The Horse at Horsham AGS gains fresh leadership during drill

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Andria Allmond
HORSHAM AIR GUARD STATION, Pa --  Air National Guardsmen of the 111th Attack Wing assembled to witness an assumption of command ceremony for the 201st Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers (RED HORSE) Squadron, Det. 1 here, Aug. 13.

Maj. Oliver Barfield, a 2001 Air Force Academy graduate, received the guidon from Col. Michael Regan, 111th Mission Support Group commander, signifying Barfield taking the helm of The Horse.

"He's known as an expert in the RED HORSE world," said Regan. "He taught many of the RED HORSE members that are currently out in the world doing all kinds of great stuff."

Barfield's impressive military resume includes: civil engineering at Kadena Air Base, Japan; serving as a RED HORSE member at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada; teaching engineering at the Air Force Academy, Colorado; performing as the RED HORSE deputy commander at Malstrom AFB, Montana; and working at the Air Force Civil Engineering Center, Tyndall AFB, Florida.

Acknowledging the wisdom, leadership and experience the new commander brings, Regan said to and about Barfield, "I just want to tell him, 'We're lucky to have you and welcome.'"

In Barfield's inaugural address to the red-hat sporting service members, he stated his belief that assuming the unit here is a win-win scenario. "It's an honor to be your commander. This is great both ways; the unit was looking for some stability and the Barfields were looking for some stability. And here we are."

Barfield continued by declaring his impression of the unit he's inheriting - noting the RED HORSE's history of excellence and professionalism. "We've got some phenomenal talent within the unit. We've got a clean mission...we've got a sister unit we can lean on and we've got senior leaders here that care about us and our mission."

In closing, the new RED HORSE commander here rendered praised and stated his expectations.

"There are three things we need to get our job done: get people and equipment out of dodge, bed ourselves down and dominate construction. And we do it well.

"RED HORSE is the best in the business, when a warfighter needs and engineer, they go to RED HORSE first. The reason they do that is because we have a track history of success."