ON GUARD: NATO Secretary-General Visits Georgia Guard

By Sgt. 1st Class Roy Henry

The played host to NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who took time to honor Georgia Army and Air Guardsmen for their service with NATO forces in the global war on terror, as well as for their work with the nation of Georgia since 1995 through the State Partnership Program.

In addition to Atlanta, the secretary general is also visiting Austin, Texas; Chicago;  and the nation’s capitol to address NATO’s critically important role in what it calls the “transatlantic relationship” between the United States and other NATO partners.

During an afternoon session at Georgia Air Guard Headquarters, just across  the runway on Dobbin Air Reserve Base, Rasmussen talked with more than 60 soldiers, airmen and Georgia Department of Defense civilians about the Georgia Guard’s work with NATO in the War on Terror through the Joint Surveillance Target Attack System (JSTARS), the Army Guard’s operation of Combined Joint Task Force Phoenix in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010, and the joint Army and Air work being done with the country of Georgia through the State Partnership Program to help that nation become a NATO partner.

“Most of the soldiers and airmen in the room have participated in NATO operations in Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan and most recently in support of the alliance in the skies over Libya,” said Maj. Gen. Terry Nesbitt, Georgia’s adjutant general, to the audience before Rasmussen delivered his remarks.

The 116th aircrews flying the E-8C JSTARS aircraft have, for example, flown more than 66,000 combat flight hours over Iraq and Afghanistan, providing command and control, and ISR – a multispectral intelligence sensor array – capability that is unique within NATO, Nesbitt noted. The wing has also participated in NATO’s Operation Odyssey Dawn and Unified Protector operations. Crews operating the 165th’s C-130 Hercules cargo planes have also provided airlift support to NATO operations.

In Afghanistan, Georgia Army guardsmen staffed Combined Task Force Phoenix. Comprised of more than 11,000 troops from more than 20 nations, the task force was commanded by Georgia’s Brig. Gen. Larry Dudney from spring 2009 to spring 2010. Dudney, Nesbitt added, also directed the Afghan National Security Forces Development Assistance Bureau.

The Georgia Guard’s partnership with the country of Georgia, Nesbitt added, has helped the NATO hopeful build an effective and “interoperable force,” capable of contributing to alliance operations. Indeed, the country of Georgia, is already the third largest provider of coalition forces to current NATO operations, Nesbitt said.

“We’re proud of our partner [the country of Georgia] and the progress it’s made, and we look forward to helping them achieve their goal of membership within the alliance,” he said.

Rasmussen said he found it a rare privilege to meet with soldiers and airmen who continue to make such a large contribution to NATO operations.

“I know that the motto of the National Guard is ‘always ready, always there,’ and this has been absolutely true – now and in the past, here in the United States and throughout the world,” Rasmussen said. “Whenever, wherever you’ve been asked to go, you’ve gone to make sure peace prevailed and nations like Afghanistan never again are the breeding ground for some of the world’s deadliest terrorists. Most recently, you’ve helped with the defense of innocent civilians in Libya against the senseless attacks of the present regime.”

Rasmussen said he knows the past few years have busy ones for the Georgia Guard – and the National Guard as a whole – and that its operational tempo has remained high throughout that time. He added that he also knows of the toll war takes on citizen-soldiers and airmen – some of whom have made the ultimate sacrifice in the fight against oppression and tyranny – and on their families.

“When you consider that you are all volunteers, and that many of you have done more than one tour abroad while your regular jobs and your regular lives were put on hold, your service is that much more remarkable,” Rasmussen said. “It takes a very special person to make that kind of commitment to serve, not only alongside NATO, but here within your own communities.”

NATO is busier now, Rasmussen said, than at any other time in its history. He added that the world in an increasingly predictable place, with many threats to its security and well-being. Terrorism, cyber attacks, piracy, failed states and nuclear proliferation know no borders and affect every nation. Be he affirmed, “There is no future for extremism.”

“The only way to identify and defeat such threats is by working together,” he said. “We do this by reaching out to our allies – like the United States – because no one nation, no one organization can do it alone. Solidarity between the NATO partners has, and will remain, vital to our continued success. Citizen-soldiers and airmen like you contribute greatly to our resolve.”

“I can only say ‘thank you’ for your professionalism, and for your dedication to the cause of freedom,” Rasmussen added. “Thanks, too, to your loved ones and your employers for their support of your service.”  

He then took questions before moving out onto the flight line to tour aircraft and speak with the crewmembers from Savannah’s 165th Airlift Wing, Marietta’s 78th Aviation Troop Command and Warner Robins’ 116th Air Control Wing.

For a video of Rasmussen's visit, click here.