Air Force CEs, in the form of deployable Prime BEEF and RED HORSE squadrons, provide required capabilities for constructing, repairing, and operating contingency and forward operating air bases. CEs offer the necessary experience, equipment, training, and personnel if the Air Force needs to operate from such airfields to fight terrorists or provide training and assistance to a friendly nation's fight against an insurgency. The COIN environment offers unique opportunities for Prime BEEF and RED HORSE to supply direct mission support. When they go outside the base and help improve infrastructure by meeting a need for clean water, repairing the electricalrnsystem, or fixing roads, they help win the hearts and minds of the local populace. When they employ locals in construction projects, providing economic support as well as the skills and training necessary to improve their future, they take power away from the insurgency. When the indigenous population can return to a normal life soon after combat operations stop, it builds up less resentment towards US forces, further diminishing the insurgency's recruitment. The constructive capabilities that Air Force CEs have for leaving the local population with safer, more reliable infrastructure may go much farther towards supporting US national interests than the destructive capabilities of Air Force weapon systems.
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