The Air Force has some 550 airmen—active duty, Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve Command from various units—deployed to Southwest Asia. At Balad AB, Iraq, alone they are working projects that USAF officials say total more than $6 million. The 557th Expeditionary RED HORSE Squadron has about 400 of the airmen, who work throughout Iraq, reports SSgt. Tammie Moore in the Nellis Bullseye. The remainder work under the 1st Expeditionary RED HORSE Group and travel throughout Iraq and Afghanistan, wherever needed. These specialists in rapid, heavy construction, perform work not normally done by a base-level civil engineer.
The U.S. sent Air Force F-16s over central Syria in a show of force following the Dec. 13 killing of two U.S. Army Soldiers and one American civilian interpreter by a gunman linked to the Islamic State group.
