British army Lt. Gen. James Bucknall, deputy commander of International Security Assistance Force Afghanistan, greets Col. Gary Johnston, commander of the 504th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade, Fort Hood, Texas, during an Aug. 10 visit to Forward Operating Base Spin Boldak in southern Afghanistan. Established in 2001, the ISAF operates with the involvement of more than 50 nations, including the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, where combatant commanders often rely on information from BFSBs to gain situation awareness of the battlefield, thereby accomplishing their missions of better preparing Afghan security forces and governments to take the lead in their nation's rebuilding.