Chief of Signal’s Comments

BG Randolph P. StrongChief of Signal

In order to produce adaptive Soldierswho are agile thinkers and competentwith evolving changing technology,we need to bring the whole trainingsystem and structure into net-readiness. We cannot do it piecemeal.The network is a critical weaponssystem.

Fellow members of the SignalRegiment:

The essence of the Army’stransformation today lies in capturingopportunities created by thetechnological change omnipresent inour increasingly complex world. Keyto that change is the education andtraining of signal warriors so they cantake advantage of these advances andfeel comfortable with the newequipment.

It is clear that the Regimentneeds to educate Soldiers in a morenetwork-centric environment andprovide consistency from doctrine toactual employment of the network.

We must ensure that ourinstruction addresses the entirenetwork. In order to produce adaptiveSoldiers who are agile thinkers andcompetent with ever-evolvingtechnology, we need to bring thewhole training system and structureinto net-readiness. We cannot do itpiecemeal. The network is a criticalweapons system. It is time to go afterour training strategies in order to bepositioned for the future.

With this in mind, we have setout to dramatically re-tool our signalschool. It is apparent that training oursignal warriors so that they functioncomfortably in a net-centriccontemporary operating environmentwould not be truly effective if wesimply focus on new technology. We

Training the Regiment for certainty andeducating the Regiment for uncertainty

need to create a new mindset – anew understanding of fighting anetworked force. This warriorthinking is information ageappropriate and not just newtechnology grafted on old thinkingpatterns. The training constructthat we developed breaks downinternal educational stovepipes andgoes from “whole to part.” We willintroduce every Soldier to the entirenetwork and then provide MOStraining based on the militaryoccupational specialtyrequirements.

Using this methodology and lessonsfrom deployed units, we have changedthe paradigm in which we think, talk, andteach the network. We are now teachingour Soldiers and leaders how to “fight”rather than “manage” the network. Weare now going to train all signal Soldiersand leaders to see themselves – at alltimes – as critical enablers charged withassuring the health and operation of thiscritical weapon system. We owe ourintelligent Soldiers, Airmen, Marines, andSailors attending our classes the skillsand knowledge to network the force in thejoint and coalition fight.

We have started by transformingthe advanced individual trainingexperience into three new and distinctparts. In the first part all Soldiers aretaught about networks holistically througha “Signal 101” core program while theylive in a forward operation base. Throughreinforcing warrior tasks and battle drillstraining, Soldiers are educated onnetwork fundamentals, Internet Protocolfundamentals, information assurancefundamentals, combat net radio, and blueforce tracking fundamentals.

Soldiers then go to the secondphase and complete competency coursesfor their specific MOS. Finally, allstudents have their skills validated in acapstone field training exercise. Duringthis exercise, the signal warrior completesreception, staging, onward-movement,

See Chief of Signal Commentscontinued on Inside Back Cover

CommunicatorVoice of the Signal Regiment

Table of Contents

2 Modular communication solutions in the 2IDBy CPT Benjamin Genthner

5 Tactical COTS concept used for GWOTBy CPT Jack Sander

8 Commercial technologies in IraqBy MAJ Mike Parsons

11 Black Network proves its mettle during Ulchi Focus Lens 2005By COL Robert L. Bethea, Jr., MAJ Edward P. Mattison, Jared Shepard, andCPT Kevin Knowlen

16 Telecommunications service distribution in an expeditionary ArmyBy CPT Ross W. Charton and 1LT (P) James R. Minicozzi

34 Katrina Disaster Relief special section

U.S. ARMY SIGNAL CENTER AND FORT GORDON

Army Communicator (ISSN 0362-5745) (USPS305-470) is an authorized, official quarterlyprofessional bulletin of the U.S. Army Signal Center,Fort Gordon, Ga. 30905-5301. Periodical postagepaid by Department of the Army (DOD 314) atAugusta, Ga. 30901 and additional mailing offices.

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Features

PB 11-06-1Winter 2006

Vol. 31 No. 1

Worldwide web homepage address http://www.gordon.army.mil/AC/E-mail ACeditor@gordon.army.mil

41 Circuit check20 Index 200527 TSM update

Departments

Cover: This edition of the Army Communicator cover reflects signal trainingas found in the Chief of Signal Comments.

Cover by Billy Cheney

COMMANDCommander/CommandantBG Randolph P. StrongCommand Sergeant MajorCSM Michael Terry

EDITORIAL STAFF

Editor-in-Chief/Graphic DesignerJanet A. McElmurray

Senior AdviserSusan Wood

IllustratorBilly Cheney

PhotographyStephen Larsen, Tony Medici, RichardMattox, LTC Stephan Middleton, AnthonyRicchiazzi, Marlene Thompson, White HousePhoto,

ARMY

SANDRA R. RILEYAdministrative Assistant to theSecretary of the Army

0530503

PETER J. SCHOOMAKERGeneral, United States ArmyChief of Staff

Official: By Order of the Secretaryof the Army

35 67th does their best: communicationsBy Kristy Davies

36 Signal Soldier proves blood IS thicker than waterBy SPC Brandon Aird

37 56th Sig Bn assists in Katrina disaster reliefBy 1LT Sharron Stewart

38 G6, 35th Division’s participation in Hurricane Katrina relief effortsBy MAJ Francis Polashek

39 Katrina task force volunteer meets President BushBy Stephen Larsen

56 Signal Museum outreachBy Robert Anzuoni

58 Strange signals: Muzak - thanks to George O. SquireBy Mike Rodgers

Modular communicationsolutions in 2ID

2 Winter 2006

By CPT Benjamin Genthner

Effective command, control,communications, computers, andintelligence systems are critical tothe success of a modular force onthe modern battlefield. In order tomake precise and timely decisionsduring the battle, our commandersrequire the ability to access securevoice and data, video teleconferenc-ing, real time intelligence andcollaboration tools. The employ-ment of these capabilities gives thecommander a common operatingpicture from which he can makeswift and accurate assessmentsbased upon relevant and well-timedinformation. The ability to share aCOP among subordinate, higher,and adjacent units is a force multi-plier which pays dividends in everywar fighting function.

The Army is currently invest-ing in these C4I capabilities throughthe Joint Network Node fielding.JNN has proved to be a valuableC4I system during in its recentdeployment in support of OperationEnduring Freedom/Operation IraqiFreedom. 2nd Infantry Division andmany other units across the Armyhave yet to be fielded.

JNNs, however, are stillexpected to buoy up the growingneeds of a modular force. Facedwith subscriber needs racingbeyond its network capabilities anda JNN fielding no where on thehorizon, the 2ID G-6 has aggres-sively pursued viable solutions.

This path led 2ID to theprocurement and fielding of theCombined Operational Very SmallAperture Terminals Network Korea.The light weight, easily deployableterminals were a perfect match tosupport brigade tactical operatingcenters, major subordinate com-mand posts, liaison officer teams, or

just about any modular CPs requir-ing secure voice and data. Throughmuch experimentation and fine-tuning by the 2ID G-6 and NorthopGrunman the COVN-K has quicklybloomed into a C4I mainstay on theKorean peninsula.

ThesisSince its fielding in January

2005, the COVN-K has provedinvaluable in 2ID’s ability to com-municate as a modular force. Al-though the JNN has enhancedinteroperability and networkingcapabilities, COVN-K has become anextremely attractive alternative tolegacy mobile subscriber equip-ment/tactical satellite communica-tions. Its high bandwidth, ease ofinstallation and generally lowmaintenance and overhead make it aperfect solution for any organizationlooking for quick, efficient, andsustainable communication. TheCOVN-Ks abilities have been tested,refined and validated duringWarpath III, War Fighter 05, and theULCHI Focus LEN 05 exercises, inwhich the system provided securevoice and data services to majorsubordinate commands within 2IDand also to our Republic of KoreaLNO teams across the peninsula.

OriginAlthough heavily employed for

operational needs since its inductionat 2ID, the COVN-K system wasoriginally designed by and forUnited States Forces, Korea J2 toprovide signal intelligence, humanintelligence, and imagery intelli-gence data to military intelligenceunits. The J2 system, named Com-bined Intelligence VSAT NetworkKorea, quickly became popularbecause of its ease of deployment,reliability and maintainability. Todelineate the operational systems

from the intelligence systems it wasrenamed COVN-K and was fieldedby the 122nd Signal Battalion inJanuary 2005. The COVN-K has beenused intensely for operational needsof the 2ID ever since.

CompositionThe COVN-K can be grouped

into two major parts groups. (1)Thespoke antenna and radio frequencysubsystem; which includes theantenna, up-converter, amplifier,low noise block converter, and inter-facility link cables. (2)The COVN-KLAN subsystem; which consists of aCisco black side router, a KG175, aTactical Command Post /InternetProtocol link enhancer and the redside router. The COVN-K integrationof top of the line commercial-off-the-shelf hardware makes replacingparts convenient.

DeployabilityIn comparison to conventional

MSE and TACSAT assets, COVN-Kis very easy to deploy. Using alightweight 2.4 meter off-set feedantenna dish transportable viahumvee, the COVN-K system can besetup and operational by two trainedoperators in as little as 30 minutes.This setup time makes it an attrac-tive communications tool to modularcommand posts on the move.

SurvivabilityThe COVN architecture was

designed to promote survivabilityamong intelligence/communicationsnetworks around the Pacific Theater.With hubs, servers and Multi-Controlled Units located on SunsetBeach, Oahu, Hawaii, the systemsgateway is survivable despitepossible hazardous situations on theKorean peninsula. This survivabilityis a key feature considering theunpredictable nature of the enemy.

Modular communicationsolutions in 2ID

Army Communicator 3

DataThe COVN-K is a fully scalable

and modular super-high frequencyVSAT terminal approved for C-bandoperation with a tested data rate of3.0 Mbps In bound to the hub andup to 60 Mbps outbound from thehub. The system is capable ofoperating in the SI/TK, SensativeInfomation Releasable to Republic ofKorea, SECRET COLATERAL,SECRET Republic of Korea classifi-cation level individually, or anycombination of the four classificationlevels to include all four simulta-neously.

ScalabilityFeaturing full redundancy at

the commercial hub, the COVN-Kcan support scalable multi-meg datarates depending on the assignedbandwidth provided by the NetworkManagement System. The COVN-Khas the ability to allocate bandwidthto each terminal on the networkmaking it scalable to whatevermission requirements may be. TheCOVN-K network administratorcontinually monitors and assesseshow terminals are using theirallocated bandwidth to ensureoptimal performance.

Terrain 1The employment of COVN-K

has also helped resolve terrainchallenges that with 2IDs traditional

LOS architecture were sometimesdifficult to overcome. A brief terrainanalysis of the Korean peninsulareveals a mountainous landscapewith an abundance of foliage, plantlife and undergrowth. Large lowlying areas are susceptible to flood-ing and are often used for agricul-tural means. Conventional LOSbased radio systems such as theSingle-Channeled Ground to AirRadio System and MSE face aunique challenge on the Koreanpeninsula. The abrupt terrainthroughout Korea is not conduciveto LOS voice and data communica-tions.

Terrain 2In the event of sudden North

Korean invasion the Korean terrainwould severely impede the 2ID’sability to Install, operate, maintainand protect a LOS architecture. Dueto the vulnerability of relay posi-tions, deploying a network usingthese systems would require excesssecurity, and co-habitation withprotection elements. Aviation assets,already taxed with theater levelmissions, would be required to placenodes and relays upon otherwiseinaccessible hilltops. Extendedlogistics and maintenance operationswould have to be planned, executed,and sustained. In summary, deploy-ing a conventional MSE/frequencymodulation architecture in supportof a fast moving modular forcewould most likely be a complex andhazardous venture. In the event that2ID would “Fight Tonight” themodular nature of COVN-K wouldhelp mitigate these risks, creating aflexible communication networkwhich is easy to install, operate,maintain, and protect.

