicher
Inside this
issue:
Tal Afar /
Ali AB
2
Hammer/
Bagram
3
BIAP /
Al Udeid
4
Al Asad
5
Stone
6
What’s Up
Doc?
7
Shirt’s Shots
8
Awards
8
CC Corner
9
July has been a month of
challenge and achievement at
COB Speicher. In the face of
uncertain material delivery
and outright shortages, finicky equipment and uncooperative weather, the teams
completed three separate projects. REDHORSE support to
the Army utility team provided trench excavation allowing the installation of high
way project produced an outstanding finished product.
The new concrete taxiway
and asphalt shoulders are immeasurably better in; quality,
safety and ease of use than the
plastic matting and rocks that
this project replaced. Our
Army customers have nothing
but praise for the quality of
REDHORSE work and the
speed in which the project
was accomplished. The next
voltage electrical lines to numerous troop living areas.
These buried cables provide
safer and more reliable power
distribution for essentials such
as air conditioning and lighting in comparison to the unprotected surface cables. The
concentrated efforts of all
Horsemen working on and
supporting the UH-60 Taxi-
greatest challenge is keeping
the Army aviators at bay until
the concrete can fully cure.
Approximately one week after
completing the UH-60 Taxiway, the crews sealed the last
joint on the OH-58D Parking
Apron. This 330’ by 400’
concrete slab provides dedicated parking for ten aircraft.
This robust parking lot provides a safe place to locate
helicopters away from heavily
travelled taxiways. Complet-
ing this project directly increases
the safety of air operations on COB
Speicher. This project was so
tempting, that before the project
was complete, one pilot took a test
drive on the apron with his helicopter between REDHORSE shift
changes. In summary, everyone at
COB Speicher can be rightfully
proud of their accomplishments
this month. Despite numerous
personnel movements and changes
in responsibility, brutally hot
weather and overly frequent dust
storms, as well as, extended day
and night work schedules, the work
got done and the end user is
thrilled beyond their expectations.
Equally as important, we maintained our attention to safety. Until next time, we are looking forward to another safe and successful
month.
- Maj Ashley White
Page
2
From Myth to Reality… TAL AFAR
Tal Afar - the myth - has told of a project on the horizon for which Horsemen
would be tasked, in a northern region of
Iraq, simply know as Tal Afar. This
month, after four months of anticipation
and frustration, Tal Afar - the reality has relocated 39 airmen who have remained on constant standby status, and
racked up more frequent flyer mileage
than ever imagined. Often referred to
as the “Tal Afar Crew”, but better characterized as “Red Horse Enablers”,
many of these airmen have seen action
in two locations in Iraq, as well as Af-
ghanistan. On top of the
flight hours incurred, they
have gained a personal understanding of the age-old Basic
Military Training tradition to
“pick-em up and put-em
down”... subsequently causing
them all to see noticeable
changes in definition to quadriceps, triceps, and biceps.
Despite it all, our repair operation is off to a great start!
The crews arrived highly motivated and have made great progress
in removing the old asphalt from the
runway, and we expect to begin paving this week.
The road to our final destination has
been a long one and it continues to
challenge us daily to overcome new
hurdles and set-backs. The current
challenge to produce American airfield quality asphalt from an antique
Iraqi-owned asphalt plant has required us to shift our mindsets from
Ali AB, Iraq
Changes abound at Ali AB…since last month we
have more than doubled the number of HORSEmen and the amount of work. We are well
underway on two facilities and an airfield project and just beginning five other projects.
The challenges have been many and the
weather has been hot, but still the HORSEmen
of Ali AB push through to ‘get the job
done.’MSgt Edward’s vertical crew overcame
material and equipment issues to put up two KSpans in near record time….MSgt Raynor’s horizontal crew has continued to push out high
quality concrete and dirt work at a rapid pace…
pouring concrete on the Taxiway, both K-Spans,
clearing debris from the west fingers, and
pushing dirt on the new helicopter refueling
point. TSgt Rodriquez and his supply folks
have received millions of dollars worth of materials….quickly inventorying and delivering
materials to the job sites, expediting construction. MSgt Kern’s services shop has billeted all
manpower as well as providing on site meals
when the projects could not be stopped. TSgt
Cicchetti and VM have managed to keep vehicles up and running, preventing work stoppages that at one point looked like a guarantee. Last but not least, the TOC led my MSgt
“employer – contractor” to
“teacher – student”, but we intend to make it happen. Though
we are not “smooth sailing” by
any means, we expect calm waters in the near future, and look
forward to the satisfaction which
comes with hard work, team
work, and dedication.
