A US Air Force unit known as “Red Horse” that helped build airfields in the Middle East has been folded. The United States is looking to alter its military involvement in the Middle East, according to a Pentagon official.
The Air Force engineering unit whose airmen wore red baseball caps while building up many of America’s bases in the Middle East put a capstone recently on two heavy-duty decades.
The 557th Expeditionary Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineer had a closing ceremony over the weekend in Qatar at the Al Udeid Air Base to mark the end of its service.
The Red Horse units are specialized, expeditionary capability, military officials.
The 30 to 40 airmen had their headquarters at the Qatari installation and were well-known for doing the “quick and expeditionary” work needed at far-flung bases, unit commander Col. Christopher Stanmire said.
Washington has slowly reduced the number of troops it has on the ground in the Middle East, especially following the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
The Biden administration released its new national security strategy last week, in which it detailed how U.S. foreign policy has “too often defaulted to military-centric policies underpinned by an unrealistic faith in force and regime change to deliver sustainable outcomes.”
Experts say the United States has been adjusting its political and military postures to adapt to leading threats to U.S. national security emanating from China and Russia.
“We have changing priorities,” Col. Anthony Figiera, the Commander of the 99th Mission Support Group, said.
Even though the Red Horse units are closing down, the U.S. continues and will continue to be involved in the Middle East.
The new framework for foreign policy outlined in the national security strategy said the U.S. would “make sure” its allies in the Middle East were able to defend themselves against foreign threats. The new strategy also states that the U.S. will not allow foreign or regional powers to jeopardize the free flow of navigation through the Middle East’s waterways.
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