There’s no place like home.
That’s how Col. Nancy Harris felt when she stepped into the role of Fort Gordon’s garrison commander in July.\
“I love Augusta,” she said. “I lived here three years, and I’ve come out so many times. I know the area. I know the community.”
As a career Signal Corps officer, Harris’s first trip to Fort Gordon came while she not long after her enlistment, and she was later stationed at Fort Gordon from 2014-2017 spending two of those years with the 15th Signal Brigade. She’s attended school In Georgia twice.
But her Georgia connection goes back years before her military days. Although she was born and raised north of Philadelphia, Georgia was a second home while growing up
“My father was born and raised in Swainsboro. I’ve been coming here since I was a child – every summer, Christmas and Easter. Even though I’m from the Northeast; my heart is a Georgia peach.”
Harris’s brothers and father prompted her to join the military. One of her brothers was an Army recruiter. Even though she already had academic scholarships and didn’t need tuition assistance, she joined the Army reserves in January of her senior year of high school and ended up in the ROTC program at the University of Pittsburgh.
After graduation, she received her commission.
She’s held a variety of positions during her military career. She was company commander of the 86th Signal Battalion during Operation Iraqi Freedom. She served with the NATO Allied Maritime Command Naples headquarters. She was assigned to the Mission Command Training Program at Fort Leavenworth, then to the Pentagon on the Army’s Talent Management Task Force where she was selected to command the 25th Strategic Signal Battalion
While at the Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, her battalion provided strategic communications support throughout the Middle East. She served as Peterson Space Force Base as a Deputy Division Chief at the Joint Cyber Center. While there, she was selected by the Combatant Commander, North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command as his Deputy Executive Officer.
She took over as garrison commander on July. 6
“This job is unlike anything I’ve ever done. No job had truly aligned me to this,” she said.
The position has been compared to being a mayor or a city administrator, and it has different moving parts than other military commands. However, she had one advantage in that she had a year to prepare for the transition.
“Leaders pulled me in and guided me,” she said.
She met with other garrison commanders and reached out to former classmates and colleagues who helped her learn about contracts and military construction. She spoke to military dependents about living on the installation to help her learn the challenges they face.
And she took an unfamiliar role in a familiar place.
“Coming back where it all started is a real blessing,” she said.
She’s also had the opportunity to be reconnected with people who’ve impacted her military career and her personal life.
“I’ve seen people I haven’t seen in years. My former drill sergeant is here. I have former commanders here, and I have ties to the community,” she said.
Those relationships are key in helping her accomplish what she hopes to achieve during her time at Fort Gordon.
“I want to strengthen relationships with Augusta and surrounding school districts,” she said. “Keeping that as a positive relationship is our biggest goal. Most of our people live off post, they live in the local community. Having that tie – you have to have that relationship with the community.”
While the relationships outside the gates are important, so are the relationships on the installation. Despite the new aspects to her job that she’s encountering, she still gets to do what she loves.
“I absolutely wanted to be able to impact soldiers, civilian and families,” she said.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years. She’s won multiple Georgia Press Association awards, is the recipient of the 2018 Greater Augusta Arts Council’s media award and was named best local writer by readers of Augusta Magazine in 2024 and 2025. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here
