Familiar Faces

Airmen with the Georgia Air National Guard’s 165th Air Support Operations Squadron are now deployed with members of the Army’s 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team in Nangarhar Province, in eastern Afghanistan. These airmen are assigned to several joint terminal attack controller units that will call in combat air support for their Army brethren if the situation dictates. Some of these Air Guardsmen have worked before with these soldiers, in Iraq. “Because of that history, they know what they can expect from us and what we can provide them,” said MSgt. James F. Harnisch, a senior NCO among the deployed airmen. The JTACs’ sense of situational awareness allows them to assist with intelligence gathering for the ground troops, an invaluable skill. (Nangarhar report by Army Sgt. Tracy J. Smith)