ChallengesThe COVN-K program has not

been without its challenges; 2ID hasyet to move their servers to Hawaii.This has caused undue latency in theCOVN-K network. This “DoubleHop” situation is an ineffective wayto use the network because it essen-tially has doubled the time for asubscriber in the field to connect tohis hub/server.

COVN-K is fully scalable, super-high frequency VSAT terminalapproved for C-band operation.

4 Winter 2006

Currently 2ID has resorted to a“virtual hub” solution in which ahub is made from a COVN spoketerminal located at the divisionmain. This “virtual hub” is acting asan inject point to the divisionservers. This solution does work,however it causes undue latencybecause Instead of having to travelfrom a subscriber in the field to thesatellite and down to a server farmin Hawaii, in the “virtual hub”configuration, packets have to traveltwice the distance, leaving againfrom Hawaii, back to the satelliteand back down to the “virtual hub”at the main. There are future plans tomove 2ID’s servers to Hawaii,however until this is done extendedlatency will continue to causeproblems. Specifically at the applica-tion layer in which many “real time”applications which seek informationconstantly have experienced issuesdue to latency.

ConclusionIn conclusion, with the ever

growing demand for bandwidth andC4I systems by commanders of amodular force; units such as 2IDhave experienced a period in whichthe demands of the subscriber oftendo not match the ability of a tradi-tional line-of-sight network. Thesechallenges have led to great strides

ACRONYM QUICKSCAN

BDE – BrigadeC4I – Command, Control, Commu-nications, Computers, & IntelligenceCOP – Common Operating PictureCOS – Commercial-off-the-shelfCIVN-K – Combined IntelligenceVSAT Network KoreaCOVN-K – Combined OperationalVSAT Network KoreaCP – command postsFM – frequency modulationFY – fiscal yearHUMINT – Human IntelligenceID – Infantry DivisionIFL – inter-facility linkIMINT – Imagery IntelligenceIP – Internet ProtocolJNN – Joint Node NetworkLAN – Local Area NetworkLEN – Large Extension NodeLNB – low noise blockLNO – Liaison OfficerLOS – Line of SightMCU – Multi-Control UnitMSE – mobile subscriber equipmentNMS – Network Management Sys-temOEF – Operation Enduring Free-domOIF – Operation Iraqi FreedomRF – radio frequencyROK – Republic of KoreaSHF – super high frequencySIGINT – Signal IntelligenceSINCGAR – Single Channel Groundto Air Radio SystemTACSAT – Tactical SatelliteTCP – Tactical Command PostTOC – Tactical Operations CenterUSFK – United States Forces, Ko-reaVSAT – Very Small Aperture Termi-nal

made in an unconventional manner.By thinking outside the box, 2ID andthe G-6 team working closely withNorthup Grunman have created asolution to support the modularcommunications needs of a trans-formed force.

The COVN-K has been anintegral part to 2ID’s transformation,and although it has had its chal-lenges it has proven to be a morethan adequate placeholder for JNN.With the current fielding of JNNsteadily slipping to the right, 2ID iscurrently slated to procure sevenadditional COVN-K systems in fiscalyear 05-06. There are also plans tointegrate COVN-K into the eventual2ID JNN Network. Despite theeventual fielding of JNN, futureresearch development and refine-ment of the COVN-K will remain akey training objective of the 2ID G-6as we move to expand in our role asthe “Voice of the Warrior”.

CPT Genthner is currentlyassigned to the 2nd Infantry Divisionwhere he works in the G-6 NETOPSsection at Camp Red Cloud Korea. Hewas previously assigned to Fort Bliss,Texas, where he served as a Air Defensesignal officer and MSE platoon leaderfrom 2001-2004. He attended the SignalCaptains Career Course class 06-04where he graduated in March 2005.

COTSo 30 to 100 Mbpso VOIP/Datao 2PAX/0 Vehicles

MSEo 250Kpbso DNVT/DSVT/Datao 6 Psx/2 Vehicles

Replaces

Army Communicator 5

By CPT Jack Sander

Commercialization conceptInitial combat operations

within Iraq in support of the GlobalWar on Terrorism required rapidlydeployable communications person-nel and equipment. Once initialcombat operations were concluded,those same communications person-nel began to focus on building along-term strategic commercialcommunication infrastructure thatprovided a robust, redundant, andreliable extension of the GlobalInformation Grid to U.S. and Coali-tion forces.

The transition from initial

combat operations to stability andsustainment operations occurredvery rapidly in Iraq.

The supporting transition fromthe tactical communications networkthat existed during initial combatoperations to the long-term strategiccommercial communications infra-structure that provides service forstability and sustainment operationsdoes not occur as rapidly as neces-sary to keep pace with the combatmaneuver units. Providing immedi-ate command, control, communica-tions, and computer support to thewarfighter is the responsibility of thetactical signal units within theater.Conversely, the operations andmaintenance of the long-term,strategic commercial infrastructurefalls under the purview of personnelat the Network Enterprise SystemsTechnology Activity within the

Tactical COTSconcept used for GWOT

Network Enterprise TechnologyCommand, based at Fort Huachuca,Ariz.

This paradigm resulted in asituation that required the SignalCorps to develop an interim solutiondesigned to rapidly relieve tacticalunits in order to free them up forreconstitution and follow-on mis-sions in support of the GWOT. Inorder to fulfill the need for thisinterim solution, the tactical com-mercialization concept was devel-oped by the 35th Signal Brigade(Airborne), based out of Fort Bragg,N.C. Commercialization of net-works is defined as the displacement

extended from the campus architec-ture through a COTS solution withinruggedized transit cases. This unitthen hypothetically receives ordersto relocate to another base that has amore permanent, long-term strategicinformation infrastructure withlimited Outside Plant fiber opticcable already in place.

As the unit prepares to move,they merely disconnect the COTScomponents within their transitcases and then transport those caseswith them as they move to the newbase. Upon arrival at the new basethe unit already has an organiccapability to hook directly into the

In other words, commercializationof the tactical network is a bridgebetween the tacticalcommunications network and thelong-term strategic commercialinfrastructure.

existing OSP infrastructure, withouthaving to wait for additional fiberoptic cable to be extended to theirlocation. This methodology savestime, effort, and supports ourcombat forces effectively with thenecessary C4 services.

Commercialization of networktechnologies

Commercialization of networksconsist of the design and implemen-tation of a commercial-off-the-shelfnetwork solution that can be placedinto operation immediately to relievetactical communications assem-blages. These COTS solutions are

of tactical communications assem-blages by modular, commercial-off-the-shelf solutions. In other words,commercialization of the tacticalnetwork is a bridge between thetactical communications networkand the long-term strategic commer-cial infrastructure.

All commercial componentsand devices are housed in ruggedtransit cases. They represent astandardized solution that can meetcurrent and future subscriberdemands through a modular designthat allows easy relocation as thesupported commander movesthroughout the battlespace. A goodexample of this application would beto consider a unit that is currentlylocated at a remote Forward Operat-ing Base. While stationed at theFOB, the unit is receiving C4 services

6 Winter 2006

based upon several current andemerging technologies such as theRedline Communications’ AN-30eBroadband Wireless System,Canon’s Free Space Optics Trans-ceivers, Cisco System’s VG248Analog Phone Gateway, and theCoalition Military Network.

The AN-30e BroadbandWireless System operates within the5.4 to 5.8 gigahertz range of theelectromagnetic frequency spectrumand is designed to be capable oftransmitting up to eight full T1circuits over a planning range of 80kilometers. The Canon Free SpaceOptics is a bi-directional opticalbeam transceiver designed to becapable of transmitting a data rate of156 Mbps over a planning range of2000 meters. Both the AN-30eBroadband Wireless System and theFree Space Optics Transceiver can bemanaged remotely through SimpleNetwork Management Protocol.

Cisco System’s VG248 AnalogPhone Gateway provides fullintegration of analog devices (tele-phones, modems, fax machines) intothe CallManager Internet Protocoltelephony system. The Cisco VG248Analog Phone Gateway is housed ina 19-inch rack-mount chassis andcapable of supporting up to 48wireline subscribers.

The Coalition Military Net-work provides a rapidly deployable,self-contained tactical-type capabil-ity that extends the campus architec-ture for secure and nonsecure voice,Nonsecure Internet Protocol RouterNetwork, and coalition classifieddata network connections to remotesites. The Coalition Networkarchitecture uses a multifrequency,time division multiple access,demand-assigned multiple accesssystem which fully integrates into anInternet-Protocol informationinfrastructure.

These COTS solutions haveseveral advantages in terms ofincreased bandwidth, quality ofservice, and a reduction in both thenumber of personnel and vehiclesrequired for operation.

The missionDuring OIF-III, the lead tactical

signal unit in theater was the 35thSignal Brigade (Airborne), whichdeployed to Iraq as the Multina-tional Corps-Iraq Coalition NetworkOperations and Security Center.From the beginning of the receipt ofdeployment orders for the rotationthe Soldiers, non-commissionedofficers and officers of the 35thSignal Brigade began preparing forthe challenging mission of commer-cialization. Realizing that the skillsrequired to install a commercialnetwork infrastructure normallyreside at the Echelon Above Corpslevel the brigade’s leadershipformed a plan to prepare for theupcoming mission.

Preparation before deploymentincluded Soldiers attending fiberoptic cable splicing/installationschools, engineering/installationcourses, and a myriad of advanceddata networking classes, all designedto ensure that they built the skillsnecessary for success in the commer-cialization mission. The foresight ofthis preparation by the unit’s leader-ship paid huge dividends through-out the deployment.

The mission defined by thebrigade’s leadership was to install aninterim commercial network solutionthat provides enhanced command,control, communications andcomputer services to the warfighterwhile displacing tactical communi-

cations assemblages for follow-onmissions in support of the GlobalWar on Terrorism.

In order to meet this missionthe unit developed teams withineach subordinate unit’s area ofoperations. Based upon bottom-level-up input from both subscribersand the teams, the brigade devel-oped an Engineering and Installationmodel for the design of COTSsolutions. This model consists ofseveral phases and is depictedgraphically in the illustration above.

The process begins with thevalidation of the subscriber’s com-munications requirements. Oncevalidated an initial engineeringsurvey is completed to determine thenecessary Bill of Materials and theengineering design is modeledthrough the use of automated tools.Next any necessary Requests forService are submitted to higherheadquarters and the necessaryequipment to fill the Bill of Materialsis located. Once all equipment islocated an inventory is performedalong with initial configuration andtesting of all components/devices.Once the TelecommunicationsService Order is approved by higherheadquarters, the Bill of Materials istransported to the installation site.Upon arrival at the installation sitethe equipment is placed into opera-tion and end-to-end user connectiv-

Army Communicator 7

ity is verified. Upon verification ofend-to-end connectivity the tacticalcommunications assemblage isrelieved of its mission. All necessarydocumentation such as engineeringinstructions and AutoCad drawingsare then completed and distributedto the appropriate agencies.

The main requisition source forthe bill of materials during the OIFIII rotation was either equipmentthat had previously been procuredfor a project that was no longerneeded or end-of-lifecycle equip-ment that was repaired and refur-bished by the brigade during thedeployment.

The Outside Plant missionsperformed by the Soldiers of thebrigade during the rotation weredesigned to support the tacticalcommercialization concept whilemoving towards the goals of a long-term, strategic commercial infra-structure installation.

