255th Air Control Squadron team heads to Florida to assist in Hurricane Ian recovery
Mississippi’s National Guard is deploying to help with recovery efforts in Florida by areas impacted by Hurricane Ian.
Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida on September 28th and caused significant damage to the state.
Mississippi knows what that’s like, so the state sent a team with Gulfport’s 255th Air Control Squadron from the Mississippi National Guard to help in the recovery. Master Sgt. Stephen Johnston said, “You know, our state gets hit by hurricanes often as well. We’re happy to provide the support for the other states that need it as well.”
The mission of these airmen is to help as many communities as possible in restoring communication services. Tech Sgt. Rachelle Gaston said, “We’re there to support emergency relief in terms of communication, so if they need Internet, phones, commercial and different things like that.”
The team does not know yet which cities they will be working in. They plan to locate cities affected the most when they get to Florida and help from there. “In general, you know, military as a whole, we help each other out and times like this, people need us and we’re going to be there.”
The deployed members plan to stay as long as they’re needed with no official time table on when they will return to Mississippi. “It’s also a great pride for the National Guard to go ahead and support each other especially interconnected states. It’s what we do, so I’m very happy to go ahead and support other people that are in need.”
