Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar (January 12, 2023): In this photo by Staff Sgt. Derek Seifert, Technical Sergeant Tech. Sgt Jeremy Briggs and Senior Airman Kenan Pierre, 379th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron pavements and construction equipment journeymen, lay concrete at the 379th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron compound on Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar.

The 379th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron facility management team was created to address an increasing amount of “enhancement” work to dormitory facilities at Al Udeid Air Base, a major U.S. ally in the Persian Gulf.  Today, the sprawling hub is Qatar’s strategic gem, showcasing the Gulf Arab emirate’s tight security partnership with the United States.

Built on a flat stretch of desert about 20 miles southwest of the Qatari capital Doha, Al-Udeid Air Base once was considered so sensitive that American military officers identified it as only being somewhere "in southwest Asia.". At the height of U.S. wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, more than 10,000 troops called the base and other sites in Qatar home. Today, the U.S.-Qatari relations are stronger than ever in this very strategic part of the world.