{"id":87031,"date":"2026-04-28T07:49:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T07:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/?p=87031"},"modified":"2026-04-27T17:56:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T17:56:50","slug":"2026-capt-ellis-m-matro-promotion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/2026\/04\/28\/2026-capt-ellis-m-matro-promotion\/","title":{"rendered":"Bellows Super Drill: Engineers and Operators Simulate Forward Base Survival"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"681\" data-id=\"87034\" src=\"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/files\/2026\/04\/9623500-1024x681.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-87034\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/files\/2026\/04\/9623500-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/files\/2026\/04\/9623500-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/files\/2026\/04\/9623500-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/files\/2026\/04\/9623500-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/files\/2026\/04\/9623500-2048x1363.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/files\/2026\/04\/9623500-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/files\/2026\/04\/9623500-800x532.jpg 800w, https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/files\/2026\/04\/9623500-1280x852.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/files\/2026\/04\/9623500-1920x1277.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Staff Sgt John Casison 297th Combat Air Operations Squadron, Radar, Airfield &amp; Weather Systems technician, erects ground-to-air radio frequency antenna at Bellows Air Force Station, Hawaii, April 9, 2026. Practicing these skills helped the airmen demonstrate their ability to support dispersed operational sites and maintain operational readiness. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Airman 1st Class Lydia Tristan)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, HAWAII, UNITED STATES<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">04.15.2026<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Story by\u00a0Airman 1st Class Lydia Tristan<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">154th Wing, Hawaii Air National Guard<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 154th Civil Engineer Squadron (154CES) and the 297th Combat Airfield Operations Squadron (297CAOS) teamed up for a Joint Field Training Exercise at Bellows Air Force Station (AFS) April 9th-12th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dubbed the Bellows AFS Super Drill, the training tested and validated the unit\u2019s ability to deploy, establish independent operations, and sustain the mission. Personnel sharpened critical wartime skills by building a fully self-sustaining encampment that simulated a forward operating base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cDuring this exercise, airmen engaged in a variety of hands-on activities designed to simulate a real-world, contested deployment,\u201d said Senior Master Sgt. George Demesillo, 297th Combat Airfield Operations Squadron logistics planner. \u201cThese activities are structured to test both individual skills and unit cohesion under pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The FTX pushed the 154CES into a high-tempo environment where skill sets were tested against simulated threats and stormy tropical weather. Personnel maintained a rigorous base defense posture against ground and air assaults, while inside Unit Control Centers, leadership navigated the complexities of Command and Control through numerous drills including operating with compromised communication channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width-100\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dvidshub.net\/news\/563302\/bellows-super-drill-engineers-and-operators-simulate-forward-base-survival\">Read the rest of the article<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em>The State of Hawaii, Department of Defense (HIDOD)\u2019 Retiree News does not endorse any of the external hyperlinks listed or posted on this site. This includes linked websites, information, products, or services contained therein. We are a government run website for which transparency and accountability are paramount. HIDOD cannot have the appearance of endorsement and are bound by the HIDOD Social Media Policy concerning political posts being respectful, honest, and accurate. Operational Security will additionally be adhered to. Retiree News does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at linked sites. Some of the sites linked to may limit the number of stories you can access without a paid subscription. All links were provided with the intent of meeting the mission of the HIDOD\u2019s version of Retiree News.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, HAWAII, UNITED STATES 04.15.2026 Story by\u00a0Airman 1st Class Lydia Tristan 154th Wing, Hawaii Air National Guard The 154th Civil Engineer Squadron (154CES) and the 297th Combat Airfield Operations Squadron (297CAOS) teamed up for a Joint Field Training Exercise at Bellows Air Force Station (AFS) April 9th-12th. Dubbed the Bellows AFS Super [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":189,"featured_media":87034,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"64064,66888,54395,31512,55628,6422","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12393,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2020s","category-history"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/189"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87031"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87035,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87031\/revisions\/87035"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}