The White Falcon - 26.06.1987, Page 1

Vol. 27 No. 20 NATO Base. Keflavik. Iceland June 26, 1987
Northern Viking'87
i
NATO exercise tests
reinforcement ability
Exercise Northern Viking '87,
an Iceland Defense Force
executed command post exercise,
finished this week. It was the
latest In in a series of similar
exercises conducted every two
year. The joint and combined
exercise included participants
from the Netherlands, Canada,
benmark, Norway, and the United
States Army, Navy, Marine
Corps, Air Force and three
reserve components.
The major objectives of
Northern Viking '87 were to
exercise plans and procedures
for the reception of rein-
forcement forces; to exercise and
evaluate communications capabil-
ities, and air defense and
reinforcement procedures for
Iceland.
please see •NORTHERN' on
p*qcp 6. md-Z
New commander
takes over NSGA
On June 15, in a change of command ceremony
held in the A.T. Mahan Elementary School, Cmdr.
John P. O'Neill relived Lt. Cmdr. Judith A. Gallina
as commanding officer, Naval Security Group
Activity, (NSGA) Keflavik.
Lt. Cmdr. Gallina's next assignment will be at the
NSGA headquarters in Washington, D.C. During the
ceremony the lieutenant commander was presented
her second Meritorious Service Medal for "superb
performance" as the commanding officer of NSGA.
The citation said her efforts "...resulted in
superior accomplishment of her command's mission
in support of the Atlantic Fleet and its High
Frequency Direction Finding Network in a location of
increasing strategic and political importance."
In her final address to the people of NSGA Lt.
Cmdr. Gallina referred to the many sacrifices
military people make for our country and reminded
them that "Our primary objective is to keep the
peace, and the title 'Peacekeeper' is one of which I
am proud, you should be too."
Cmdr. O'Neill, in his address, said that he has
been to Iceland before to visit his wife's family. His
mother married an American and moved to the U.S.
but his wife, the former Antoinette A. Pellegrino,
still has grandparents living in Reykjavik. The
O'Neills have four children: Heather, Kelly
Fitzpatrick, Bridget and Shannon.
The commander was born in New York in 1949. He
graduated from the College of the Holy Cross with a
Bachelor of Arts degree in Russian Literature and
was commissioned through the NROTC program in
August 1970. He began his career aboard USS
Saginaw (LST-1188), graduated from the Defense
Language Institute where he studied Russian, and
then was assigned to NSGA Misawa, Japan.
Cmdr. John P. O'Neill
(U.S. Her9 pkete)
Next he was Assistant Commander, NSGA in Ft.
Meade, Md. and later became the officer in charge.
From 1980 to 1983 he earned an MSEE degree with
an Engineering Electronics subspecialty.
Recent assignments include duty at Naval
Electronics Systems Command,, Headquarters,
Naval Security Group Command and Naval Security
Group Support Activity, Washington, D.C.