Maine Air National Guardsmen Return from Global Lightning exercise at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin

SOUTH PORTLAND, ME (06/23/2015)(readMedia)-- 76 members of the 265th Combat Communications Squadron have returned today from a deployment to Fort McCoy, Wisconsin in support of the Global Lightning training exercise held from May 30 to June 23, 2015.

Over 6,500 members from the Air Force Reserve, Army Reserve, and Navy, along with British, Saudi, and Canadian forces participated in the exercise.

"I am very proud of these airmen and our Maine Air National Guard," said Governor Paul R. LePage. "Our soldiers and airmen are always ready to answer the call, and they constantly strive for excellence in all that they do."

This combat sustainment training exercise was part of the annual Global Medic and Patriot Warrior exercises, which respectively are the Army and Air Reserve medical training exercises that encompass the entirety of patient care.

"The exercise provided the 265th with an outstanding combat communications deployment scenario," said Brig. Gen. Gerard F. Bolduc, Acting Adjutant General for the Maine National Guard. "This highly realistic training closely resembles an actual combat deployment, which better prepares our airmen to respond rapidly to a real world mission."

Together, these operations serve to exercise initial patient evacuation from the field until final placement within a treatment facility using both rotary and fixed winged aircraft.

The 265th arrived at the deployed location along with their 17 aircraft pallets of communications equipment using C-5 aircraft out of Westover, Massachusetts.

The unit provided Non-Secure Internet Protocol Router (NIPR), Secure Internet Protocol Router (SIPR), Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Radio Repeater, and Global Broadcast services at the main cantonment area as well as at five forward operating bases.

During the mission rotation, the airmen maintained 62 network communications circuits supporting the joint military operations, tracked 77 communications tasking orders to completion, built 234 network user accounts, added 200 user email accounts, added 77 computer nodes to the deployed network, distributed 46 VoIP phones to military partners, and processed and tracked 17 authorized service interruptions. Additionally, the unit also configured 54 Army Reserve, Army National guard, Air Force Reserve, Navy Reserve, and DoD Civilian laptops for use on the specialized network.

Six members of the unit are being recognized by the U.S. Army Medical and Training Command for their outstanding accomplishments.

"At every unit at which I stopped today, without fail, the personnel had nothing but praise for the support of the Air Guard," wrote Col. Barry N. Birdwell, senior signal officer for Medical Readiness and Training Command out of Fort Sam Houston, Texas. "I've worked with Air Guard Combat Communications Squadrons every year since 2007 and the airmen are always true professionals who are technically and tactically proficient."

For additional information, please contact Maj. Brian R. Camire at 207-756-7964.