Two become one Published Nov. 21, 2025 By D.P. Heard OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. -- The 557th Weather Wing’s 2nd Weather Group deactivated two squadrons consolidating them into the newly activated 557th Communications Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, November 14, 2025. The new squadron was created to deliver weather information more efficiently to operations commanders at every level and to ensure the transmission and safeguarding of information worldwide. This all ties into their core mission, to secure, connect, and defend while ensuring dominance in the information environment. “Roughly 20 percent of the [557th WW] wing’s total force are cyber professionals,” said Col. Andrew Frey, 2nd Weather Group commander. “While adversaries can launch attacks from anywhere, the 557th Communications Squadron will leverage global threat intelligence to ensure our mission is secured, connected, and defended.” The 2nd Systems Operations Squadron was activated in 2007 to help manage the 76 terabytes of data flowing through the 557th WW daily. As cyber threats grew, the 557th WW stood up the 2nd Weather Systems Squadron in 2017 to help defend the unit’s networks. “Today’s ceremony is more than a name change,” said Lt. Col. David Bresser, 557th Communications Squadron commander. “Because, despite the name, ‘Systems Operations Squadron,’ or ‘Weather Support Squadron,’ our teams have always been filled with communicators and cyber operators. We’ve always been a communication squadron. Today, we simply made it official.” Bresser took command of both 2nd SYOS and 2nd WSS last year and continued the work started by the previous commanders to combine the two units. “If they had not had the foresight, selflessness and vision to build something they knew they’d likely never see, we wouldn’t be here,” Bresser said. “Lt. Col. Dave Coonce and retired Lt. Col. Nick Gomez spent a good part of their commands recognizing the problems Air Force Weather faced, and realized merging their squadrons together would solve a great many issues.” Gomez was the 2nd SYOS commander from 2022 until 2024 and helped launch the merger in January 2023. “This activation directly strengthens our ability to generate, protect, and deliver timely, trusted information—accelerating decision advantage and enabling commanders to act with confidence,” Gomez said. Bresser added, “I’m honored to be the final commander of both the 2nd Systems Operations and 2nd Weather Support Squadrons. To close out a legacy of getting after the impossible. I’m also incredibly honored to stand up a new squadron, to be the first 557th Communications Squadron commander, to set a new path toward securing and protecting our weapon system.”