Photo By Airman Erick Green | U.S. Airmen assigned to the 265th Combat Communications Squadron and the 101st Air...... read more read more
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GREAT POND, Me. (May 5th, 2025) -- The 265th Combat Communications Squadron, based out of South Portland, Maine, recently completed a week-long exercise where they sharpened their skills on establishing rapid-response communication capabilities, and even had some experience sending a unit out on a forward deployment exercise to expand their outreach and communication capabilities. The exercise, dubbed “Guard Tour 2025,” marks a significant step in bolstering interoperability between Air National Guard units and regional partners in the Caribbean.
The 265th, a unit specializing in deployable communications infrastructure, had a team that arrived at Muñiz Air National Guard Base in Carolina, Puerto Rico, on April 29th. Over the course of the one-week exercise, the teams sent out to Puerto Rico were tasked with establishing and maintaining secure, resilient communication networks and making contact with the unit still established at the initial Great Pond location.
“We simulated a 72-hour notification which required us to mobilize all of our people and our equipment,” said Captain Shannon Collins, Enduring Flight’s Officer-In-Charge for the 265th CBCS. “We were very intentional about leaning into the unknown with this exercise. A lot of our plans and missions throughout this week are very short notice, because in a real world scenario, we may end up only having a very short notice window for our tasking. So this is our initial test into what that looks like and how we can improve to be ready for anything.”
The training included setting up satellite communications, establishing secure radio networks, and maintaining cyber defense systems under simulated operational stress. These tasks are vital for enabling command and control in austere environments, a core mission of the squadron. The exercise also builds on the 265th’s recent experience supporting other operations, such as Nordic Response 2024.
“We’ve been stressing in the lead up to this, that we’re shifting our mindset,” said Master Sgt. Andrew McDonnell, Enduring Flight’s Non-Commissioned Officer-In-Charge for the 265th CBCS. “We are moving away from expecting an advanced team to already be on location and knowing the layout and exactly where everything goes. This will help us find the gaps in our planning and find alternative solutions to help us be ready for any situation moving forward.”
The portion of the exercise in Puerto Rico involved establishing communications to support simulated refueling missions as well as AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) missions, and helping fulfill any customer support missions in a deployed environment as well. Here, the teams were divided into three different groups and divided all around the island to fulfill different missions in environments where the 265th members were met with challenges that they may not have been expecting beforehand.
“One of our main goals with these challenges is to instill critical thinking skills into our Airmen,” said Senior Master Sgt. Geoffrey Vassey, Agile Flight’s Flight Chief for the 265th CBCS. “So a lot of these challenges that the teams are being faced with are not challenges that they would typically see back at our home station. We are also purposely not giving them enough information to go off of, so that they innovate and find ways of meeting the mission requirement.”
The 265th Combat Communications Squadron has traveled all over the world throughout their efforts to maintain a well-trained force. From the United Kingdom as part of Nordic Response 2024, to Germany for Air Defender 2023, and the frequent support trips to Montenegro to support Maine’s state partnership with the country. But out of all of those exercises, going to Puerto Rico was a first for a lot of the members of the 265th, and this was by design from the leadership within the unit.
“The main goal was to exercise the real world mission of rapidly applying from a main operating base to a small, often austere, temporary base to support the mission,” said 1st Lt. Omar Gonzaga, Agile Flight’s Flight Commander for the 265th CBCS. “We also wanted to take the opportunity to develop some of our members rising through the ranks here, namely our Technical Sergeants who have shown a high proficiency through their careers thus far. Giving them a new location, and limited information has allowed them to grow not only as leaders, but also professionals in their field and furthering their ability as subject matter experts.”
The successful completion of Guard Tour 2025 markedly enhanced the rapid-response communication capabilities of both the 265th Combat Communications Squadron’s team deployed to Puerto Rico, who navigated challenging, unfamiliar environments to establish secure networks, and the unit at their home station in Great Pond, who honed their skills in coordinating and maintaining critical communications infrastructure under simulated high-pressure scenarios, while strengthening regional partnerships and fostering leadership development for real-world missions in dynamic environments.
(U.S. Air National Guard Story by Staff Sgt. Erick Green)
| Date Taken: | 05.05.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 05.07.2025 13:07 |
| Story ID: | 497027 |
| Location: | GREAT POND, MAINE, US |
| Web Views: | 441 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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