Secretary of Public Safety visits Va. Guard units at Camp Pendleton CTC and Langley AFB - Jan. 23, 2014

Virginia Secretary of Public Safety Brian Moran and Deputy Secretary of Public Safety Tonya Vincent visit the Virginia National Guard's Camp Pendleton Collective Training Center and the 192nd Fighter Wing at Langley Air Force Base with Maj. Gen. Daniel E. Long, Jr., the Adjutant General of Virginia, Jan. 23, 2014, in Virginia Beach, Va. During the visit, they met with leaders from the Commonwealth ChalleNGe program, received an overview of the upcoming federal deployment of the 529th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion and learned more about the domestic operations capabilities of the 203rd RED HORSE Squadron. At Langley Air Force Base, Moran learned about the flying mission of the F-22 Raptor and also spoke with a group of Airmen from the 192nd and thanked them for their service.

Camp Pendleton is a state-owned 328-acre installation that provides training facilities for National Guard units, as well as all other DOD active and reserve units and public safety organizations. The post features administrative buildings, conference facilities, barracks, classrooms, dining facilities, a live-fire qualification range and nine different virtual trainers as well as a chapel, fitness center, distance learning center, wooded training areas, helipad, land navigation course and military access beach and amphibious landing site.

The Virginia Commonwealth ChalleNGe Youth Academy is a 22 week residential program that is structured in a military-style environment to promote academics, attention to detail, time management and leadership, while promoting self esteem, confidence and pride.

The 529th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 329th Regional Support Group received a mobilization order to enter federal active service for duty in Kuwait as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, and approximately 70 Soldiers will begin serving on federal active duty June 19, 2014. The Soldiers are scheduled to report to Fort Hood, Texas, for approximately 45- 60 days of mobilization training before deploying. Once they arrive in Kuwait, they are expected to operate as a mission command headquarters with the task of planning and executing combat sustainment support for U.S. and coalition forces in Kuwait and the surrounding region.

RED HORSE stands for Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers, and the unit provides a highly mobile civil engineering response force to support contingency operations worldwide. The 203d RED HORSE Squadron is a self-contained, equipped, rapid-response engineering force capable of conducting expedient damage assessments, heavy-damage repairs, bare-base development, and heavy construction operations such as constructing aircraft parking ramps, aprons, taxi and runways and munitions pads. RED HORSE units possess special capabilities including well drilling, explosive demolition, quarry operations and concrete and asphalt paving and batch plant operations.

The 192nd Fighter Wing's Raptor provides both air-to-air and air-to-ground missions allowing full realization of operational concepts vital in the 21st century. The federal mission of the 192nd Fighter Wing is to maintain the highest possible degree of combat readiness so as to be an effective combat unit to the U.S. Air Force upon mobilization. The 192nd Fighter Wing currently flies and maintains the F-22A Raptor in the 149th Fighter Squadron, supports the ongoing intelligence mission in the 192nd Intelligence Squadron, and supports the 735th Supply Chain Management Group under the Air Force Global Logistics Support Center.