An Air National Guard base that has faced possible closure twice in the past eight years will get about 200 new jobs — a move that a base commander and area officials attribute largely to community support.

Officials have been waiting for some good news for a long time, Col. Gary McCue, commander of the 179th Airlift Wing of the Ohio Air National Guard based in Mansfield in north-central Ohio, told the Mansfield News Journal. “Community support is really what did it,” combined with the work of Ohio members of Congress, he said.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown announced Thursday that the airlift wing, which was included on a list of air guard bases around the country facing cuts as recently as last year, would be getting a new mission and eight C-130H planes from the Air Force, resulting in around 180 new jobs.