Photo By Staff Sgt. Jill Maynus | Community members visit the 178th Wing recruiting booth, during the 2025 Springfield...... read more read more
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SPRINGFIELD AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Ohio — The Ohio Air National Guards 178th Wing hosted a Community Day for local organizations on Thursday at the base.
The event consisted of briefings on the wing’s capabilities, a base tour, and an equipment display. Jonathan Radel, Director of Military Affairs for the Dayton Development Coalition, spoke on the importance of the event.
“A lot of the community drive past the base, but they don’t really know what’s going on,” said Radel, “It’s always important to have community support, for the Airman, the Soldiers and also the Guardians that are actually working on this base.”
Radel emphasized how important it is for community leaders to take this opportunity to learn about what goes on at the 178th Wing.
“Very few (Americans) have access to a military instillation, very few actually have family members that are part of the military,” said Radel, “This is just an opportunity to show them, so that way, when the time comes for a need for some support, whether it be infrastructure assistance or doing a farewell for units going on a deployment, the community steps up and wants to be apart of it.”
The 178th provides support to combatant commanders with critical intelligence and is prepared to support a strategic environment that is rapidly changing, locally and federally.
“Amongst a bunch of cornfields, we have folks that are doing missions that have a strategic national level impact across the Department of Defense,” said Col. Nathaniel Church, 178th Wing vice commander, “We can’t do our mission without the support of the community.”
Church noted that this years event includes more areas of the base than in years past, emphasizing the base partners getting a chance to speak on their missions.
“One of the things you'll see this year is an even greater incorporation of not only the capabilities of the 178th and what we provide,” said Church, “but of our tenants and the folks we host, whether that’s the 76th Space Intelligence and Reconnaissance Squadron, or our Army partners of the 371st or the 837th.”
The attendees toured hands-on displays of tools and technology used to fulfill the wing’s mission, including security forces small arms, mobile popup kitchen, and fire equipment. The day concluded with a guided bus tour around the instillation, with lunch following.
The 178th Wing conducts intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and flies the MQ-9 Reaper, a remotely-piloted aircraft, in support of federal and state missions while maintaining an active involvement with the local community.
| Date Taken: | 04.10.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 04.10.2025 14:33 |
| Story ID: | 495030 |
| Location: | SPRINGFIELD, OHIO, US |
| Web Views: | 29 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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