With the “flagging” this week of a new 200-person detachment at Mansfield, Ohio, the Ohio Air National Guard’s 200th RED HORSE formally recognized that it no longer has to merge with another state to form a fully manned 400-airman RED HORSE unit. The 200th has operated for some 37 years out of its Port Clinton base, working with the 201st RHS in Pennsylvania. Both units got the go-ahead to plus-up under BRAC 2005. The 200th actually activated its Det. 1 in April, but the detachment’s airmen had deployed for Operation Jump Start along the US-Mexico border, so the squadron delayed unfurling the flag. (National Guard Bureau report by MSgt. Mike Smith)
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