In some cases we were able touse existing Iraqi manhole structuresand conduits for the installation offiber optic and copper cable. Inother cases the manhole structureand conduits were damaged beyondrepair and cable assets were direct-buried to bypass the unusablemanholes. Continual forward-progress was maintained at all times,providing an ever-increasing qualitylevel of C4 support to the warfighter.

This progress was maintainedby using assets that were on-hand intheater as opposed to waiting onadditional equipment and resourcesto arrive from CONUS. In thismanner the brigade ensured thatthere was a constant, steady de-crease in the number of requiredtactical signal forces throughout theduration of OIF-III.

Soldiers from the 35th SignalBrigade (Airborne) install a TacticalCommercialization Data Packageduring OIF-III.

The resultsDuring the OIF-III rotation the

CPT Sander is currently assignedto the 35th Signal Brigade (Airborne) S3Engineer section. He commandedCompany C, 327th Signal Battalion(Airborne) during Operation EnduringFreedom IV. His previous assignmentsinclude training with industry at AT&TResearch Laboratories, Battle captainfor the Joint Signal Support Element insupport of CJTF-180 during OperationEnduring Freedom II, and SquadronSignal Officer for the 3rd ArmoredCavalry Regiment during the Stabiliza-tion Force-7 rotation in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

He holds an undergraduate degreein Electrical Engineering from ColoradoTechnical University in ColoradoSprings, Colo.

ACRONYM QUICKSCAN

BOM – Bill of MaterialsC4 – Command, Control, Commu-nications and ComputersCMN – Coalition Military NetworkCNOSC – Coalition Network Opera-tions and Security CenterCOTS – Commercial-Off-The-ShelfE&I – Engineering and InstallationEAC – Echelon above CorpsFOB – Forward Operating BaseGIG – Global Information GridGWOT – Global War on TerrorismISP – Inside PlantMETT-TC – mission, enemy, ter-rain and weather, troops availableand civilianNETCOM – Network EnterpriseTechnology CommandNIPERNET – NonSecure InternetProtocol Routing NetworkOIF –III – Operation Iraqi FreedomRotation IIIOSP – Outside PlantRFS – Re-quests for ServiceSNMP – Simple Network Manage-ment ProtocolTSO – Telecommunications ServiceOrderVoIP – Voice over Internet Protocol

soldiers of the 35th Signal Brigade(Airborne) completed a massive OSPmission, terminating over 5,160individual strands and installingover 795 miles of fiber optic cable.The in ISP statistics for the brigade’saccomplishments were equally asimpressive, with over 167 buildingswired for subscribers and over 501layer-2/3 switches configuredthroughout Iraq. The brigade alsoinstalled over 5,000 Voice overInternet Protocol phones and pro-vided service to over 6,600 commer-cial subscribers in the largest tacti-cal/strategic communicationsnetwork in the history of the SignalCorps.

Most importantly, the tacticalcommunications concept allowed theSignal Corps to provide an enhancedquality of service to the warfighter,housed within a modular design thatcan be relocated throughout thebattlespace as necessary in accor-dance with current mission, enemy,terrain and weather, troops availableand civilian factors to achievetactical and operational objectives.

The tactical commercializationmission was a resounding successfor the brigade during OIF-III,allowing the Signal Corps to provideimmediate C4 solutions to thewarfighter while simultaneouslyadvancing as rapidly as possiblewith the installation of the long-termcommercial infrastructure. The hardwork and dedication of the Soldiers,non-commissioned officers andofficers of the 35th Signal Brigade(Airborne) paid off as they finishedthe rotation by achieving a totaldecrease of almost two full tacticalarea signal battalions within Iraq.

This is an approximate total of1,146 Soldiers, 50 communicationsassemblages, and 25 data packagesthat will now be able to reset andmaintain the combat readinessnecessary to meet current and futurewarfighter demands in support ofthe GWOT.

8 Winter 2006

By MAJ Mike Parsons

The 35th Signal Brigade (Airborne) deployed toIraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom III toprovide command, control, communications, andcomputers support to Multinational Corps-Iraq andMultinational Force-Iraq. With the support of MNF-Iand Central Command, the brigade procured, tested,validated, and fielded many new technologies insupport of the warfighter. In each instance bandwidth,quality of service, and overall capability were ex-panded through the use of commercial off-the-shelftechnologies.

Nonstandard transmissionPrior to deployment, the brigade tested two

critical Internet Protocol-based transmission technolo-gies with the support of the Office of the Secretary ofDefense Horizontal Fusion program. These werewireless metropolitan area networking and free-spaceoptics. In testing, each was able to provide muchhigher bandwidth than fielded organizational equip-ment, and each was trained internal to the unit withnothing more than the instruction manual.

The wireless MAN technologies include 802.16-compliant, 802.16-like, point-to-point, and point-to-multipoint packet radios, at up to 56 Mbps transmitrate full-duplex. The primary product line used is theRedline Communications AN30/AN50 series. Theseserve as an ideal IP-converged solution for commercialreplacement of tactical ultra high frequency transmis-sion.

While testing at Fort Bragg, we were able to attainover 20 Mbps throughput at 55 km. Currently intheater, there are more than 40 of these radios main-taining critical command and control communicationslinks between major enclaves. In most cases they arethe primary communications paths for all data net-works. In some cases they are the sole path. Onechallenge presented with implementing these radioswas frequencies. Because they fall within the commer-cial and/or unlicensed bands, host-nation approvalwas required to operate each link. The transmit rateattainable was dependent upon many factors, such asinterference, terrain, obstructions, etc. We neverattained less than 24 Mbps.

The free-space optics lasers proved to be a quick,simple, and high-bandwidth solution for short-haul(less than 2 km) solutions where cabling was notfeasible or timely. The primary product line is theCanobeam DT-120 series. The throughput (in all cases)was equivalent to 10/100 Ethernet (100 Mbps). Theyoperate at the lower-end of the infrared spectrum, andwe were concerned with interference to night-vision

Commercial technologies in Iraq

Wirelessmetropolitanarea networking,free-spaceoptics lasers andradios wereused forcommunicationsin Iraq.

Army Communicator 9

devices. In theater, they proved notto be a distracter (even cross-airfield)to both ground and air NVDs. Thelasers presented two primarychallenges. The first was providingan extremely stable mountingplatform. The lasers could notmaintain the link during windstormswhen mounted on masts or poles. Ininstances where they were tower-mounted or affixed to permanentinfrastructure such as concrete

buildings, this was not a factor. Thesecond challenge was dust storms,extremely common in theater duringthe summer months. After constantdust storms of 24-48 hours, lenscleaning was required for the lasersto maintain the links. Unless thiswas performed daily, the link woulddrop and could not be brought backuntil the storm abated, due to lack ofvisual cues for aligning the lasers.

For both aforementionedtechnologies, encryption was ahurdle the brigade had to overcome.Neither was equipped from thefactory with a high-enough level ofencryption to carry even Non-secureInternet Protocol Router Network.Our solution was to use routers on

NIPRNET with TACLANE type 1encryptors. This represents a flip-flop in concept, with an UNCLASSbackbone as opposed to bulk-encrypted Secure Internet ProtocolRouter Network as in the MobileSubscriber Equipment/Tri Services-Tactical networks. In a coalitionenvironment this proved extremelyuseful on numerous occasions.

Using this methodology,service could be extended“through” a coalition partner, andthe SECRET networks broken outonly where required, and to whatlevel required.

Voice-over-IPDuring this rotation, the

brigade built upon the SIPRNETVoIP network established by IIICorps and the 1st Cavalry Division.It has now expanded to cover theentire tactical footprint in Iraq, andcurrently services more than 4,000subscribers. Significant during thisrotation was the fact that SIPRNETVoIP subscribers now outnumbertactical telephone subscribers. VoIPis fully-embedded with the Protec-tive Distribution System-Yes MSEnetwork in Iraq, enabling securecalling between Digital Non-secureVoice over Internet Protocol andSIPRNET VoIP. In fact, should twoenclaves lose data connectivity, theMSE flood-search network is usedas an alternate route.

Each major area of responsibil-ity or enclave has a gateway be-tween the SIPRNET and the MSEnetwork using either a Vantagegateway switch or switching/multiplexing unit. With well over adozen MSE/VoIP gateways andover a dozen CallManager clusters,redundant gatekeepers have beeninstalled to simplify the theaterrouting and provide a centrally-controlled architecture. These alsoprovide theater-wide alternaterouting and failover.

This architecture has servedthe fielded modular Joint NetworkTransport Capability telephonystructure well, as each inboundequipped unit needs only to activateone trunk to the gatekeeper toenable theater-wide calling. This

each end of a link to perform thenecessary 256AES encryption. Toachieve the necessary data rates, therouters were outfitted with Ciscovirtual private network encryptionmodules to encrypt using hardwarerather than the router software.Using the router initial operatingsystem as opposed to the hardwareVPN module, throughput waslimited at 9-11 Mbps. Other net-works are tunneled through the

VoIP is fully-embedded with the PDS-Yes MSEnetwork in Iraq, enabling secure calling betweenDigital Non-secure Voice over Internet Protocoland SIPRNET VoIP.

10 Winter 2006

MAJ Parsons is currentlyassigned to the 35th Signal Brigade(Airborne) S3, as the engineeringofficer-in-charge. His previousassignment was as a student at theTelecommunications Engineering(FA24) Course at Fort Gordon, Ga.

He holds an undergraduatedegree in computer science fromUSMA, and a masters degree incomputer science from Southern IllinoisUniversity at Carbondale.

ACRONYM QUICKSCAN

AES – Advanced Encryption StandardAOR – Area of OperationC2 – Command and ControlC4 – Command, Control,Communications and ComputersCENTCOM – Central CommandCENTRIXS – Combined EnterpriseRegional Info Exchange SystemCMN – Coalition Military NetworkCOTS – Commercial-off-the-ShelfDISA – Defense Information SystemsAgencyDNVT – Digital Non-secure VoiceTelephoneDSN – Defense Switched NetworkFSO – Free-space OpticsIP – Internet ProtocolIOS – initial operating systemJIOC-I – Joint Intelligence OperationsCenter - IraqJNTC – Joint Network Transport Ca-pabilityJOC – Joint Operations CenterMAN – Metropolitan Area NetworkMbps – Megabits Per SecondMNC-I – Multinational Corps-IraqMNF-I – Multinational Force-IraqMSE – Mobile Subscriber EquipmentNIPRNET – Non-secure InternetProtocolNVD – night-vision devicesOSD – Office of the Secretary ofDefenseOIF – Operation Iraqi FreedomPDS – Protective Distribution SystemPRN – Protocol Routed NetworkSATCOM – satellite communicationsSIPRNET – Secure Internet ProtocolRouted NetworkSMU – switching/multiplexing unitTACLANE – Tactical Local AreaNetwork EncryptorTRI-TAC – Tri-service TacticalTDMA - Time Division Multiple AccessUHF – Ultra-High FrequencyVoIP – Voice Over Internet ProtocolVoSIP – Voice Over Secure InternetProtocolVPN – Virtual Private Network

has served the warfighter well as thecommercial replacement for thetactical Digital Nonsecure VoiceTelephone, and meshes well with theIP-converged transmission technolo-gies.

The Cisco VG224/VG248analog voice gateways were alsoused extensively. These wereespecially useful where a copperdistribution frame was alreadypresent, or where telephone servicewas required and switched ethernetdata (required for a VoIP telephone)was not an option due to securityconcerns. As an example of theutility of the Iraq VoIP architecture,there are no DNVT remaining on theMNC-I JOC floor. Future plans forSIPR VoIP include interface with theDefense Information SystemsAgency VoSIP network, theater-wide G.729 conferencing capabilityto conserve bandwidth, and voicemail at major enclaves.

