{"id":36394,"date":"2023-07-09T13:34:14","date_gmt":"2023-07-09T13:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/07\/09\/space-force-captain-kept-us-cabinet-officials-safe-amid-europe-crisis\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:16:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:16:19","slug":"space-force-captain-kept-us-cabinet-officials-safe-amid-europe-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/military-honor\/2023\/07\/09\/space-force-captain-kept-us-cabinet-officials-safe-amid-europe-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Space Force captain kept US Cabinet officials safe amid Europe crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-smg-jwplayer-video\"><atype-video-jwplayer nostick=\"true\" playlisturl=\"https:\/\/cdn.jwplayer.com\/v2\/playlists\/fCzRqMW8?tags=710aecec-549a-4b99-93f0-d08dab35524f\" poster=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/video-poster-710aecec-549a-4b99-93f0-d08dab35524f.png\" aspectratio=\"16 \/ 9\" mute autostart=\"false\"><\/atype-video-jwplayer><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Capt. Victoria Garcia\u2019s work in Europe protected both U.S. satellite networks and Cabinet secretaries who traveled to Ukraine in the wake of Russia\u2019s invasion.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Early last year, as Russia mounted its all-out assault on Ukraine, the U.S. Space Force quietly built a shadowy electronic warfare enterprise in the remote European countryside to secure U.S. satellite networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That effort, led by Capt. Victoria Garcia, safeguarded the travel of two U.S. Cabinet secretaries to Kyiv, deployed a brand-new EW system for the first time and set a new standard for how the Space Force operates in far-flung parts of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Garcia\u2019s role in leading the first space EW deployment to Europe at the onset of the continent\u2019s largest military crisis in over two decades earned her Military Times\u2019 inaugural Guardian of the Year award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Garcia, 37, of El Paso, Texas, is now a speechwriter at Space Operations Command, the Space Force branch in charge of organizing its combat units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Garcia, a Mexican immigrant, rose through the Air Force\u2019s enlisted ranks before earning her officer commission and transferring into the Space Force. The four-month deployment was a chance for her to do what she\u2019d always dreamed of: lead troops in the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Her unit, the 4th Electromagnetic Warfare Squadron at Colorado\u2019s Peterson Space Force Base, began hearing talk of a potential deployment to Europe in December 2021, as Russia was amassing hundreds of thousands of troops on Ukraine\u2019s border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What\u2019s more, U.S. Space Command \u2014 the organization that directs Space Force troops in daily missions around the world \u2014 wanted to set up a new combat detachment from scratch, in an area where it hadn\u2019t previously operated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With Christmas around the corner, that task fell to Garcia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the squadron\u2019s mission support director, she knew how to run the secretive hardware that stops enemies from interfering with U.S. and allied use of the electromagnetic spectrum. That keeps lines of satellite communications open, allows the U.S. to collect intelligence from space and ensures foreign adversaries don\u2019t intercept classified information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She also understood the massive logistical effort needed to operate those systems in the field, far from an established base like Peterson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhat\u2019s the security going to look like?\u201d she said. \u201cWhat type of radio frequency transmission support are we going to need for that system? What type of comms support, like plugging in computers, phones? \u2026 How are we going to get generator power to this location? How are we going to cool it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Garcia got the nod to serve as deployment commander and began building her team of intel specialists, equipment sherpas, cyber experts and more \u2014 54 troops across 15 career fields. The 54-person team left for Europe on Feb. 2, less than two months after planning began in earnest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The group first headed to Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where they packed pallet after pallet of equipment onto five C-130 Hercules airlifters for the final leg of the journey to their undisclosed location. Their destination offered only a basic runway that couldn\u2019t bear the weight of the larger cargo jets they\u2019d typically use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1044\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Garcia_Guardian-of-the-Year.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-72616\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Garcia_Guardian-of-the-Year.jpg.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Garcia_Guardian-of-the-Year.jpg.jpg?resize=300,261 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Garcia_Guardian-of-the-Year.jpg.jpg?resize=768,668 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Garcia_Guardian-of-the-Year.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,891 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Capt. Victoria Garcia is now a speechwriter at Space Operations Command, the Space Force branch in charge of organizing its combat units. (Space Force)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Garcia and a few others arrived on site early to test a new, $2 million EW system, built by a rapid reaction team to speed cutting-edge technologies to the field for the first time. She declined to answer how the system differed from existing electronic warfare tools, or what gap in military capabilities it filled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over the course of 30 hours, the team turned two hardened, Soviet-era aircraft hangars \u2014 a 45-minute drive from where they lived on one of the host country\u2019s military bases \u2014 into makeshift command centers fit for classified operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wiring crisscrossed open fields; without the security afforded by a larger base, their hardware needed to be guarded around the clock. Garcia said she was aware of threats to the facilities but declined to provide details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt was &#8230; kind of madness,\u201d she said. \u201cYou have people directing [network] fiber, pulling cases and building the system. \u2026 We would have to drive out two to three miles into the larger town to go get larger pieces of wood and things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once their stronghold was up and running, the unit tracked 84,000 \u201cnetwork events\u201d over 3,000 hours in the field from February to May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe conducted a lot of passive operations,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cWe had two systems at that site, which were about a mile apart, overseeing the electromagnetic spectrum in this area of this country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That April, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken\u2019s three-day trip to Ukraine and Poland \u2014 their first since the war began \u2014 put the detachment\u2019s capabilities to the test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Being in Europe allowed the unit to watch and manipulate parts of the spectrum that they wouldn\u2019t otherwise have access to, Garcia said. Those troops could intervene if they detected any electronic interference that could jeopardize the defense secretary\u2019s safety, or disrupt his ability to communicate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf you think of it like an overwatch surveillance mission, we were there to answer the call \u2026 if things went south,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As part of the trip, Austin and Blinken announced a total of $713 million in foreign military financing for Ukraine and 15 allied and partner countries, cash that countries could use to purchase any needed supplies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In their down time, the guardians would sprint around the flight line for \u201cSunday Fun-day Run-day,\u201d barbecue and hitch rides on visiting U.S. Army helicopters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In November, Garcia received one of the inaugural U.S. Space Force Polaris Awards for guardians at the field command level. She received the Polaris Courage Award as a representative of Space Operations Command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Garcia has continued to follow the war in Ukraine and kept up with her old unit, now called the 44th Electromagnetic Warfare Combat Detachment, as it has expanded its mission. She\u2019s found it difficult to disconnect from the venture to which she gave so much time and sweat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere\u2019s a deep appreciation of what you do as a Space Force guardian, when you know the capabilities that you operate are feeding a joint fight,\u201d she said. \u201cYou get the satisfaction of, \u2018I\u2019m truly part of something that is helping mankind.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/smr\/smoy\/\" target=\"_blank\">See all Military Times\u2019 2023 Service Members of the Year honorees.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Capt. Victoria Garcia, Military Times&#8217; 2023 Guardian of the Year, led the first space electronic warfare deployment at the onset of the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":72610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":10,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,10,25],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3381],"class_list":["post-36394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-military-honor","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"2023 Guardian of the Year ","legacy_arc_id":"AWBFOMWIANG2XNSKJ6BRDTLQGU","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-air-force\/2023\/07\/09\/space-force-captain-kept-us-cabinet-officials-safe-amid-europe-crisis\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Space Force captain kept US Cabinet officials safe amid Europe crisis - Marine Corps Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Capt. 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