{"id":4772,"date":"2020-10-05T23:29:33","date_gmt":"2020-10-05T23:29:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/?p=4772"},"modified":"2020-10-07T15:40:31","modified_gmt":"2020-10-07T15:40:31","slug":"director-of-air-national-guard-visits-175th-wing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/2020\/10\/05\/director-of-air-national-guard-visits-175th-wing\/","title":{"rendered":"Director of Air National Guard Visits 175th Wing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Story by Senior Airman Sarah M. McClanahan<\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

MIDDLE RIVER, Md. (Oct. 3, 2020) \u2014The top leader of the Air National Guard met with Airmen of the 175th Wing, October 3, 2020, during a visit to Warfield Air National Guard Base at Martin State Airport, Middle River, Maryland.<\/p>\n

Over the course of the day, U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael A. Loh, director of the Air National Guard, spoke with the members of the Maryland Air National Guard and answered their questions during the tour of the facilities. Additionally, Loh presided over the socially-distant retirement ceremony for U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Paul C. Maas, Jr.<\/p>\n

As director, Loh is responsible for formulating, developing, and coordinating all plans, policies, and programs for more than 107,700 ANG Airmen and civilians in 90 wings and 175 geographically separated units located in 213 locations throughout the 50 states, 3 territories, and the District of Columbia.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Loh sat down and spoke with a group of Airmen over lunch where he explained that of the around 1000 aircraft assigned to the Air National Guard, nearly 20 of these are assigned to the Maryland Air National Guard. He highlighted the 175th Wing\u2019s breadth of experience and knowledge, including their familiarity with cyber operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you do for America is just unbelievable,\u201d expressed Loh. \u201cThank you very much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout the lunch Loh checked the pulse of the Airmen and heard their personal stories. Some of the topics Loh spoke with them about included COVID-19 response efforts, their reasons for joining the National Guard, and their long-term goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my experience, the farther up you get in leadership, the more removed you are from the troops on the ground,\u201d said Command Chief Master Sgt. Paul Muggli, command chief for the 175th Wing. \u201cWhether it\u2019s policy or mission, things change all the time and it\u2019s important to check in with Airmen to ensure the mission is still effective. Loh\u2019s visit accomplished just that.\u201d<\/p>\n

To show his appreciation for their commitment to service, Loh recognized and coined individual Airmen for their outstanding contributions while serving through the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an incredible feeling to be a part of the COVID-19 response in my own community,\u201d said Tech. Sgt. Enjoli Saunders, public affairs specialist for the 175th Wing. \u201cThe hours were long and hard. But, it feels great to be recognized for all the work we put in.\u201d\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

To wrap up the duty day, Loh presided over the retirement ceremony for U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Paul C. Maas, Jr., who served his entire 42- year military career with the Maryland Air National Guard. In-person attendance for the ceremony was limited to ensure proper COVID-19 protocols were practiced. During the ceremony, Maas thanked Loh for his kind words and attendance.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou took time out of your weekend to visit the Airmen of the 175th Wing and preside over my ceremony and I appreciate that so much,\u201d said Maas.<\/p>\n

\n
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The top leader of the Air National Guard met with Airmen of the 175th Wing, October 3, 2020, during a visit to Warfield Air National Guard Base at Martin State Airport, Middle River, Maryland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":4775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4772"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4781,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4772\/revisions\/4781"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}