Eight airmen from the Nevada Air National Guard joined 160 people from seven nations July 21 to provide humanitarian assistance to the citizens of Tonga as part of Operation Pacific Angel-Tonga.

The mission will continue until July 26.

Tonga is Nevada National Guard’s partner in the National Guard’s State Partnership Program, the Department of Defense program that links a state’s National Guard with the armed forces or equivalent of a partner country in a cooperative, mutually beneficial relationship.

The Nevada Air National Guard is supporting Pacific Angel this week by providing Airmen who are experts in medical care and civil engineering. Specialized airmen will assist with the medical health services outreach mission that focuses on general health and primary care, dentistry, optometry, women’s health and pediatrics as well as the engineering civic action programs mission that focuses on the repair and refurbishment of medical and school facilities in Vava’u, Tonga.