- 1Lt Gomes and Sra Bullock
Avants has kept the information flowing to ensure headquarters has the information
they need. In addition to the
projects, we have had a few
distinguished visitors…General
Fields and General North have
visited Ali. They recognized
our hard work by taking time
to come out to the construction sites and address RED
HORSE…recognizing several
personnel with a coin.The
work day is long, hard, and
hot at Ali AB, but there has
not been a challenge yet that
Team Ali has not overcome…
everyone has chipped in, in
all areas of work…we look
forward to the months ahead
and as always thank those on
the home front for their support
- Capt Damon Dalby
Page
HAMMER TIME!
Hello all, it’s MSgt Early from
beautiful FOB Hammer, also known as
Besmaya Range Complex. I decided put
my “spin” on the past months events.
We’re knocking it out here at Hammer!
We recently completed the
Convoy Reception Center
SWAhut, and it was ahead of
the Armies schedule. Our
crews constructed a 6,000
square foot new facility for
transitioning Army convoys.
It will give them a place to
rest and relax between missions. We are also constructing K-Spans at the rate of about one
a week. With the wind, 120 degree temps
and relentless dust, that’s a spectacular
feat! Everyone has been chipping in to
get the job done, EAs, utilities, electricians and Dirt Boys have been working
with structures to meet our deadlines.
Once complete the five K-Spans will provide an
enclosed
working
area for
the Army’s
mechanics.
They’ll be
able to
work on
their tanks and humvee’s in the air
conditioning, instead of the harsh desert of FOB Hammer. Our Structures
guys were again put to the test, this
time constructing 12 burn barrel latrines, and it was a @#%$ hot job.
Tasked to drop everything and build
the latrines short notice, they did it in
only 4 days, 2 days ahead of schedule.
The Dirt Boyz have been rocking here
at Hammer, literally. They’ve been
placing gravel all over
Hammer, 40,000 cubic
meters to be exact and
the whole place is getting stoned. Hauling,
dumping, spreading and
compacting the rock for
parking lots and Life
Support Areas. It really
helps to keep the dust
down around here. Chief Rudd’s extension paperwork got lost in the mail
so he was wearing the wrong rank for
about a week. As SMSgt Casey would
say “sorry about your luck, Chief,
you’re going to jail!” Several Airmen
left the piece and tranquility of FOB
Hammer for other projects around
Iraq. Hammer is sure going to miss
them and I’m sure they’re going to
miss us…well… let’s just say we’ll miss
them. Big thanks go out to the families and friends for all the prayers and
care packages. We’re doing great
here at the BFH (Blistering FOB Hammer) and we hope each of you are
making the most of this deployment as
Bagram Happenings
We are in the double-digits for days deployed here in Afghanistan. Charlie Ramp
Expansion and the Jalalabad concrete slab
were completed since the last news letter
(without destroying any more A/C) and it
looks like a new horizontal project is starting up. We continue to keep up with our
high elevation PT program in preparation
for the Summer ’08 Olympic Games. With
an average morning temperature of 68 de-
3
we are! Remember, you can lead a Horseman to
water, but you can’t make him drink…unless you
tell him its beer. Keep up the hard work, but
let’s be careful
out there, it’s
all fun and
games till
somebody takes
one in the
groin…Medina.
Stay safe and
God bless, from
your friends in
the dust bowl,
Hammer out.
There must be something in the water back home,
3 births for Hammer Daddies in July!
A1C Kevin & Nicky Martinez had a baby boy, Aiden
Daniel Martinez, born 7 July, 7 lbs 5.3 oz
SrA Jorge and Marcie Barnes had their first child,
James Jackson Barnes, born 20 July, 8 lbs
SSgt Justin and Amber Harper had a baby girl, Audrey
Bella Harper, born 17 July, 6 lbs 14 oz
grees we feel we have the
edge over our competition.
One of our team, SSgt Tracy
Dovell was a first place finisher in her category during
the July 4th 5k run—she was
coined by the 455 AEW/CC.
Ten others have completed
seven consecutive days of
perimeter road runs, receiving coins from the 101st AB
DIV. Work on the k-span
continues. The building is
ready to be insulated but we
don’t have any HVAC units!
The base is ok with this
though, because the
heat will help everyone
drop a few extra pounds. We actually had to make this center
slab a little thicker because everyone here is consuming so much
protein/supplements that it
wouldn’t support our weight. The
mountain of dirt is gone. Well,
almost gone. We dug up enough
to complete our project. Now our
only problem is the when the jet
- Chief Scott Rudd
aircraft start their engines up and blow
everything away…
- Capt Austin Lovejoy
Page
4
BIAP—I think I can...I think I can...
