On Sept. 10, in a brief signing ceremony at the Augusta Armory, the commanders of the two brigade level units in the Maine Army National Guard formally exchanged commands, the final of several changes in a two-year restructuring of the force, a process intended to increase the overall readiness and efficiency of the organization.
Signing were Col. Sean Harmon, now commander of the 52nd Troop Command in Bangor, and Col. Mark Stevens, now commander of the 120th Regional Support Group in Augusta, according to a news release from Maj. Carl Lamb, public affairs officer with the Maine National Guard.
“The 120th Regional Support Group now has command and control over the majority of ‘the flags’,” said Col. Scott Lewis, chief of staff for the Maine Army National Guard. “That refers to the independently deployable units where the command element and majority of the unit is located in the state of Maine, rather than shared with various other states. With two deployable battalions, each with at least five companies or detachments beneath them, the 120th will be postured to better plan and execute brigade-wide training events.”
“The 52nd Troop Command now predominantly houses our training and support units, as well as our aviation detachments and infantry company,” Lewis added. “Other capabilities housed in the 52nd include our Regional Training Institute, Cyber Detachment, 195th Army Band, and domestic response capabilities such as the 11th Civil Support Team and additional mission sets.”
“Having ‘the flags’ under the 120th, itself a deployable headquarters, also aids in ensuring future force realignments and updates from National Guard Bureau reach all independently deployable companies. In short — large scale training will be easier, and we’ll be better postured to support future changes to force structure. I think it will really help us in focusing our planning efforts,” Lewis concluded.
The 120th Regional Support Group headquarters returned from a 10-month deployment to Poland, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania in March in support of U.S. European Command’s Operation Atlantic Resolve. The unit previously deployed to Afghanistan in 2017-18.
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