Coalition military networkThe brigade was able to capitalize ona highly-capable satellite transmis-sion system already present intheater to expand service and reducethe tactical over-the-horizon require-ment. It is a TDMA Ku-bandsystem, incorporating equipmentsets similar to that of the JointNetwork Transport Capabilityarchitecture. Each remote terminal(20 total) has two SATCOM paths,one for DSN telephone extensionand one for data. The CMN networkis a hub-spoke architecture for data,using the Linkstar TDMA modems.For voice, the system uses theLinkway TDMA modems in a fullymeshed IP network. Voice locals aremultiplexed into an IP stream usingShout multiplexers. “Minor” nodescarry 24 DSN locals and “major”nodes carry 48.

At the beginning of the rotationthe data portion was used only to

carry the Combined EnterpriseRegional Information ExchangeSystem network. During thisrotation, nearly half of the remoteterminals have been outfitted andequipped to carry both NIPRNETand SIPRNET, in addition to theCENTRIXS network. The CMNnetwork has proven itself to be areliable, robust, and well-operated IPtransmission system.

In some cases, the CMNnetwork is the sole communicationslink for both voice and data service.Future plans for this networkinclude IP acceleration for bothNIPRNET and SIPRNET (CENTRIXSalready has them), redundantfailover to the voice side of theterminal for data passage, andaddition of more Linkway TDMAmodems to provide service forassemblages fielded as part of theJNTC architecture or as part of theJoint Intelligence Operations Center-I initiatives.

At endstate for this rotation,the brigade was able to reduce thetactical signal footprint by nearlytwo signal battalions. Across theboard, subscribers with serviceretained it, new validated require-ments were filled, and the quality ofservice to the subscriber was in-creased. These new technologiesplayed a crucial part. While notremoving the need for Soldierpresence, the presence was signifi-cantly downsized in terms of tacticalassemblages and manpower oncesubscribers and areas were migratedto these COTS technologies. Inmany cases the solutions are transit-case mounted, and have proven tobe flexible enough to respond tooperationally-driven changes yetstable enough to be incorporatedinto a semi-permanent campusarchitecture.

Army Communicator 11

Black Network proves its mettleduring Ulchi Focus Lens 2005

By COL Robert L. Bethea, Jr., MAJEdward P. Mattison, Jared Shepard,and CPT Kevin Knowlen

As the Army transforms to amodular force, the dynamic natureand complexity of the signal missionenvironment has increased. Themost significant factors involved arethe influx of new technology and thediversity of missions that we arecalled upon to perform. III Corps G6and the 3rd Signal Brigade ad-dressed this growing complexitywith a simple approach: “anynetwork, any service, anywhere”.

The 3rd Signal Brigade hasbeen called upon in the last 36months to complete a variety ofmissions. This included establishingand maintaining the largest com-bined tactical and commercialmilitary network in United Stateshistory during Operation IraqiFreedom II (as documented in theCongressional Record).

More recently, III Corps wastasked with implementing andintegrating a combined DefenseInformation Systems Agency Asyn-chronous Transfer Mode andcommercial T1 network to supportthe III Corps tactical command postwhile deployed to Korea for UlchiFocus Lens 2005.

The 3rd Signal Brigade alsoassisted in the deployment andintegration of Army Signal assetsand commercial assets in support ofthe Department of HomelandSecurity for hurricane relief efforts in

Louisiana and Texas.

The tactical problemDue to the rapidly changing

mission, the extremely large foot-print of tactical assets, and thecomplex commercialization process,III Corps had to integrate a multi-tude of transport solutions duringOIF II. As a result, the requirementto have a transport independentnetwork design became readilyapparent to the officers, non-com-missioned officers, and engineers ofthe 3rd Signal Brigade.

The transport solutions en-tailed deploying predominantlycommercial satellite suites intohazardous tactical environments. Insome instances, these commercialcommunications packages were notunder the direct control of themilitary or even capable of beingconsistently monitored by a govern-ment agency. The need for securityon these networks resulted in the

A black network isbasically anunencrypted networkused for the solepurpose of transmittingencrypted traffic.

LTG Thomas F. Metz, III Corps commander, GEN Leon J. Laporte, commander, Combined Forces CommandKorea, GEN Kim, Third ROK Army commander, receive a battle update briefing in the III Corps TAC.

12 Winter 2006

implementation ofTactical Local AreaNetworkEncryptor, Type I,inline encryptiondevices across theWide Area Net-work and LocalArea Networkenvironments, inboth continentalUnited States andoutside the Conti-nental U.S.

Black networkdesign

To addressthis growingcomplexity, COLRobert L. BetheaJr., 3rd SignalBrigade com-mander, directedthe brigade todevelop a solutionindependent of thetransport mecha-nism, but stillscaleable to sup-port multiple networks (i.e.: TopSecret, Secret, Coalition, and Unclas-sified).

This was done through designand implementation of the blacknetwork. A black network is basi-cally an unencrypted network usedfor the sole purpose of transmittingencrypted traffic. The term “black”was adopted with the intent ofemphasizing that the classification ofthe transport network was indepen-dent of the classification of thedelivered services network. Thetransport could be a mobile sub-scriber equipment node, a jointnetwork node, a commerciallypurchased circuit, or even a coalitionnon-terrestrial package. Thiscapability was intended to beavailable for major command andcontrol nodes in Army corps,divisions, and brigade combatteams. The goal was to maintainsimplicity and ease of implementa-tion, while maximizing redundancyand efficiency for data services.

Network architectureThe Ulchi Focus Lens 2005

exercise became a perfect event totest this design due to the limited

usage of Army tactical signal assetsand the integration of both DefenseInformation Systems Agency con-trolled asynchronuous mode links

Figure 1. Black Network: this diagram shows the basic layout of how we implementedour black network. An unencrypted ATM circuit is taken from DISA and tunneled to allour tactical networks through this black pipe.

Two III Corps G6 Soldiers transport network equipment during the tacticalsetup in Korea for Ulchi Focus Lens 2005.

Army Communicator 13

and commercially purchased T1lines. 3rd Signal Brigade decided touse a Defense Information SystemAgency 8MB asynchronous transfermode link and two commercial T1lines, during this exercise, to simu-late the bandwidth capacity of aJoint Node Network command postnode or an ATM Moblie SubscriberEquipment node. These links wereterminated at each end into Promina800 Multiservice Access Platformsoperated by the 3rd Signal Brigade.The brigade engineering team’sPromina was located forward in atransit case within the III Corpstactical command post in Korea. The

57th Signal Battalion base ban nodevan housed the Promina in theContinental U. S. in the vicinity ofthe corps main command post. Theraw connections for both the ATMand T1 circuits brought into thePromina are in the black networkstate, meaning that the classificationand network provider is irrelevantto the customer’s Local AreaNetwork environment. Theseconnections are then passed fromthe Promina into the black router(See Figure 1). The black router isthe cornerstone of our design, actingas the central point to consolidateall IP based communications

capabilities.For this application we used a

Cisco 3845 router, which allowed forboth serial and Ethernet 10/100/1000 connections. This is the pointwhere the routed relationshipbetween any participating blackrouters would be established and allnecessary traffic shaping could beperformed. Traffic shaping at thispoint would be for the prioritizationof one network over another, i.e., ifthe coalition network was theprimary operational network, youcould provide it the most desirableconnection state.

The router is then connected toa Cisco 3560G switch via its Ethernetport, and then to each network’sappropriate TACLANE device. TheTACLANE device is the demarca-tion point for each classification’sLAN network.

The main advantage of thisdesign is the true independence ofthe encryption solution from themethod of transport. In Figure 1, thenetwork displayed shows thePromina being used to tie in theATM and leased circuits, as wasdone during UFL 2005. However,the same design could be used withany combination of circuits andtermination devices on the wide areanetwork side of the black router; amix of tactical assets, commercialassets, line-of-site assets, microwave,or satellites (See Figure 2) could beused. The nature and complexity ofthe WAN transport environment areinvisible to and abstracted awayfrom inside the LAN network.

Gateway Router Encapsulationtunnels are necessary to allow theindividual network Point of Presencerouters to see each other across theWAN and to exchange routes andrelationships via the desired routingprotocol. In a GRE tunnel environ-ment, the PoP routers are only onehop away from each other regardlessof how many hops the transportnetwork is taking, which greatlysimplifies troubleshooting. Thisdesign does not require encryptionthrough encryption (causing addi-tional overhead), nor does it addfurther complexity to the LANenvironment.

Tactical pit area of the III Corps TAC, where battle update briefs arereceived.

Figure 2. This diagram illustrates the black network design which iscompletely independent of the communication assets used for thetransport method. The black network design remains the sameregardless of the communication asset types used.

14 Winter 2006

EoIP strategyAnother significant reason for

implementing a converged blacknetwork is to eliminate the need forbandwidth provisioning. When weuse traditional serial based DefenseInformation Systems Network WAN

services, we provision bandwidthfor each network or circuit individu-ally. This bandwidth is oftenwasted, as it is dedicated for use byonly those particular circuits ornetworks. For example, whenbandwidth is provisioned for a serial

video teleconferencing circuit and noconference is in session, the provi-sioned bandwidth is idle. Con-verged networks using internetprotocol can exploit bandwidth fromidle and variable sources by trans-mitting data from other requestingresources.

III Corps employed an “Every-thing over IP”, or EoIP, strategy forits converged black network. EoIPtechnologies such as Voice over IP,IP-based VTC, and both synchro-nous and asynchronous collabora-tion tools can use the idle andvariable bandwidth normally wastedby legacy circuit technology. Theability to exploit this bandwidthattracted our attention and is one ofthe reasons we thought it was

(Above left) Access Layer NetworkCase photo: An Access layer transitcase for the III Corps TAC commandpost is displayed. This setup for aswitch and an UPS is standard fordelivery network connectivity to allour subscribers.

(Above) Populated Promina 800shows the inner workings of aPromina 800. This device was a keycomponent of our Black networkdesign. It served as the terminationdevice for our ATM and T1 circuits.

(Left) VoIP Call Manager Suite photo:shows a Voice over IP transit casesuite that was used in the TAC tomanage our voice services providedthrough our IP phone network.

Army Communicator 15

important to experiment withconverged technology.

In our converged networkimplementation, we avoided band-width provisioning by using IP-based technologies in lieu of tradi-tional circuit and circuit switchedtechnologies. VoIP replaced legacyMSE voice systems. IP VTC replacedtraditional serial based VTC.TACLAN E replaced circuit-basedbulk encryption and provided packetencryption over the black networkinstead.

Results3rd Signal Brigade chose to

implement the black network designduring UFL 2005 in order to simplifyand maximize the performance ofthe communications assets providedto III Corps. This proof of conceptshowed that converged networkingusing TACLANEs (KG-175’s) is aviable solution, in lieu of traditionalmultiplexed DISN WAN services.

The black network maintained100 percent availability throughoutthe exercise. Through GRE tunnel-ing, III Corps communicators wereable to manage each of the networkssupporting the corps command postsas a single virtual LAN despitephysical separation on two conti-nents. Additionally, network useageof each LAN never exceeded 85percent across the WAN.

The black network concept hasset the foundation for how futurevoice, video and data services will bedeployed in tactical operations for IIICorps. This solution is now thestandard operating procedure beingused in all III Corps command postsafter thoroughly proving its capabili-ties and benefits during UFL 2005.