Life at BIAP
continues to be
a challenge
every day and
night for the
HORSEmen.
July has been a
very busy
month. We are
over half-way
through this deployment and we continue to stay focused on the jobs and
the new challenges that we face everyday. We’ve
been working
days and
nights in order to make
sure that the
projects are
getting done.
The electricians enjoyed
a week-long
adventure on
one of the
camps within
BIAP as they got to look at the electrical
systems in several different palaces.
They also discovered the #1 DFAC at
BIAP…it’s also in a palace…and they
serve fruit smoothies everyday. (The
little things that make a DFAC better
than others!)
Everyone has been working extremely
hard on a new K-Span project. This
isn’t any K-Span project…this is the
Mother Of All K-Spans (“MOAK”). We
ran into a few challenges with putting
the pieces of steel together, but we
finally used enough 4x4s, crowbars,
and clamps to get the building to fit
together. The team is a very creative
bunch of engineers. After several
long nights of fighting with the steel,
the K-Span finally stood straight and
we were able to push forward and put
27 picks of steel together to make 1
building. We finished hanging all the
steel for the K-Span and we are pushing forward with completing the rest
of the facility. The weather continues to get hotter. We were working
nights and the 90 degree nights felt
pretty cool; however we will be working in the 110 degree days from now
on, so we will be putting on more
sunscreen than before. The dust
storms have not hit BIAP as much during July as previous months, so we are
fortunate for that. We continue
to PT everyday and have fun when
we have the time, (or when the
crane breaks and we can’t do any
work that night).
1st Expeditionary RED HORSE Group, Al Udeid TF Margaritaville
I’m late, July is over by several days
and I’m just turning in my monthly
story….sorry! So, July ended just as
fast as it started. The drill remained
the same support the HORSEmen forward with material, equipment, and
vehicles. Vehicle Maintenance section
continued to clean up things after the
Dirtboy operators break their nice
toys. We all have at least one vehicle
to support our family life…how about
800+ vehicles and equipment. Think
of the headaches to ensure that each
one of those vehicles continues to serve their role. Our VM guys headed
by MSgt Encalada analyze information received from all the construction
sites to ensure we have what we really need. They make adjustments to
the fleet as mission changes and future mission dictate. The intent is to
keep RED HORSE firing on all cylinders, pun intended! Shown here are
two huge Russian aircraft called in to do a little lifting for us. On the
right is a large scrapper returning from Kandahar and on the left is compactor roller aboard a lowboy trailer also returning from Kandahar. That
roller is headed to Ali now to do some good things for Team Ali. To ensure our engineers stay on top of their construction A-Game, we’ve just
completed our mid-tour turn over. Having spent time at Al Udeid supporting the forward locations, we’ve pushed that team out for AOR construction experience and pulled in a new team…their first impressions, “…
man it’s hot/humid”. Amen and that’s the way we like it! New team
already off to a great start! One of our new team members, SSgt Jeremie
Wilson, a structures guy from Spangdahlem, Germany, asked me to re-
enlist him atop Al Udeid. Fortunately for me, the high reach only
climbed 30 or so feet. Picture of
the RED HORSE compound below
taken at the same time. Congratulations SSgt Wilson, thank you for
your continued dedication!!
Margaritaville 6, out!
- Capt Rachel Hamlyn
Page
5
Al Asad, Iraq
Good morning Al Asad! Boy what a beautiful day.
There is a smell of dust in the air…and in the hair, nose,
lungs, etc. The temperature is a pleasant 115 and
we’re hoping it will get to 130 before the month is out.
The troops have done an excellent job in wrapping up
the final touches on the Regimental Combat Team and
the Joint Distribution Center K-Spans. I believe that
some of them thought about taking up wind sailing on
JDC K-Span as high winds hampered our progress for a
few days. Our customers are very happy to have both
of the K-Spans, protecting both people and equipment
from the elements.
The electrical repair of the Combat Logistics Battalion
buildings is
coming to
completion.
This project is
meant to repair some of
the shoddy
electrical work
you’ve been
hearing in the
news lately.
TSgt Manning’s
team of 5
night-owl electricians has
repaired 41
poorly wired
electrical panels, preventing future electrocutions and
fires in 35 different buildings.
The HVAC Team has pushed hard to complete the final
installation of exhaust fans in RCT, HIMARS, and G6.
