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Can Do, Will Do, Have Done.
Paperback
Afghan War (2001-2021)Iraq War (2003-2011)Vietnam War
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ISBN13: 9798186547587
Publisher: Independently Published
Pages: 796
Weight: 2.98
Height: 1.58 Width: 7.00 Depth: 10.00
Language: English
Publisher: Independently Published
Pages: 796
Weight: 2.98
Height: 1.58 Width: 7.00 Depth: 10.00
Language: English
Can Do, Will Do, Have Done.
Before airpower can dominate the sky, someone has to build the ground beneath it.
From the heat, mud, and rocket-threatened air bases of Vietnam to the deserts of Southwest Asia, the streets of Mogadishu, the Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan, Guam, and the modern challenge of Agile Combat Employment, U.S. Air Force RED HORSE units have carried one of the least understood but most essential missions in American military history: build, repair, harden, and sustain the bases that make airpower possible.
Before airpower can dominate the sky, someone has to build the ground beneath it.
From the heat, mud, and rocket-threatened air bases of Vietnam to the deserts of Southwest Asia, the streets of Mogadishu, the Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan, Guam, and the modern challenge of Agile Combat Employment, U.S. Air Force RED HORSE units have carried one of the least understood but most essential missions in American military history: build, repair, harden, and sustain the bases that make airpower possible.
RED HORSE - Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers - was born from necessity. Prime BEEF teams gave the Air Force mobile emergency engineering support, but Vietnam demanded something heavier: a self-sufficient combat construction force that could move earth, repair runways, build roads, erect shelters, place concrete, lay asphalt, operate quarries, drill wells, install utilities, and work under fire.
This book tells the story of those Airmen and their red hats.
It follows the rise of RED HORSE from the first squadrons at Phan Rang, Cam Ranh Bay, Tuy Hoa, Da Nang, Dong Ha, Thailand, and Korea through Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Somalia, Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan, humanitarian missions, disaster relief, and the new era of dispersed basing. It explains how RED HORSE differs from Prime BEEF, Navy Seabees, and Army engineers while showing how all military engineers contribute to the same larger truth: combat power depends on infrastructure.
Part unit history, part operational study, and part tribute, Can Do, Will Do, Have Done examines the machines, missions, leaders, culture, and legacy of the Air Force's heavy construction force. It gives overdue attention to the Airmen who built the roads, ramps, runways, shelters, utilities, and bare bases behind the aircraft.
They were not always in the headlines.
But without them, the aircraft could not fly.
Without them, air bases could not endure.
Without them, airpower had nowhere to stand. Author Bio
Wayne J. Gombar is a United States Marine Corps veteran, federal infrastructure professional, and author whose work focuses on military history, national defense, engineering, emergency management, and the people behind America's operational capabilities.
Over a career spanning more than three decades, Gombar has worked across telecommunications, critical infrastructure, federal construction, security systems, and mission-support programs for government and defense customers. His professional experience has given him a practical appreciation for the hidden systems that make military and federal operations possible: roads, utilities, communications, security, power, facilities, logistics, and the skilled tradesmen and technicians who build and sustain them.
A graduate of Columbia Southern University, Gombar holds a Bachelor of Science in Homeland Security and a Master of Science in Emergency Management. He has also pursued doctoral studies in criminal justice, with academic interests that include national security, radicalization, public safety, and the role of institutions in protecting communities.
As an author, Gombar is drawn to overlooked military stories, especially those involving service members whose work made larger missions possible but rarely received public attention. His writing blends historical research with a veteran's respect for duty, sacrifice, discipline, and service.
In Can Do, Will Do, Have Done, Gombar turns his attention to U.S. Air Force RED HORSE - the red-hatted combat construction Airmen who built, repaired, hardened, and sustained the bases that made airpower possible from Vietnam to the modern era.
This book tells the story of those Airmen and their red hats.
It follows the rise of RED HORSE from the first squadrons at Phan Rang, Cam Ranh Bay, Tuy Hoa, Da Nang, Dong Ha, Thailand, and Korea through Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Somalia, Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan, humanitarian missions, disaster relief, and the new era of dispersed basing. It explains how RED HORSE differs from Prime BEEF, Navy Seabees, and Army engineers while showing how all military engineers contribute to the same larger truth: combat power depends on infrastructure.
Part unit history, part operational study, and part tribute, Can Do, Will Do, Have Done examines the machines, missions, leaders, culture, and legacy of the Air Force's heavy construction force. It gives overdue attention to the Airmen who built the roads, ramps, runways, shelters, utilities, and bare bases behind the aircraft.
They were not always in the headlines.
But without them, the aircraft could not fly.
Without them, air bases could not endure.
Without them, airpower had nowhere to stand. Author Bio
Wayne J. Gombar is a United States Marine Corps veteran, federal infrastructure professional, and author whose work focuses on military history, national defense, engineering, emergency management, and the people behind America's operational capabilities.
Over a career spanning more than three decades, Gombar has worked across telecommunications, critical infrastructure, federal construction, security systems, and mission-support programs for government and defense customers. His professional experience has given him a practical appreciation for the hidden systems that make military and federal operations possible: roads, utilities, communications, security, power, facilities, logistics, and the skilled tradesmen and technicians who build and sustain them.
A graduate of Columbia Southern University, Gombar holds a Bachelor of Science in Homeland Security and a Master of Science in Emergency Management. He has also pursued doctoral studies in criminal justice, with academic interests that include national security, radicalization, public safety, and the role of institutions in protecting communities.
As an author, Gombar is drawn to overlooked military stories, especially those involving service members whose work made larger missions possible but rarely received public attention. His writing blends historical research with a veteran's respect for duty, sacrifice, discipline, and service.
In Can Do, Will Do, Have Done, Gombar turns his attention to U.S. Air Force RED HORSE - the red-hatted combat construction Airmen who built, repaired, hardened, and sustained the bases that made airpower possible from Vietnam to the modern era.
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