SOUTHWEST ASIA - A group responsible for oversight of Joint Expeditionary Tasking Airmen in Iraq has joined the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing.
The 732nd Air Expeditionary Group, previously assigned to Balad Air Base, Iraq, began moving its headquarters here Aug. 21 as part of the responsible drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq, said Col. Dave Marttala, 732nd AEG commander. The move, which also included the group's intelligence and force support squadrons, is now complete.
The 732nd AEG provides administrative control for more than 600 JET Airmen. They will remain in Iraq to perform a variety of combat -support missions like construction, communications and logistics. JET Airmen typically are assigned to work for other military services and often perform functions not usually associated with the Air Force, many of which are executed outside the wire.
"Our Airmen support 29 different mission sets in 65 different functional areas," Marttala said. "Our group's mission is to organize, train, equip, and monitor the JET Airmen embedded with sister service units so those units are able to perform their missions at those locations.
Administratively and operationally JET Airmen fall under Air Force control, but whichever service they are embedded with exercises day-to-day local control of their activities."
During a June commander's call here, Air Force chief of staff Gen. Norton Schwartz spoke about the need for Airmen to continue to fill JET assignments to ensure mission success.
"We often hear that the other services want our Airmen because we know how to get things done," Schwartz said. "We bring excellence and commitment."
In light of the move, Marttala believes the group headquarters will be in a better position to reach out to its Airmen.
"This move places us right here at the theater gateway, so when we have Airmen coming in and out of Iraq, leadership can reach them," he said.
The 732nd AEG has been supporting and equipping JET Airmen for nearly seven years. Most perform duties in line with their Air Force specialty training, even though they are detailed to other services. These JET Airmen include intelligence analysts, engineers logisticians and more, Marttala said. Other JET Airmen are assigned wherever they're needed, even if the taskings fall outside their core competencies.
"We had one Air National Guard Airman, who is a hairstylist in the civilian world and a medic in the Guard, doing theater vehicle and equipment redistribution for an Army unit in Iraq," said Marttala. "These men and women are doing absolutely amazing things. I can't imagine doing anything else than being a part of this group of amazing Airmen. They are writing history."