These fans will keep air moving inside these large
KSpans, to keep them from becoming ovens, baking the
Marines who work inside.
We’ve had a great month as far as promotions and
awards go. TSgt Laws has been promoted to MSgt. We
also received good news for two of our NCO’s, TSgt
Douglas earned a line number
for MSgt, and SSgt Jackson earned a line number for TSgt.
Congratulations also go to SrA Ziemba for earning the 557
Red Horse Airman of the month and the AirFields Team,
who earned the 557 Red Horse Team Award for the Group.
Congratulations to all of these Airmen for their outstanding
achievement.
In our time off this month, we managed to contribute quite
a few folks to the Air Force softball team for the Armed
Forces Softball Tournament. More impressively, the RED
HORSE intramural basketball team was in the top four on
base.
We’re over the halfway mark now and we’re pushing extra
hard to
complete
the projects we
have remaining as
well as
ensuring
that we
leave an
excellent
turn over
for the
next Red
Horse
Team.
Life Continues at PB Stone
By (T)Sgt Raffield
The Horsemen at PB Stone would like to send a
big thank you to the wives and families back
home that are running around every day taking care of the home front. Everything from making sure the kids get to school and back home safely to their jobs,
laundry, dinner, baths, good night stories, home work, bills and anything else that we cannot take care of ourselves due to geographical challenges. We appreciate everything that you are doing and we love you more than we could ever express in an email or
a phone call. We want you to know that the efforts you are putting forth back home allow us to make a huge positive impact on
the lives of the people of Hawr Rajab.
Since the last news letter, we have completed all of the construction on PB Stone; which unfortunately lead to us losing some of
our RED HORSE brethren. They had to move on to help other locations that are still in the build up phase (we miss you guys!).
Upon the completion of PB Stone, we shifted our full attention to the mission we came here to accomplish - educating the people of Hawr Rajab and
the buildup of their war ravaged town. On July 3rd we celebrated the
graduation of our second group of students. Now that there is enough students that have graduated their perspective craft courses (Plumbing, Structures, Electrical and now even an HVAC) we have begun the reconstruction
of their town. Every day the Horsemen at PB Stone get up and put on their
gear, half go to the School to teach the third group of students, the other
half convoy downtown to supervise the students that have graduated as
they perform the reconstruction of a 2700 square foot city council building
and a 26,000 square foot
boy’s school. It is really
incredible to see these
people empowered to help
themselves. They are becoming a proud and confident group. These projects
are the first of many that we have scheduled for this promising town, so our jobs
have only just begun. Albeit the students and the town are our main focus, we
still find time to relax and better ourselves. Of course, we always have our comic
relief moments. This month we had a good hardy laugh at SSgt Spainhoward, who
contracted Pink Eye (from burning poo).
July is the month that we celebrate our independence back in the states and it
was not any different for us here. We celebrated with a cook out of rib eye steaks and baby back ribs. We even had the opportunity to see some fireworks, thanks to the chopper pilots flying over the camp releasing flares. July also lead to an improvement in
our PT program. For the first three months we were discouraged from running because of the terrain being dangerous, but thanks
to the Dirt Boyz spreading pee gravel all over camp we now have begun to run three
days a week. I am sure we will be grateful for that when we return home and have to
take our PT test. Speaking of home, we are over the deployment hump. The end is in
sight and we are counting down the days until we are home. To our families back home,
know that we are constantly thinking of
you, we miss you. Thank you for everything.
Page
7
“What’s
up, Doc?”
With the recent scare back home over possible contaminated tomatoes and then confirmed contaminated
jalapeños, I figured a good topic for this month’s newsletter would be on infectious diarrhea. In particular
at Balad, we have had our own mini outbreak from contaminated tomatoes and cucumbers in the dining
hall. Unfortunately, the AOR is not the most pleasant place to experience these symptoms. Fortunately, I
was not a victim, but there were several members of the Horse who were affected. To quote one of our
favorite supply guys, he had to order few new “separators.”
So what can you do once you have been hit by the bug? Well obviously preventing it would be the first step,
which is why we all wash our hands each time we step foot into the chow hall. Then the next step if that
didn’t work is oral re-hydration. Gatorade is going to be the best for this purpose. You will be losing electrolytes so you need to replace them. Try to avoid high sugar drinks as that can lead to more loose stools.
