In December, I sat down with my good friends at the 820th RED HORSE water well-drilling unit to talk about their recent mission to drill for water in Iraq. The discussion involved Technical Sergeant Ryan J. Cassell, Technical Sergeant Randy L. Blount, Staff Sergeant Kevin P. Lubrano and, new to the team, Staff Sergeant Josh Steinwart. The RED HORSE, or Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineer, is made up of 550 men and women and is responsible for rapid response to civil engineering and logistics needs around the world. The men and women of RED HORSE are capable of responding to mission-critical infrastructure needs for the United States military. The 820th’s recent mission was in conjunction with the 557th RED HORSE during Operation Enduring Freedom Iraq. See my May 2014 National Driller article on training with the 820th RED HORSE to learn more about them and their training process.
TSgt. Cassell: We were told in November that there was a need to drill in support of upcoming missions in Iraq.