Maryland Air National Guard returns from training mission in Europe
MIDDLE RIVER, Md. -- Members of the Maryland Air National Guard have returned from an overseas mission where they trained alongside NATO allies for potential future combat missions.
"We are out there to train with our allies, to assure our allies, deter adversaries," said Lt. Col. Dan Griffin, the lead project officer for the mission and an A-10 pilot.
Airmen from the 175th wing were just 170 out of the thousands of U.S. and NATO service members who traveled to 10 different countries across Europe in May.
They supported two different annual preparation exercises called Swift Response and Defender Europe.
"It's about how can we integrate with our joint partners—so, Army, Navy, Marines as well as our NATO partners—and how can we, together, integrate our own systems to fight a common enemy," said Joanna Voss, an installation deployment officer for the 175th Wing.
The mission spanned out over 1,700 miles from Norway to North Macedonia.
The ten A-10 aircraft from the 175th Wing focused on executing what is called Agile Combat Employment (ACE), an Air Force concept of quickly mobilizing and deploying resources across a wide area to project combat power.
"It was really about being a team even though we aren't from the same place," said Airmen First Class Skyler Roitzky.
While preparations for the training operation began last year before Russia and Ukraine began fighting, the war made the overseas mission even more important.
"Clearly what's going on in the world has highlighted what we did out there and a lot of people are asking why and if it was connected," Griffin said. "But I think it, really, like I said before, just to reassure our allies that we're still there, we're still coming training with you guys."
The operation gave the airmen a chance to train and be prepared to respond to a crisis if needed.
"We're here to protect the overall security of Europe, and a key portion of that is us practicing how we would do operations together," Voss said.