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The “Mad Foxes” return to NAS JAX after 6-month deployment

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The “Mad Foxes” of Patrol Squadron (VP) 5 returned to Naval Air Station Jacksonville Tuesday morning.

The group spent a six-month deployment conducting maritime patrol and reconnaissance operations with the P-8A Poseidon aircraft and operated in countries throughout the Indo-Asia Pacific region.

During their deployment, the “Mad Foxes,” led by Commanding Officer Cmdr. Ron Rumfelt, Jr., Executive Officer Cmdr. Frank Sanchez, and Command Master Chief Darnell Williams, managed several missions, participated in various exercises, and increased foreign relations through combined operations.

Some of the exercises they participated in throughout the deployment include Exercise Sea Dragon 21, refueling operations with Marine Wing Support Squadron 171, and several Expendable Mobile Anti-Submarine Warfare Training Target exercises with Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 51.

Photos: Mad Foxes return home to Jacksonville after 6-month deployment

Officials with NAS JAX said the “Mad Foxes” were also launched to help multiple search and rescue (SAR) missions over various parts of the Pacific Ocean.

VP-5 also sent military units to Guam, the Philippines, and Palau.

The VP-5 crew’s most successful mission was joining in on a team effort to help recover a crew on a fishing vessel that had been missing for at least three days, over 100 nautical miles off the coast of Saipan.

The Mad Foxes were even given an award during deployment -- the Captain Arnold Jay Isbell trophy.

The honor is given to “maritime patrol squadron in the Atlantic Fleet that best demonstrates outstanding performance in the anti-submarine warfare mission set.”