Nellis team won’t be home for the holidays

Jace Radke

Monday, Nov. 30, 1998 | 11:15 a.m.

Three days after Thanksgiving, members of the 820th Red Horse engineering squadron headed out of Nellis Air Force Base for Central America to help repair the damage left in the wake of Hurricane Mitch.

They won't be home for Christmas.

About 20 squadron members are already in Central America and a total of 160 Nellis airmen are scheduled to be there by Dec. 15. Twenty-five squadron members left Sunday night.

Air Force Capt. Joe Werner spent the time waiting to board a C-17 transport aircraft to El Salvador canceling his tickets to fly home for Christmas.

"I called United (airlines) and canceled my flight back home to New Jersey," Werner said, as he got his bills ready to be mailed before leaving. "I'm not married, so it's not as tough on me as some of the others, and I've been through this before."

It was a familiar task: Two years ago, Werner left for Kuwait with the 820th right after Thanksgiving, and returned the following March.

This trip, which will include stops in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua, is scheduled to end on Feb. 15, but being away for the holidays is going to be tough, said one airman.

"It's the first time I've been deployed over the holidays, and I'll be sad," said Sgt. Brian Sapp, who leaves behind a wife and two small children. "Three months is a long time to be gone, but the good part is that we get to go down and help the people that are in need of it."

The squadron members from Nellis will join a Red Horse squadron from Montana to total 320 airmen in Central America rebuilding roads, bridges, sewers and infrastructure, Lt. Col. John Ahern said.

The joint task force will live in tents and use about 120 tractor-trailers worth of equipment. Dump trucks, backhoes, water distillers, heavy lighting and other heavy equipment will be shipped to El Salvador in the next couple of weeks, Ahern said.

"We go where we are needed," Werner said. "It's good to know that we can do some good in places that really need it."