If you’re only having 1-2 loose stools per day, staying hydrated should be all that you have to do until your
symptoms pass. If you are having > 3 stools per day with minimal symptoms (i.e. stomach cramping), then
you can try Imodium. Most bases will have this over the counter at the local pharmacy. Take 2 tablets of
the 2 mg tab as a loading dose, then one tablet after each loose stool. DO NOT take more than 8 tabs/day
though. If your minor symptoms persist longer than 1 week, you may want to seek care at your local clinic.
If your having > 3 stools per day and distressing symptoms (ie. Stomach cramping), then you may want to go
to the clinic. They may consider giving you an antibiotic. If you are having severe symptoms, which is >3
stools/day, fever, or blood in the stool, you should go to the clinic to be evaluated for antibiotics and Imodium.
If you are having associated nausea and vomiting with your diarrhea, you most likely have a virus and antibiotics will not be useful. Simply stay hydrated and follow a BRAT (bread, rice, apples, toast—i.e. bland)
diet.
Hope you are all doing well physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Take care, Dr. Foltz
Shirt’s Shots by SMSgt Catherine Yelkin,
First Sergeant
Greetings friends and families of deployed RED HORSE men and women!
Can you believe the summer is almost over and children back home will
be returning to school in the next few weeks? It’s hard to believe how
quickly the summer has come and gone. The summer coming to an end
also indicates that in a little over two months, our deployment will be over
and will be heading home. I know your husbands, wives, brothers, sisters,
colleagues, and friends are anxious to return home and be with you.
However, there is still much work to be done here. Our personnel remain busy and focused with a
variety of projects (e.g., K-Spans, taxi-ways, ramps) throughout our various sites. We have another
FOB spinning up and personnel will start to transition there in the next couple of weeks. It’s amazing
to see how much work has been accomplished since our arrival at the end of March—and it will be
mind-boggling to look back in a couple of months at all the HORSE has done.
Wishing you all the very best!
RED HORSE AOR WINNERS
AMN: SrA Rex Rencher; Hammer
NCO: SSgt Takiyah Marshall; BIAP
557 ERHS Monthly Award Winners:
SNCO: MSgt Jason Baker; Hammer
AMN: SrA Rex Rencher; Hammer
CGO: Capt Steven Wymore; Balad
NCO: SSgt Takiyah Marshall; BIAP
Team: Logistics Team; Al Udeid
SNCO: MSgt Jason Baker; Hammer
1 ERHG Monthly Award Winners:
AMN: SrA Antonio Santos
NCO: TSgt Michael Lamkin; Al Udeid
SNCO: MSgt Rodney Chatman; Al Udeid
WORK HORSE AWARD
CGO: Capt Steven Wymore; Balad
AMN: SrA Steven Ziemba; Al Asad
Team: Airfields Flight; Al Asad
NCO: SSgt Matthew Kmiec; Speicher
CGO: Capt Ademola Elliotte; Al Udeid
Team: Logistics Team; Al Udeid
PROMOTIONS
MSGT PAUL WILLIAMS SPEICHER
SRA
KIT LUI BIAP
SSGT SCOTT WHITNEY ALI
SSGT JESSE BULLOCK SPEICHER
SSGT NICHOLAS URBAN BAGRAM
MSGT DAVID WHITT BAGRAM
SRA
LONNIE GINN ALI
Rapid
Engineer
Deployable
Heavy
RED HORSE provides the world’s premier Air Force the professional combat engineering forces, delivering
rapid, decisive, self-sufficient, heavy
engineering operations and special
capabilities
Operational
...anytime, anywhere.
Repair
557th Expeditionary RED HORSE Squadron
USAF
BALAD AB
APOAE 09315
Squadron
Engineer
1st Expeditionary RED HORSE Group
Al Udeid AB
APOAE 09309
Lead, Follow or Get the Hell Outta the Way!
www.823rhs.com
Commander’s Corner
Hello RED HORSE Family!!
Sorry for the delay in this month’s newsletter, but July flew by at lightning
pace! Your HORSEmen continue to amaze and chew through any and all
priorities thrown at us from our Army, Marines and Air Force customers.
The huge logistical push we made in June has paid off in the amount of
work we’ve accomplished in July. Army and Air Force projects at Ali are at
full speed; the Tal Afar and Kirkuk runway repair teams are in place and
racing to finish before the other. Meanwhile, HORSEmen at all our other
locations have not missed a beat, either. With all this hard work going on,
we missed the fact that we have reached another time milestone and have
turned the corner into the last third of our deployment. Be assured,
though, that this last third will prove to be every bit as busy as the other
two. That’s okay, because we’ll have plenty of time to rest on the plane ride home!
Until next time…take care and be safe!
To The HORSE!!
Col Hammock
Col Hammock