Heavy weapons at Savannah airport aren't part of increased security

From Savannah Morning News

By Pamela E. Walck

It's hard to miss a bunch of Humvees armed with Avenger Air Defense Systems, parked near the Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport, guns aimed skyward.  

It's even harder to ignore the 450 extra soldiers and airmen milling around the airport and nearby Georgia Air National Guard's Combat Readiness Training Center - all of whom will be highly visible over the next 10 days as part of an Exercise America Drill led by the 263rd Army Air and Missile Defense Command, South Carolina Army National Guard.  

"There are no 'live' fires scheduled," said Lt. Col. Bill Berry, deputy operations officer for the 263rd Army Air Missile Defense Command. "It's just soldiers on systems, doing tracking drills, that sort of thing."  

Regardless, the extra activities on the airport property didn't go unnoticed by county residents en route to work at nearby businesses, such as Gulfstream.  

Lori Lynah, the airport's director of marketing and public relations, said with close proximity to the Air Guard's training center, Fort Stewart and Parris Island, it isn't unusual for military organizations to use the area for training purposes.  

"We actually get a lot of stuff like this," she said.  

Read the full story in Wednesday's Savannah Morning News.  
Mac McCormick III
KF4LMT

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