The way aheadThis EoIP approach worked

quite well for III Corps. However,for this exercise, we did not imple-ment quality of service measures to

“protect” our high priority traffictypes. As an example, in the futurewe want to ensure that VTC andVoIP traffic have priority over thedata packets associated with emailand web portals. Prior planning andthe implementation of a QoS strategycould have prevented the degrada-tion of our voice and video serviceswe experienced when our networkreached approximately 85 percentuseage. Future network planswithin III Corps and 33rd SignalBrigade will implement QoS bynetwork classification and by traffictype.

The black network designfunctioned very well for III Corpsduring UFL 2005, providing amultitude of services and networksto the corps commander for theduration of the exercise. Our firstattempt with converged blacknetworking was a huge success.

Despite our lack of experienceand limited QoS implementation,our network solution provided ahigher standard of service than thecorps staff has seen in the past.

This new standard will beexpected for all future exercises, aswell as the corps’ next rotation toOIF.

The black network has defi-nitely proven its mettle to III Corps!

ACRONYM QUICKSCAN

ATM – Asynchronous Transfer ModeBCT – Brigade Combat TeamBNN – Battalion Base Ban NodeC2 – Command and ControlCONUS – Continental United StatesDISA – Defense Information Sys-tems AgencyDISN – Defense Information Sys-tems NetworkEoIP – Everything over Internet Pro-tocolGRE – Gateway Router Encapsula-tionIP – Internet ProtocolJNN – Joint Network NodeLAN – Local Are NetworkLOS – Line of SightMCP – Main Command PostMSE – Mobile Subscriber Equip-mentOCONUS – Outside the ContinentalUnited StatesPoP – Point of PresenceQoS – quality of serviceTAC – Tactical Command PostTACLANE – Tactical Local AreaNetwork EncryptorsUFL – Ulchi Focus Lens 2005US – United StatesVoIP – Voice over Internet ProtocolVTC – video teleconferencingWAN – Wide Area Network

COL Bethea, Jr. is the commander,3rd Signal Brigade, Fort Hood, Texas.He earned a Bachelor’s of Science degreein electronics and technology fromNorfolk State University. He previouslyserved as the Multi-National Corps IraqACofS C6. He also previously com-manded the Joint CommunicationsSupport Element, MacDill Air ForceBase, Tampa, Fla.

MAJ Mattison is the deputy corpsautomation officer, III Corps, Fort Hood,Texas. He earned a Bachelor’s of Sciencedegree in computer science from theUnited States Military Academy and aMasters’ of Science degree in computer

science from Binghamton University.He previously served as the DataServices Manager for Multi-NationalCorps Iraq.

Mr. Shepard is an employee ofBlackhawk Management Corporation.He serves as the Technology Planner forIII Corps ACofS G6, Fort Hood, Texas.He earned a Bachelor’s of Science degreein Computer Science from TrinityCollege.

CPT Knowlen is the brigadetelecommunications officer, 3rd SignalBrigade, Fort Hood, Texas. He earned aBachelor’s of Science Degree in Admin-istration from Baylor University.

Telecommunicationsservice distribution

16 Winter 2006

By CPT Ross W. Charton and 1LT(P) James R. Minicozzi

Heavy cable and wire compa-nies are an essential land warriorasset for distributing telecommuni-cations services in the Army’snetworks. In order for the heavycable and wire company to be amore effective asset for current andfuture operations, the mission mustbe refined and modifications tomodified table of organization andequipment and training must bemade on a continual basis. Thesechanges will ensure that a networkdistribution asset is always availablewithin the Army to extend servicesfrom the point of entry into theglobal information grid to the enduser.

These companies must beretained within the Army’s forcestructure due to the acute need forprofessional non-tactical installationof commercial communicationscabling systems within undevelopedtheaters. This critical installationincludes both outside and insideplant jobs providing absolutelynecessary command and controlcommunications to the field.

The Army must properly andappropriately resource the heavycable and wire company to retainthese desperately needed capabilitiesthis type of unit provides. Thiscompany allows for an interimcommunications cable and wiredistribution plan that can be incor-porated into the long-term networksolution. This plan saves both timeand money while facilitating asmooth transition to end statecommercial communications ser-vices.

Telecommunicationsservice distribution

in an expeditionary ArmyIn order to offer the services

provided by a heavy cable and wirecompany, their MTOE must reflecttools currently being used in thetheater of war today – or comparabletools used by commercial communi-cations companies. A newly pro-posed structure meeting theserequirements is the network exten-sion company.

PurposeThis article outlines suggested

modifications to the heavy cable andwire company’s organization,training, and mission in order tomeet the demands of the future,more expeditionary Army, and thegrowing joint and combined envi-ronment.

Current environmentArmy communications is a

rapidly evolving field that hasundergone innumerable changes to

accommodate user demand forservices previously unimagined in adeployed environment.

The Signal Corps has advancedto adapt to this demand by employ-ing commercial switching andtransmission equipment. Heavycable and wire support has neverplayed a more critical role thanduring current operations in Kuwait,Iraq, and Afghanistan. However,they have not received the tools andtraining necessary to distributeservices to the end user.

Until the Army adopts techno-logical advances that enable costeffective, secure distribution ofwireless services to the end userlevel, the demand for heavy cableand wire support will increase.Contractor support proves to beexpensive, slow to respond, andinflexible to the perpetually chang-ing requirements of an operationaltheater. In this setting, the 301st

Soldiers from the 301st Signal Cable and Wire Company’s IraqCommercialization Team gather at Al Faw Palace, Camp Victory, Baghdad,Iraq. The 46 Reserve Soldiers pictured are led by 1LT James Minicozzi,acting detachment commander, and SFC Andrew Alexander. The companywas activated in November and deployed to Iraq in February.

Army Communicator 17

Signal Company proved that theheavy cable and wire company is notan obsolete relic of the past. Instead,they are valuable tools for support-ing the future expeditionary Army.

The 301st Signal Company’ssuccess is neither a result of trainingobtained at Army schools, norequipping Soldiers with the toolsthey need to accomplish theirmission.

Instead, the success can beattributed to an amalgamation ofcitizen Soldiers found in the ArmyReserves and the initiative of seniornon-commissioned officers whodeveloped a thorough in-housetraining program to teach Soldiersthe skills required to install commer-cial cable, wire, and fiber. In order tofacilitate this training, Soldiersborrowed tools from their employersin the telecommunications industry.While this technique worked for the301st, it is not an acceptable templatefor others to follow.

Adapting to the environment -Redefining the mission of the

heavy cable and wire is the first step

toward the future. During OperationIraqi Freedom and/OperationEnduring Freedom, the primarymission of the heavy cable and wirecompany has evolved from installingtactical cable, and has morphed thetraditional wire company into whatwill be referred to as a commercialnetwork extension company.

25L Soldiers are no longerrequired to simply install a wire andgo to the next mission. They mustpossess the skills required to installand maintain the equipment used toterminate and break out bulkservices and be able to troubleshootfiber optic and copper cable.

In essence, the network exten-sion company of tomorrow mustprovide the same services as a localtelephone company. As technologi-cal advances are made, more of theseservices will be offered throughwireless networks. The installationand maintenance of these networksin the strategic environment will be anatural progressive evolution for thenetwork extension company. There-fore, MTOE modifications must bemade on a continual basis and

standards for training must beestablished and routinely reevalu-ated to keep these companiestechnologically current and posturedfor mission success.

The current MTOE for heavycable and wire companies does notsupport commercial cable and wireinstallation and maintenance. Tooland personnel allocations must bereevaluated in order to meet thedemands of today’s lighter, morecommercial signal network. A unitdesigned to install and maintain acommercial network could easilyadapt to meet any tactical networkrequirement. The reverse is not true.

The first factor for consider-ation in accomplishing the redefinedmission is to determine how to taskorganize to meet the challenge.Presently, the heavy cable and wirecompany is authorized 205 person-nel organized as three line platoonsand a headquarters platoon consist-ing of two sections of heavy cableinstallers, one section of splicers, andsections for each standard supportfunction, (food service, motormaintenance, supply and personnel).

Headquarters Depiction,Network Extension Company

Platoon Depiction,Network Extension Company

18 Winter 2006

The line platoons are traditionallytrained to extend end user wirewhile the headquarters sectionsextend bulk services to a point ofdemarcation. To meet currentchallenges, the company should besmaller and the abilities of the HQsection must be integrated into eachplatoon. Line platoons must be ableto function autonomously with theirassigned equipment, and they mustbe able to install and maintaininfrastructure from the office build-ing to the end user. Supply andmaintenance sections, critical aspectsof any operation, must be modularso they can forward deploy as partof a platoon. Operations must bedecentralized and an executiveofficer and an operations NCOshould be added to the MTOE toallow the commander the freedom tomove on the battlefield and monitorthe progress of the company as awhole.

After a more streamlined taskorganization is established, theSoldiers must be equipped with thetools necessary to accomplish theirmission. Soldiers must be equipped

with the latest technology to main-tain the network and they must havetools that enable them to install thenetwork in a neat, professional,permanent manner.

For bulk service distribution,each platoon must have organicequipment to install both aerial andburied cable. Commercial poletrucks, excavation equipment, andcable trailers are a critical aspect ofaddressing this consideration.Soldiers must have the same equip-ment used by facilities-based com-mercial telecommunications compa-nies to install services in homes andbusinesses.

Basic construction tools such asdrills, saws, hammers, and laddersare essential parts of performingpermanent infrastructure installationin buildings. Likewise, the mostmodern tools for testing and termi-nating fiber-optic cable, coaxial, andtwisted-pair feeder cable, and end-user wire are necessary for maintain-ing the network.

Individual training for heavycable and wire companies must beredesigned at all skill levels, so that

the skill sets closely mirror thosefound in facilities-based commercialtelecommunications companies. Inthe new network extension com-pany, sections should specialize inoutside plant installation, splicing, orinside wire installation - the differentcrafts of civilian communicationworkers. Each of these crafts re-quires practice and training in orderto gain and maintain a true level ofproficiency.

While specialization is anecessary part of expertise, crosstraining at the individual Soldierlevel must be incorporated intoevery unit’s training plan to ensurecollective mission accomplishment.Only through cross training will anautonomous platoon be successful ina flexible, commercial environment.The role and skills of the technicalleader must be redefined. JuniorNCOs must be technically proficientand able to serve as working super-visors.

Officers and senior NCOs mustbe able to plan outside plant net-works, develop detailed insidewiring installation plans, and

Tactical Installation and Networking Company

Army Communicator 19

DCS – Defense CommunicationsSystemGIG – global information gridHQ – headquartersMTOE – Modified Table of Organi-zation & EquipmentNETCOM – Network CommandNCO – non-commissioned officersTIN – Tactical Installation and Net-working

ACRONYM QUICKSCAN

identify the materials necessary tocomplete those plans. Their skillsmust mirror those of the commercialtelecommunications design engineeror manager.

The final step in redefining theheavy cable and wire company is todetermine whether the unit shouldbe maintained as an active orReserve asset in the new expedition-ary Army. If the unit’s mission is toinstall permanent infrastructure inthe strategic setting as definedabove, there is little question thatnetwork extension companiesshould be maintained as a Reserveasset.

There is little need for perma-nent installation until mobile offen-sive operations are complete and thebattlefield begins to take shape forfollow on activities. In keeping withthe expeditionary goal, Reserve unitsshould maintain technical profi-ciency with a minimal amount ofequipment on hand to facilitatetraining. Upon receiving a mission,cable and wire companies shouldequip to meet the defined objectiveor receive equipment from the unitthey relieve.

Assuming the future heavycable and wire company missionwill be used for permanent infra-structure installation – as it has beenin Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan – itmakes logical sense to design thefuture structure based on what wassuccessful in these theaters.

