Maine National Guard 521st Troop Command changes hands

Lt. Col. Kevin Kelley, right, receives a retirement gift from Command Sgt. Maj. Brad Merrill, left. Sgt. Richard Powell is at center. Maine National Guard photo by Maj. Lena Witham

BANGOR — In an Oct. 14 ceremony, Lt. Col. Kevin Kelley passed the colors of the 521st Troop Command to his successor, Lt. Col. Amy Cartmell. Kelley is retiring after a 27-year military career.

Kelley, an infantry-turned-intelligence officer, was awarded the Legion of Merit in recognition of exceptionally meritorious service, and dedication to both the mission and his soldiers, according to a news release from Maj. Carl Lamb with the Maine National Guard.

Lt. Col. Amy Cartmell gives her remarks during the Oct. 14 ceremony in Bangor. Maine National Guard photo by Maj. Lena Witham

Kelley, a native of Lewiston, enlisted in the Army as an infantryman in 1989, serving in Vilseck, Germany, and Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He has served in all three components of the U.S. Army — Active, Reserve, and National Guard – and deployed to Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait and Kosovo. His numerous assignments within the Army and National Guard have included infantry platoon leader, instructor, operations officer, company commander, and S-2 intelligence officer at multiple echelons of command.

The 521st Troop Command is the in-state higher headquarters for several detachments of aviation flight crews, maintenance and support personnel, as well as the 195th Army Band, and B Company, 3-172nd Infantry (Mountain). The 521st also serves as the command element of the New England CERFP, a regional National Guard response team designed to assist first responders during various large-scale emergencies.

Cartmell comes to command following a deployment to Poland as the deputy commander of Maine’s 120th Regional Support Group in support of U.S. Army Europe’s Operation Atlantic Resolve. Originally enlisting as a flight medic in 1996, she commissioned into the Medical Services Corps and ultimately qualified as an aeromedical evacuation pilot, deploying to both Iraq and Kuwait in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn.

Cartmell, a full-time member of the National Guard living in Newburgh, previously served in recruiting as an officer strength manager and an assistant professor of military science at the University of Maine. She is assigned in Augusta as a deputy personnel officer at Joint Force Headquarters.

Kelley is employed as a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the Boston-based Cyber Crime Task Force. Prior to that assignment, he served as the senior supervising agent for the FBI in Maine.