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224th JCSS Airmen Back From Enduring Freedom

      Air Guardsmen of Brunswick’s 224th Joint Communications Support Squadron returned late December to their families and their home station in Brunswick, making it just in time for the holidays.
      Thirty-seven members of the unit had been performing duty in an undisclosed part of the world as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. When the Guardsmen stepped off a Georgia Air Guard C-130 to be greeted by waiting families at the Brunswick Airport less than one week remained before Christmas. 
      Those who did come home weren’t sure they would make until two days before they were informed that they would return to Georgia, said Lt. Col. Floyd Harbin, who commands the 224th. That made it a bit tough on everyone, he said.
      “Many of our Guardsmen had been home only six of the last 15 months,” Harbin explained. “It’s rough not being at home with loved ones at this time of year, so you know they and their families are quite happy they’re not spending the holidays apart from one another.”
      At the same time, he said, there is a feeling of sadness because not all the Brunswick-based Guardsmen made it back to Georgia for Christmas. 
     The return of the 224th airmen follows the unit’s second overseas deployment since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Guardsmen were initially sent to Afghanistan during the unit’s first 19-month deployment that began Oct. 1, 2001. Following more than six months at home, the unit was again called up Nov. 1 and sent overseas.
      The 224th is one only two Air National Guard squadrons assigned to the Joint Chiefs of Staff to meet the specialized communications needs of battlefield commanders. More than 200 members specialize in installing high-tech and reliable telephone, high-speed Internet, and satellite communications networks in battlefield environments.
      Harbin suggested that this last homecoming could be a short one. The unit, he said, was called up for two years of active duty, and there are still several months to go on that commitment. “We could be back on a plane again within 72 hours,” Harbin said. “But that’s the mission we’ve been called upon to perform, and it all depends on what’s going on in the world today.”

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