Proposed structuresA diagram of the proposed

network extension company isdisplayed in this article. The newstructure offers a reduction of 60personnel from the current heavycable and wire company. Foodservice is eliminated. Each platoonhas 10 fewer personnel. The previ-ous headquarters sections areeliminated with that capability nowincorporated into the platoons.

The structure depicts a mainte-nance team and supply specialistwith each platoon. Each platoon hastwo heavy cable and wire teams, oneper transmission section that special-izes in outside plant installation,repair, and splicing. This increases

the ease of cross-training and overallmission package flexibility asinstallation and splicing go hand-in-hand.

These changes greatly enhancethe ability to deploy at the platoonlevel. While the sections are identi-fied to specialize in outside plant orinside plant, the basic knowledge isthere so they can easily switch toeither type mission.

Somewhat in keeping with theconcept of the network extensioncompany described above, thetactical installation and networkingcompany proposed by NetworkCommand is a step in the rightdirection.

The tactical installation andnetworking company providesinstallation of network systems andcable system in support of Combat-ant Command, Joint Task Forces,Joint Forces Land ComponentCommanders, Army Service Compo-nent Commands, and Theater SignalCommand. Further, it providesrapid defense communicationssystem installation and restoral.

However, the proposed TINstructure falls short in that it limitsthe Army to one (or two) of thesecompanies. The 69th Cable and WireCompany from Fort Huachuca hashad assets deployed continuouslysince 2001. Each theater networkcommand must have a cable andwire or network extension company,even if it is a COMPO 2 or COMPO 3unit. The proposed TIN structurealso falls short of what a networkextension company should be. TheTIN sections are not shown assufficiently multifunctional – theyappear too specialized. The networkextension company would providefor a cross section of required skillsand therefore more flexible inaccomplishing any installationmission required.

Again, only two TINs in theArmy’s force structure are insuffi-cient. There must be one per theaternetwork command in order toaccomplish the inevitable installationand networking requirements asseen in Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghani-stan. If multiple theaters or extendedduration in a theater is in our future,

there must be one TIN or networkextension company per theaternetwork command.

While this company’s compo-nent composition may be eitheractive or Reserve, ideally, the activecomponent would start the opera-tions in theater, and the Reserveswould take over the planned mis-sions. The active unit could handleimmediate missions because they areeasier to deploy quickly.

SummaryToday, the ability to rapidly

transmit massive amounts of data isa combat multiplier for thewarfighter. While much attentionhas been given to the wirelesstransmission of this data, the tech-nology is not in place to move to anall-wireless network thus necessitat-ing the heavy cable and wire com-pany of today.

The Army communicationsnetwork will gradually evolve untilit is wireless from the switch to theend user. Even after the wirelessevolution is complete, Soldiers willbe required to install and maintainthis network in the strategic environ-ment. The Army cannot rely solelyupon civilian contractors to installand maintain its network. Therefore,properly equipped, well trained,flexible network extension compa-nies will be an integral asset in theexpeditionary Army of tomorrow.

CPT Charton is commandingofficer of the 301st Signal Company and1LT (P) James R. Minicozzi is theexecutive officer for the 301st.

20 Winter 2006

IND

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5 Army CommunicatorVoice of the Signal RegimentFor Vol. 30, Issues 1-4

Title Index … Page 20Author Index … Page 22Subject Index … Page 27

Editorial/support staffEditor-in-chief/graphic designer … Janet A. McElmurray (30:1-4)Senior advisor … Susan Wood (30:1-4)

IllustratorsBilly Cheney (30:3-4); Tammy L. Moehlman (30:1-2)

Photography59th Signal Battalion (30:1); 982nd Signal Company (30:3);78th Signal Battal-ion Visual Information Center (30:1,3); AFC Trina Flannagan (30:3); AndyTreland (30:4); Anthony Ricchiazzi (30:1-4); Autumn Spadaro (30:4);Charmain Z. Brackett (30:4); CPT Brad E. Rhodes (30:1,3); CPT GregMajewski (30:3); CPT Tim Clark (30:3); CW2 Darren Gilbert (30:1,3); EighthArmy photos (30:4); Eric Hortin (30:2); Jimmy Buffington (30:1,2,3); LT SeanGrayson (30:3); LTC Douglas VanGorden (30:2); MAJ James R. Dooley (30:4);Marlene Thompson (30:1-4); MSG Kelly Erickson (30:4); Pete Cryan (30:2);SFC Sergio Villafane (30:4); SGT Jacob Boyer (30:2); SPC Armando Monroig(30:2,3); Stephen Larsen (30:2,4); U.S. Army Photos (30:1-4); Vise Media (30:3)

Titles3rd Signal Company gets close to Modularity in lessons learned; MAJJonathon R. Moelter; 30:111th 280th Signal Transfer of Authority in Iraq ‘History in the making forSignal Community’; 1LT Hyma Leatham; 30:315th Signal Brigade undergoes quality assurance assessments in FY05;Patrick Baker; 30:222nd Signal Brigade begins transformation in the midst of deployments;MAJ Maureen O’Connor; 30:222nd Signal Brigade executes Corps CPX VICTORY START; Maureen J.O’Conner; 30:123rd Marine Air Control Squadron watches Fort Bliss skies – Oorah!; CPTTim Clark; 30:386th Signal Battalion excels at Roving Sands ’05; CPT Tim Clark; 30:3115th Signal Battalion New distinctive unit crest result of long battle;(commentary) CSM Steve Boatwright; 30:1324th Signal Battalion breaks new ground; SPC Armando Monroig; 30:3324th Signal Battalion TACSAT in the Army Reserve; CPT Tim Clark; 30:3335th Theater Signal Commander’s view; MG Rip Detamore; 30:3335th Theater Signal Command ‘First In –Last Out’; MAJ Randy Reidy; 30:3359th Signal Brigade makes it happen at Roving Sands 2005; CPT TimClark; 30:3551st Integrates Warrior Ethos tasks in local FTX; CPT Tausha Smith; 30:2842nd Signal Company fields the latest communication package at RovingSands; CPT Tim Clark; 30:3982nd Signal Company (Combat Camera) in action; CPT Tim Clark; 30:32005 NETCOM/9th ASC Commander’s Conference; Eric Hortin; 30:2A CALL for Information; CPT Nate Bollinger; 30:2AKMS update: Army Key Management System; Al Walton; 30:2Army and Industry working overtime to supply Improved Tactical Head-sets for troops in Iraq; Stephen Larsen, 30:1

Army Communicator 21

Army in Europe Publishing Program: balancing theneed for electronic and printed publications; Mary AnnBrehm; 30:4Army project manager quickly deploys ‘Connect ArmyLogisticians’ comm Systems to support Katrina relief;Sandy Santiago; 30:4Awards given to three 516th personnel; Bill McPherson;30:2Build it they will come; Bill Strittmatter; 30:4C4I upgrades mean decisive situational awareness forU.S. commanders in Republic of Korea; Stephen Larsen;30:4Citizen Soldier weatherman takes a look at MotherNature’s impact on Signal; CPT Greg Majewski; 30:3Coalition Multinational Network ready in time tosupport operations vs. insurgents; Stephen Larsen; 30:2Communicating for SASO employs cutting edgesolutions; MAJ Jerry Marlatt Jr.; 30:3Communicating in an urban environment: LightInfantry Brigade SIGO lessons learned from OIF; CPTBryan North; 30:1Communication and Simulation Operations Center ina joint training environment; Contributors: LTC MarkEastman, MAJ Bobby E. Dodd, MAJ Dwight Morgan, MAJWilliam Locke, CPT James D. Watts, and Thomas Lasch; 30:3Communications Security Directorate ‘resets’ unitsthroughout the States; Anthony Ricchiazzi; 30:3Council of Colonels, Battalion Commanders/G6 Forumworked to answer questions; CPT Jason Winterle; 30:1Data package training speeds Signal transformation;SPC Michael Howard; 30:2Douglas and Kadet new enlisted leaders at 30th and78th; Bill McPherson; 30:1Defending Army networks; Gordon Van Vleet; 30:4Employing the Signal company in a Unit of Action;CPT Brian “Jake” Jacobson; 30:3Douglas and Kadet new enlisted leaders at 30th and78th; Bill McPherson; 30:1Enlisted Notes: Deletion of MOS 25D; SFC Calvin F.Brembry; 30:1Enlisted Notes: Global Command and Control SystemASI HS; 30:1Four Distinguished Members inducted into the Regi-ment: Susan Wood; 30:1Georgia National 48th BCT’s logisticians train at NTCwith CSS VSAT/CAISI before deployment to Iraq;Stephen Larsen; 30:3Global War on Terrorism collection sought by SignalCenter command historian; Steven J. Rauch; 30:2HHD, 59th Signal Battalion takes Army SupplyExcellence Award; CPT Earl A. Zortman and SSG CliftonDivine; 30:1Hicks bids fond farewell to Regimental TEAM; MG JanHicks; 30:3IA workshop focused on defending LandWarNet;Randell L. McNeil; 30:1Information sought on Signal units and individualparticipation in the Global War on Terrorism; 30:1

Identifying Critical Tasks for a Modular Army; DanTippit; 30:2Identifying Critical Tasks for a Modular Force andNetwork Centric Army; MAJ Alprentis Smith; 30:2Iraqi security force communications in AO Danger;CPT Paul LaRoque; 30:2ISEC engineer Meacham of KICC program is honoredas one of top C4ISR personnel of 2004; Stephen Larsen;30:2Joint Network Management System update: (AN/USQ-176 (V) 1 and 2); MAJ Quentin Smith: 30:2JNN: Reorganizing to bridge gaps in communication;CPT Byron G. Johnson; 30:3JNN unveiled at Gordon; Charmain Z. Brackett; 30:4Keeping pace with Transformation; Larry Hunter; 30:2Kilgo assumes command of 78th; Bill McPherson; 30:1Kirkman assumes command of 516th Sig Bde; 30:4LandWarNet on brigade, battalion level S6 workshopfocus; David Palmer; 30:1LAR steps to the plate to get systems for NTC training;Stephen Larsen; 30:3LARs: Always training the next group of Soldiers;Stephen Larsen; 30:3LTC Maria R. Drew selected for battalion commandand as brigade officer of the year; 30:3LTG Helmly visits 335th TSC Signal Operations atRoving Sands 05; CPT Tim Clark; 30:5MAJ Hall trains Regional Interface Control Officers;CPT Tim Clark; 30:3Maintenance, supply awards presented; 30:2Making Mosul talk: SASO communications lessonslearned; CPT Brian North; 30:1MBITR communications power in your pocket; LTC(Ret.) David M. Fiedler; 30:3Meeting the challenges; (commentary) GEN PeterSchoomaker; 30:1MG Hicks delivers address; MG Janet A. Hicks andGeofrey Wells; 30:1NCOs, warrant officers earn college credit hours andassociate degrees; Mary Hammond and Charles Lee; 30:4NETCOM/9th ASC best of the best; SSG Jeff Troth; 30:4NETCOM ASC continues to provide support; 30:4NETCOM CG decorates 302nd Signal Battalion; MAJChris Lorei; 30:4Network guide’s for Army leaders; Rick San Miguel andTim Landreth; 30:4No mission too difficult, no sacrifice too great, dutyfirst!; CPT Julia Donley; 30:4Officer Notes: Get your Microsoft Certification … forfree!; 30:1PM DWTS completes fielding CSS VSAT/CAISI to3ID, starts fielding to 101st, 10th Mountain Division;Stephen Larsen; 30:1Radar overhaul time decreases by months; AnthonyRicchiazzi; 30:4Reserve Signal unit unfurls flags for future; SFC NealSnyder; 30:4Roving Sands involves five nations, new capabilities;

