Service Beyond The Base
by U.S. Air National Guard Airman Raymond LaChance
April 25, 2025

An Airman with the Vermont Air National Guard's (VTANG) Communications Squadron makes noise on the basketball court, mentoring the youth about skills essential on and off the court.

He joined the VTANG in 2022 and began his work in the Communications Squadron. His job is to ensure that the computers at the unit have the necessary applications and programs to ensure mission success.

His roots in the St. Albans community began when he attended Bellows Free Academy (BFA) St. Albans for high school, playing on the junior varsity and varsity basketball teams. After he completed college and joined the VTANG, it was soon after that he felt another call to service.

“I am the head coach of the Northeast Celtics fifth and sixth-grade basketball team,” said Senior Airman Landon Potvin, an Operations Support Specialist at the VTANG. “It’s an organization centered around St. Albans, and I have the privilege of coaching the same team all year round.”

Potvin has been coaching the same team for three years. He has been with the same group of kids since they were in third and fourth grade, which has allowed him to make deeper connections and expand from just a coach to a mentor.

“What I’ve enjoyed most is the comradery that we have created and the family we have built on the team," said Potvin. “I think that feeling is very similar to what I see in the Communications Squadron where I work.”

While coaching youth basketball, Potvin can’t help but realize the values and principles he has learned while in the military making an impact on his pupils on the basketball court.

“Having a military background I feel like I can enforce key principles like integrity, accountability, and discipline” said Potvin. “My job as a basketball coach is not only to make them better basketball players but to make them better people.”

Potvin has not only seen the key skills he has learned from his military life translate to his job on the basketball court, but he has also seen his coaching passion translate to his work at the VTANG.

“The biggest thing I have learned while coaching these kids is how to be personable,” said Potvin. “If someone isn't performing their best, It’s important to not beat them down about it, but to ask how they are doing, and to be there for them.”

For Potvin, basketball has always been his favorite activity and is still a large part of his life, but serving in the military has made him more driven to mentor and impact the lives of these kids, one whistle at a time.

“The basketball skills, those will come or they won't, but being a great teammate and doing what’s right even when nobody is watching that’s what’s important for me to teach.”

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