As conflict in the Middle East heats up, Army National Guard team out of Colorado Springs prepares to deploy
"Our forces need space support to help locate these terrorists to bring them to justice. Our team is well trained to do that," Maj. Larry Hazeltine said.
As a small team from the Army National Guard based in Colorado Springs expect to deploy this week to the tense region.
Army Space Support Team 17 of the 117th Space Battalion is planning to work across the Middle East for nine months as part of Operation Inherent Resolve focused on regional stability. As part of their work, they will travel to sites where ground satellite infrastructure is in place to help with mission research and planning among other tasks.
Maj. Larry Hazeltine explained during a ceremony at Fort Carson Saturday that when the team learned they would be deploying the Middle East was relatively quiet.
“We thought we would be watching Russia and Ukraine from a distance,” said Hazeltine, who will be leading the team.
Sgt. Maj. David Spencer, left, and Maj. Larry Hazeltine participate in a ceremony Saturday ahead of Army Space Support Team 17 with the 117th Space Battalion heading for the Middle East. The ceremony also celebrated the recent of Army Space Support Team 20 from the same battalion.
Since then, Hamas started a war with Israel, Houthi rebels have attacked ships in the Red Sea and terrorists supported by Iran struck an American base in Jordan with a drone.
On Friday, the U.S. hit 85 targets with missiles at seven locations in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for the attack in Jordan that killed three Americans and injured more than 40 others, according to the Department of Defense.
“Our forces need space support to help locate these terrorists to bring them to justice. Our team is well trained to do that,” Hazeltine said.
The team has been assembled over the last year and all are experienced professionals that performed well in training recently, he said.
At the same ceremony, Army Space Support Team 20 was celebrated for their work in the Middle East in 2023.
Capt. Josh Chandler, with Team 20, said it was a consistently busy deployment, but offered great learning opportunities as the team worked to help commanders make informed decisions through intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. The team also maintains information flow via satellite links.
“It was overall a fantastic deployment,” he said.
Hazeltine described the upcoming mission as an opportunity for National Guardsmen to show their love for their country and families.
“We are ready to fight over there to prevent them from bringing terror over here,” he said.
Amy Space Support Team 20 with the 117th Space Battalion was welcomed home Saturday Feb. 3, 2024 during a ceremony at Fort Carson. Photo Courtesy of Brooke Nevins, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command.
Maj. Larry Hazeltine speaks Saturday during a ceremony ahead of Army Space Support Team 17 of the 117th Space Battalion leaving for the Middle East.