22 Winter 2006

Army News Service; 30:3Roving Sands 2005 Unit Home Stations; 30:3Signal Corps Museum supports community withoutreach programs; Robert Anzuoni; 30:1Signal systems support technicians key to success in amodularized force; CW5 Wayne Jensen; 30:4Stryker brigade’s signal company trains at Gordon;Charmain Z. Brackett; 30:4Signal Regiment doctrine development challenges; RickMeredith; 30:1Strong takes command of Signal Regiment; Charmain Z.Brackett; 30:4Suggestion increases warfighter readiness; AnthonyRicchiazzi; 30:4Theater defense: New Army Command to stand up inthe Pacific; U.S. Army, Pacific news release; 30:4Three acquisition professionals assume war zoneproject management positions; Stephen Larsen; 30:4Training ensures V Corps Signal Soldiers train to ‘walkthe walk’ to let units talk; SPC Michael Howard; 30:2Training Update: University of Information Technol-ogy Training Update; LTC Keith M. Perkins; 30:1True Information Management; MAJ Jan C. Norris; 30:2TSM-TR Update: Assessment will provide basis forrecommendations; Douglas A. Wilson; 30:4TSM-TR Update: Joint Tactical Radio System; DouglasA. Wilson; 30:1TSM-Radio update: Joint Tactical Radio System; DougWilson; 30:2TSM-SATCOM Update: Defense Advanced GPSReceiver Fielding; 30:2TSM-SATCOM Global Broadcast Service; LynnEpperson; 30:4TSM-SATCOM Update: Providing the bridge to thefuture network with commercial wideband SATCOM;LTC Gene Griffin; 30:1TSM-WIN-T Update: AKMS Update: Army KeyManagement System; Al Walton; 30:2TSM-WIN-T Update: Joint Network ManagementSystem Update: (AN/USQ-176 (V) 1 and 2); MAJQuentin Smith; 30:2TSM-WINT-T Update: Warfighter Information Net-work – Tactical; MAJ Camilla A. Wood; 30:2Two-level maintenance: Task Force Modularity,transformation of Army maintenance; 1LT AiyssaAstphan; 30:4Understanding Joint Assignment Policies; MAJ DarrellGregg and MAJ Michael Anderson; 30:1University of Information Technology Training Up-date; LTC Keith M. Perkins; 30:1USAF LNOs own airspace; CPT Tim Clark; 30:3V Corps Signal Soldiers train to ‘own the night’; SFCMichael Howard; 39:2War games shape Signal Corps’ future; Steve Brady; 30:2Warrant Officers briefed on issues at 32nd symposium;CW5 Andy Barr; 30:1What is the future of Troposcatter in the Army?; CPTBrad Rhodes; 30:1You’re deploying, it’s 2300 hours – do you where your

SCAMPs are?; Dean Hokrein; 30:3

AuthorsAlley, Lisa

BOLC gets green light for officer education; 30:2Anderson, Michael

Understanding Joint Assignment Policies;30:1Anzuoni, Robert

Signal Corps Museum supports community withoutreach programs; 30:1

Astphan, 1LT AiyssaTwo-level maintenance: Task Force Modularity,transformation of Army maintenance; 30:4

Baker, Patrick15th Signal Brigade undergoes quality assuranceassessments in FY05; 30:2

Barr, CW5 AndyWarrant Officers briefed on issues at 32nd symposium; 30:1

Boatwright, CSM Steve115th Signal Battalion New distinctive unit crestresult of long battle; (commentary) 30:1

Bollinger, NateA CALL for Information; 30:2

Brady, SteveWar games shape Signal Corps’ future; 30:2

Brackett, CharmainJNN unveiled at Gordon; 30:4Strong takes command of Signal Regiment; 30:4Stryker brigade’s signal company trains at Gordon;30:4

Brehm, Mary AnnArmy in Europe Publishing Program: balancing theneed for electronic and printed publications; 30:4

Brembry, SFC Calvin F.Enlisted Notes: Deletion of MOS 25D; 30:1

Clark, CPT Tim23rd Marine Air Control Squadron watches FortBliss skies – Oorah!; 30:386th Signal Battalion excels at Roving Sands ’05;30:3324th Signal Battalion TACSAT in the ArmyReserve; 30:3359th Signal Brigade makes it happen at RovingSands 2005; 30:3842nd Signal Company fields the latest communication package at Roving Sands; 30:3982nd Signal Company (Combat Camera) in action;30:3LTG Helmly visits 335th TSC Signal Operations atRoving Sands 05; 30:5MAJ Hall trains Regional Interface Control Officers;30:3USAF LNOs own airspace; 30:3

Detamore, MG Rip335th Theater Signal Commander’s view; 30:3

Divine, SSG CliftonHHD, 59th Signal Battalion takes Army Supply

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Excellence Award; 30:1Dodd, MAJ Bobby E.

Communication and Simulation Operations Centerin a joint training environment; Contributors: LTCMark Eastman, MAJ Bobby E. Dodd, MAJ DwightMorgan, MAJ William Locke, CPT James D. Watts,and Thomas Lasch; 30:3

Donley, CPT JuliaNo mission too difficult, no sacrifice too great, dutyfirst!; 30:4

Eastman, LTC MarkCommunication and Simulation Operations Centerin a joint training environment; Contributors: LTCMark Eastman, MAJ Bobby E. Dodd, MAJ DwightMorgan, MAJ William Locke, CPT James D. Watts,and Thomas Lasch; 30:3

Epperson, LynnTSM-SATCOM Global Broadcast Service; 30:4

Fiedler, LTC (Ret.) DavidMBITR communications power in your pocket; 30:3

Hammond, MaryNCOs, warrant officers earn college credit hours andassociate degrees; 30:4

Hicks, MG Janet A.Hicks bids fond farewell to Regimental TEAM; 30:3MG Hicks delivers address; Geofrey Wells; 30:1

Hokrein, DeanYou’re deploying, it’s 2300 hours – do you whereyour SCAMPs are?; 30:3

Hortin, Eric2005 NETCOM/9th ASC Commander’s Conference;30:2

Howard, SFC MichaelData package training speeds Signal transformation;30:2Training ensures V Corps Signal Soldiers train to‘walk the walk’ to let units talk; 30:2V Corps Signal Soldiers train to ‘own the night’;39:2

Gregg, MAJ DarrellUnderstanding Joint Assignment Policies; 30:1

Griffin, LTC GeneTSM-SATCOM update: Providing the bridge to thefuture network with commercial widebandSATCOM; 30:1

Jacobson, CPT Brian “Jake”Employing the Signal company in a Unit of Action;30:3

Jensen, CW2 WayneSignal systems support technicians key to success ina modularized force; 30:4

Johnson, CPT Byron G.JNN: Reorganizing to bridge gaps in communication; 30:3

Landreth, TimNetwork guides for Army leaders;30:4

LaRoque, CPT PaulIraqi security force communications in AO Danger;30:2

Lasch, ThomasCommunication and Simulation Operations Centerin a joint training environment; Contributors: LTCMark Eastman, MAJ Bobby E. Dodd, MAJ DwightMorgan, MAJ William Locke, CPT James D. Watts,and Thomas Lasch; 30:3

Larsen, StephenArmy and Industry working overtime to supplyImproved Tactical Headsets for troops in Iraq; 30:1C4I upgrades mean decisive situational awareness forU.S. commanders in Republic of Korea; 30:4Coalition Multinational Network ready in time tosupport operations vs. insurgents; 30:2Georgia National 48th BCT’s logisticians train atNTC with CSS VSAT/CAISI before deployment toIraq; 30:3ISEC engineer Meacham of KICC program is honoredas one of top C4ISR personnel of 2004; 30:2LAR steps to the plate to get systems for NTCtraining; 30:3LARs: Always training the next group of Soldiers;30:3PM DWTS completes fielding CSS VSAT/CAISI to3ID, starts fielding to 101st, 10th Mountain Division; 30:1Three acquisition professionals assume war zoneproject management positions; 30:4

Leatham, 1LT Hyma11th 280th Signal Transfer of Authority in Iraq‘History in the making for Signal Community’; 30:3

Lee, CharlesNCOs, warrant officers earn college credit hours andassociate degrees; 30:4

Locke, MAJ WilliamCommunication and Simulation Operations Centerin a joint training environment; Contributors: LTCMark Eastman, MAJ Bobby E. Dodd, MAJ DwightMorgan, MAJ William Locke, CPT James D. Watts,and Thomas Lasch; 30:3

Lorei, MAJ ChrisNETCOM CG decorates 302nd Signal Battalion;30:4

Majewski, CPT GregCitizen Soldier weatherman takes a look at MotherNature’s impact on Signal; 30:3

Marlatt Jr., MAJ JerryCommunicating for SASO employs cutting edgesolutions; 30:3

McNeil, Randell L.IA workshop focused on defending LandWarNet;30:1

McPherson, BillAwards given to three 516th personnel; 30:2Douglas and Kadet new enlisted leaders at 30th and78th; 30:1Kilgo assumes command of 78th; 30:1

Moelter, MAJ Jonathon R.3rd Signal Company gets close to Modularity inlessons learned; 30:1

24 Winter 2006

Monroig, SPC Armando324th Signal Battalion breaks new ground; 30:3

Morgan, MAJ DwightCommunication and Simulation Operations Centerin a joint training environment; Contributors: LTCMark Eastman, MAJ Bobby E. Dodd, MAJ DwightMorgan, MAJ William Locke, CPT James D. Watts,and Thomas Lasch; 30:3

Norris, MAJ Jan C.True Information Management; 30:2

North, CPT BrianCommunicating in an urban environment: LightInfantry Brigade SIGO lessons learned from OIF;30:1Making Mosul talk: SASO communications lessonslearned; 30:1

O’Connor, MAJ Maureen22nd Signal Brigade begins transformation in themidst of deployments; 30:222nd Signal Brigade executes Corps CPX VICTORYSTART; 30:1

Palmer, DavidLandWarNet on brigade, battalion level S6 workshopfocus; 30:1

Perkins, LTC Keith M.Training Update: University of Information Technology Training Update; 30:1

Reidy, MAJ Randy335th Theater Signal Command ‘First In –Last Out’;30:3

Ricchiazzi, AnthonyCommunications Security Directorate ‘resets’ unitsthroughout the States; 30:3Radar overhaul time decreases by months; 30:4Suggestion increases warfighter readiness; 30:4

Rauch, Steven J.Global War on Terrorism collection sought by SignalCenter command historian; 30:2

Rhodes, CPT BradWhat is the future of Troposcatter in the Army?; 30:1

San Miguel, RickNetwork guides for Army leaders; 30:4

Santiago, SandyArmy project manager quickly deploys ‘ConnectArmy Logisticians’ comm Systems to supportKatrina relief; 30:4

Schoomaker, GEN PeterMeeting the challenges; 30:1

Smith, MAJ AlprentisIdentifying Critical Tasks for a Modular Force andNetwork Centric Army; 30:2

Smith, MAJ QuentinTSM-WIN-T update: Joint Network ManagementSystem Update: (AN/USQ-176 (V) 1 and 2); 30:2

Smith, CPT Tausha551st Integrates Warrior Ethos tasks in local FTX;30:2

Snyder, SFC NealReserve Signal unit unfurls flags for future; 30:4

Strittmatter, BillBuild it they will come; 30:4

Tippit, DanIdentifying Critical Tasks for a Modular Army; 30:2

Troth, SSG JeffNETCOM/9th ASC best of the best; 30:4

Gordon Van VleetDefending Army networks; 30:4

Walton, AlTSM-WIN-T update: AKMS Update: Army KeyManagement System; 30:2

Watts, CPT James D.Communication and Simulation Operations Centerin a joint training environment; Contributors: LTCMark Eastman, MAJ Bobby E. Dodd, MAJ DwightMorgan, MAJ William Locke, CPT James D. Watts,and Thomas Lasch; 30:3

