Maj. Gen. William Holland, deputy combined force air component commander for US Central Command, says airmen at Manas AB, Kyrgyzstan, have made a bare facility something “absolutely phenomenal.” Holland has reason to know since he lead the 2001 team searching for bases before the US launched Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Holland told the Ganci Gazette, “That’s the beauty of our Air Force,” explaining that airmen even in a deployed environment “try to make it a little bit better.”
Clearing jungle and laying asphalt in tropical heat may not sound like fun to most people, but it’s a way of life for Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers (RED HORSE) Airmen, who have spent the past year or so restoring World War II-era airfields on the Pacific…