COLONEL MARK A. ZIMMERHANZEL

U N I T E D S T A T E S A I R F O R C E

Col. Mark A. Zimmerhanzel is the Commander of the 819th RED HORSE Squadron, Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana. The 819th RED HORSE Squadron is one of four Air Force active duty specialized heavy construction and repair combat engineering units providing a highly mobile, self-sufficient agile combat support capability to the warfighter. Colonel Zimmerhanzel commands 442 personnel and is responsible for 180 special and general purpose vehicles and equipment valued at more than $21 million. He controls an annual budget of $3 million while directing troop labor construction projects worldwide worth up to $30 million annually. The colonel oversees the warfighting capability and operational readiness of his unit to respond to contingencies worldwide as quickly as 12 hours after notification to provide construction, repairs or upgrading of airfields and facilities. The unit also provides bare base development and engineering support for wartime taskings, military operations other than war, natural disasters, and contingency exercises.

Colonel Zimmerhanzel entered the Air Force in September 1989
upon graduation from the Reserve Officer Training Corps at Texas A&M University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He has extensive experience at all levels of Air Force Civil Engineering including a tour on the Air Staff and two MAJCOM staff tours. He also has four deployments to Southwest Asia, two as Chief of Engineering at Prince Sultan AB, Saudi Arabia, and Al Dahfra AB, United Arab Emirates, and one deployment with the U.S. Army as Commander, Facility Engineer Team 15, Contingency Operations Base Qayyarah West, Iraq; Commander, 877 Expeditionary Prime BEEF Squadron, Camp Marmal, Afghanistan; and finally as Commander, 319th Civil Engineering Squadron, Grand Forks AFB, N.D.

EDUCATION:
1989 Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University
1993 Squadron Officer School, Maxwell Air Force Base, AL
1994 Master of Science, Public Administration, University of Maryland
2001 Air Command and Staff College by correspondence
2006 Air War College by correspondence

ASSIGNMENTS:
1. September 1989 - May 1992, Construction Inspector; Design Engineer; Readiness Challenge OIC; and Chief Utilities Element, 49th Civil Engineering Sq, Holloman AFB, N.M.
2. May 1992 - May 1994, Design Engineer, 65th Civil Engineer Sq, Lajes Field, Azores, Portugal
3. May 1994 - April 1996, Chief, Quality Assurance Flight, 39th Civil Engineer Sq, Incirlik AB, Turkey
4. April 1996 - June 1999, Command Housing Programmer and Executive to the Civil Engineer, Headquarters, Air Education and Training Command, Randolph AFB, Texas
5. June 1999 - June 2002, Air Program Manager and Special Assistant to the Civil Engineer, Office of The Civil Engineer, DCS Installations and Logistics, Headquarters United States Air Force, Washington. DC
6. June 2002 - June 2005, Chief, Operations Flight, 7th Civil Engineer Sq, Dyess AFB, Texas
7 June 2005 - June 2007, Commander, 312th Training Sq, Goodfellow AFB, Texas
8. July 2007 - Jul 2009, Chief, Programs Integration Branch, Directorate of Installations and Mission Support, HQ Pacific Air Forces, Hickam AFB, Hawaii
9. Jul 2009 - Jun 2011, Base Civil Engineer, 319th Civil Engineer Squadron, Grand Forks AFB, N.D .
10. Jun 2011 - Present, Commander, 819th RED HORSE Squadron, Malmstrom AFB, Mont.

MAJOR AWARDS AND DECORATIONS:
Best CE Operations Flight in the Air Force, 2003
Bronze Star Medal
Air Force Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters
Air Force Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters

EFFECTIVE DATES OF PROMOTION:
Second Lieutenant, August 1989
First Lieutenant, August 1991
Captain, August 1993
Major, January 2001
Lieutenant Colonel, January 2008
Colonel, May 2011

(Current as of June 2011)