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More than 300 members of the 219th and 819th RED HORSE Squadrons boarded a plane at Great Falls International Airport on Monday morning for another deployment.

The squadrons are being deployed to Southwest Asia as part of the Overseas Contingency Operation.

Members of the RED HORSE units are part of an elite group with only five units in the entire U.S. Air Force; the name of the unit is an acronym derived from "Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operation Repair Squadron, Engineer."

RED HORSE teams provide the Air Force with a mobile, rapid-response civil engineer force to support operations worldwide.

U.S. Senator Jon Tester was at today's departure to make sure the airmen know how much their work is appreciated, saying, "Just wanted to show them my appreciation for their willingness to serve - they do a great job serving this country - and let them know that while they're deployed, we're going to be supporting them in any way we can to make sure they can do their job in a way that they WILL do it. And let them know that when they come back we'll be supporting them, when they get back home again and in the meantime support their families."

The teams will travel to Fort McCoy, Wisconsin for a month of training before they leave overseas; they are expected to be gone for a total of seven months.