800th RED HORSE GROUP
MISSION
The 800th Rapid Engineer Deployable, Heavy Operational Repair Squadron, Engineer (RED HORSE) Group provides the Air Force with a highly mobile civil engineering response force to support contingency and special operations worldwide with its 1,100 plus personnel with over 30 plus Air Force Specialty Codes.
The primary RED HORSE tasking in peacetime is to train for contingency and wartime operations. It participates regularly in Joint Chiefs of Staff and major command exercises, military operations other than war, and humanitarian civic action programs. RED HORSE performs training projects that assist base construction efforts while, at the same time, honing wartime skills.
HISTORY
The 800th RED HORSE Group was established on 11 May 2020 and activated on 1 June 2020. Its headquarters was established at Nellis AFB, NV. The consolidation of the three continuous US active duty RED HORSE squadrons under a single group is in-line with the Air Force Chief of Staff’s priority to cost effectively modernize the lethality of the force. The 800th Group’s squadrons came from different locations, the group brings all CONUS active-duty RED HORSE squadrons under a single group and under 15th Air Force. The 800th Group’s squadrons are these active-duty RED HORSE Squadrons (RHSs): the 819th RHS located at Malmstrom AFB, MT; the 820th RHS located at Nellis AFB, NV; the 823rd RHS located at Hurlburt Field, FL; and inludes the 801st RED HORSE Training Squadrons at the Silver Flag training sites. One located at Tyndall AFB, FL and the other located at Nellis AFB, NV. Together they train 4,000 Airmen annually on contingency wartime skills.
The 800th Engineering Group wasn’t the first Engineering Group that has been established in the Air Force, but it’s the first not in response to a conflict. The original 1st Civil Engineering Group (Heavy Repair) was activated on May 8, 1967, and headquartered at Tan Son Nhut, South Vietnam. The unit distinguished itself over the next three years by earning seven campaign streamers including one for the 1969 TET counter-offensive. On March 16, 1970, the 1st CEG (Heavy Repair) was reassigned without personnel or equipment to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH. The unit was deactivated the following year on November 1, 1971.
In Oct 2001 the next Civil Engineering Group, the 1st Expeditionary RED HORSE Group (ERHG) was stood up in Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan and was created to manage construction requirements for RED HORSE units in theater. The unit designator was changed to Civil Engineering Group in 2012. The 1st Expeditionary Civil Engineer Group (ECEG) was inactivated on October 15, 2022.
The current ECEG was activated at a ceremony on August 11, 2023 at Andersen AFB Guam. The 356th ECEG supports all PACAF engineer requirements across the US Indo-Pacific Command. They execute theater campaign operations, activities and investments through the theater security cooperation program by working with allies and partners, as a Direct Reporting Unit to PACAF.
UNIT PATCH
LINEAGE
11 May 2020 – 800th RED HORSE Group, established
1 June 2020 – Activated
STATIONS
1 June 2020 – Nellis AFB, NV
ASSIGNMENTS
11 May 2020 – 15th Air Force