Wells, GeofreyMG Hicks delivers address; 30:1

Wilson, Douglas A.TSM-TR Update: Assessment will provide basis forrecommendations; 30:4TSM-TR Update: Joint Tactical Radio System; 30:1TSM-Radio Update: Joint Tactical Radio System;30:2

Winterle, CPT JasonCouncil of Colonels, Battalion Commanders/G6Forum worked to answer questions; 30:1

Wood, MAJ CamillaTSM-WINT-T update: Warfighter InformationNetwork – Tactical; 30:2

Wood, SusanFour Distinguished Members inducted into theRegiment: 30:1

Zortman,CPT Earl A.HHD, 59th Signal Battalion takes Army SupplyExcellence Award; 30:1

SubjectsArmy Key Management SystemAKMS update: Army Key Management System; AlWalton; 30:2

Army PublishingArmy in Europe Publishing Program: balancing theneed for electronic and printed publications; Mary AnnBrehm; 30:4

AwardsAwards given to three 516th personnel; Bill McPherson;30:2HHD, 59th Signal Battalion takes Army SupplyExcellence Award; CPT Earl A. Zortman and SSG CliftonDivine; 30:1ISEC engineer Meacham of KICC program is honoredas one of top C4ISR personnel of 2004; Stephen Larsen;30:2Maintenance, supply awards presented; 30:2

Army Communicator 25

NETCOM/9th ASC best of the best; SSG Jeff Troth; 30:4NETCOM CG decorates 302nd Signal Battalion; MAJChris Lorei; 30:4

Coalition Multinational NetworkCoalition Multinational Network ready in time tosupport operations vs. insurgents; Stephen Larsen; 30:2

Commentary115th Signal Battalion New distinctive unit crest resultof long battle; (commentary) CSM Steve Boatwright; 30:1Meeting the challenges; (commentary) GEN PeterSchoomaker; 30:1

DoctrineKeeping pace with Transformation; Larry Hunter; 30:2Network guide’s for Army leaders; Rick San Miguel andTim Landreth; 30:4Signal Regiment doctrine development challenges;Rick Meredith; 30:1

EnlistedEnlisted Notes: Deletion of MOS 25D; SFC Calvin F.Brembry; 30:1Enlisted Notes: Global Command and Control SystemASI HS; 30:1

General Information115th Signal Battalion New distinctive unit crest resultof long battle; (commentary) CSM Steve Boatwright; 30:111th 280th Signal Transfer of Authority in Iraq ‘His-tory in the making for Signal Community’; 1LT HymaLeatham; 30:3A CALL for Information; CPT Nate Bollinger; 30:2Army in Europe Publishing Program: balancing theneed for electronic and printed publications; Mary AnnBrehm; 30:4Build it they will come; Bill Strittmatter; 30:4Hicks bids fond farewell to Regimental TEAM; MG JanHicks; 30:3ISEC engineer Meacham of KICC program is honoredas one of top C4ISR personnel of 2004; Stephen Larsen;30:2MBITR communications power in your pocket; LTC(Ret.) David M. Fiedler; 30:3No mission too difficult, no sacrifice too great, dutyfirst!; CPT Julia Donley; 30:4PM DWTS completes fielding CSS VSAT/CAISI to3ID, starts fielding to 101st, 10th Mountain Division;Stephen Larsen; 30:1Radar overhaul time decreases by months; AnthonyRicchiazzi; 30:4Reserve Signal unit unfurls flags for future; SFC NealSnyder; 30:4Suggestion increases warfighter readiness; AnthonyRicchiazzi; 30:4Understanding Joint Assignment Policies; MAJ DarrellGregg and MAJ Michael Anderson; 30:1

Global War on TerrorismGlobal War on Terrorism collection sought by SignalCenter command historian; Steven J. Rauch; 30:2Information sought on Signal units and individualparticipation in the Global War on Terrorism; 30:1

IAIA workshop focused on defending LandWarNet;Randell L. McNeil; 30:1

Information ManagementTrue Information Management; MAJ Jan C. Norris; 30:2

Integrated Theater Signal BattalionWhat is the future of Troposcatter in the Army?; CPTBrad Rhodes; 30:1

JointUnderstanding Joint Assignment Policies; MAJ DarrellGregg and MAJ Michael Anderson; 30:1

Joint Network Management SystemJoint Network Management System update: (AN/USQ-176 (V) 1 and 2); MAJ Quentin Smith: 30:2

Joint Network NodeJNN: Reorganizing to bridge gaps in communication;CPT Byron G. Johnson; 30:3JNN unveiled at Gordon; Charmain Z. Brackett; 30:4

Katrina Disaster ReliefNETCOM ASC continues to provide support; 30:4Army project manager quickly deploys ‘Connect ArmyLogisticians’ comm Systems to support Katrina relief;Sandy Santiago; 30:4

LandWarNetLandWarNet on brigade, battalion level S6 workshopfocus; David Palmer; 30:1War games shape Signal Corps’ future; Steve Brady; 30:2

Leader TransitionDouglas and Kadet new enlisted leaders at 30th and78th; Bill McPherson; 30:1Kilgo assumes command of 78th; Bill McPherson; 30:1Kirkman assumes command of 516th Sig Bde; 30:4LTC Maria R. Drew selected for battalion commandand as brigade officer of the year; 30:3Strong takes command of Signal Regiment; CharmainZ. Brackett; 30:4Three acquisition professionals assume war zoneproject management positions; Stephen Larsen; 30:4

Modularity3rd Signal Company gets close to Modularity inlessons learned; MAJ Jonathon R. Moelter; 30:1Identifying Critical Tasks for a Modular Army; DanTippit; 30:2Identifying Critical Tasks for a Modular Force and

26 Winter 200r

Network Centric Army; MAJ Alprentis Smith; 30:2JNN: Reorganizing to bridge gaps in communication;CPT Byron G. Johnson; 30:3Signal systems support technicians key to success in amodularized force; CW5 Wayne Jensen; 30:4Two-level maintenance: Task Force Modularity,transformation of Army maintenance; 1LT AiyssaAstphan; 30:4

NETCOM2005 NETCOM/9th ASC Commander’s Conference;Eric Hortin; 30:2

OfficersBOLC gets green light for officer education; Lisa Alley;30:2Identifying Critical Tasks for a Modular Army; DanTippit; 30:2Identifying Critical Tasks for a Modular Force andNetwork Centric Army; MAJ Alprentis Smith; 30:2NCOs, warrant officers earn college credit hours andassociate degrees; Mary Hammond and Charles Lee; 30:4Officer Notes: Get your Microsoft Certification … forfree!; 30:1

OIFCommunicating in an urban environment: LightInfantry Brigade SIGO lessons learned from OIF; CPTBryan North; 30:1Making Mosul talk: SASO communications lessonslearned; CPT Brian North; 30:1

PM DWTSPM DWTS completes fielding CSS VSAT/CAISI to3ID, starts fielding to 101st, 10th Mountain Division;Stephen Larsen; 30:1

Roving Sands 200523rd Marine Air Control Squadron watches Fort Blissskies – Oorah!; CPT Tim Clark; 30:386th Signal Battalion excels at Roving Sands ’05; CPTTim Clark; 30:3324th Signal Battalion breaks new ground; SPCArmando Monroig; 30:3324th Signal Battalion TACSAT in the Army Reserve;CPT Tim Clark; 30:3335th Theater Signal Commander’s view; MG RipDetamore; 30:3335th Theater Signal Command ‘First In –Last Out’;MAJ Randy Reidy; 30:3359th Signal Brigade makes it happen at Roving Sands2005; CPT Tim Clark; 30:3842nd Signal Company fields the latest communica-tion package at Roving Sands; CPT Tim Clark; 30:3982nd Signal Company (Combat Camera) in action;CPT Tim Clark; 30:3Citizen Soldier weatherman takes a look at MotherNature’s impact on Signal; CPT Greg Majewski; 30:3

LTG Helmly visits 335th TSC Signal Operations atRoving Sands 05; CPT Tim Clark; 30:5MAJ Hall trains Regional Interface Control Officers;CPT Tim Clark; 30:3Roving Sands involves five nations, new capabilities;Army News Service; 30:3Roving Sands 2005 Unit Home Stations; 30:3USAF LNOs own airspace; CPT Tim Clark; 30:3

SecurityCommunications Security Directorate ‘resets’ unitsthroughout the States; Anthony Ricchiazzi; 30:3Iraqi security force communications in AO Danger;CPT Paul LaRoque; 30:2

Simulation22nd Signal Brigade executes Corps CPX VICTORYSTART; Maureen J. O’Conner; 30:1Communication and Simulation Operations Center ina joint training environment; Contributors: LTC MarkEastman, MAJ Bobby E. Dodd, MAJ Dwight Morgan, MAJWilliam Locke, CPT James D. Watts, and Thomas Lasch; 30:3

SATCOMTSM-SATCOM Update: Defense Advanced GPSReceiver Fielding; 30:2TSM-SATCOM Global Broadcast Service; LynnEpperson; 30:4TSM-SATCOM Update: Providing the bridge to thefuture network with commercial wideband SATCOM;LTC Gene Griffin; 30:1You’re deploying, it’s 2300 hours – do you where yourSCAMPs are?; Dean Hokrein; 30:3

Signal Corps MuseumSignal Corps Museum supports community withoutreach programs; Robert Anzuoni; 30:1

Signal Regimental Symposium 2004Council of Colonels, Battalion Commanders/G6 Forumworked to answer questions; CPT Jason Winterle; 30:1Four Distinguished Members inducted into the Regi-ment: Susan Wood; 30:1IA workshop focused on defending LandWarNet;Randell L. McNeil; 30:1LandWarNet on brigade, battalion level S6 workshopfocus; David Palmer; 30:1MG Hicks delivers address; MG Janet A. Hicks andGeofrey Wells; 30:1Warrant Officers briefed on issues at 32nd symposium;CW5 Andy Barr; 30:1Four Distinguished Members inducted into the Regi-ment: Susan Wood; 30:1

Tactical RadiosTSM-TR Update: Assessment will provide basis forrecommendations; Douglas A. Wilson; 30:4TSM-TR Update: Joint Tactical Radio System; Douglas

Army Communicator 27

A. Wilson; 30:1

Tactical HeadsetsArmy and Industry working overtime to supplyImproved Tactical Headsets for troops in Iraq; StephenLarsen, 30:1

Training22nd Signal Brigade executes Corps CPX VICTORYSTART; Maureen J. O’Conner; 30:1551st Integrates Warrior Ethos tasks in local FTX; CPTTausha Smith; 30:2Communication and Simulation Operations Center ina joint training environment; Contributors: LTC MarkEastman, MAJ Bobby E. Dodd, MAJ Dwight Morgan, MAJWilliam Locke, CPT James D. Watts, and Thomas Lasch; 30:3Data package training speeds Signal transformation;SPC Michael Howard; 30:2Georgia National 48th BCT’s logisticians train at NTCwith CSS VSAT/CAISI before deployment to Iraq;Stephen Larsen; 30:3JNN: Reorganizing to bridge gaps in communication;CPT Byron G. Johnson; 30:3LAR steps to the plate to get systems for NTC training;Stephen Larsen; 30:3LARs: Always training the next group of Soldiers;Stephen Larsen; 30:3Stryker brigade’s signal company trains at Gordon;Charmain Z. Brackett; 30:4Training ensures V Corps Signal Soldiers train to‘walk the walk’ to let units talk; SPC Michael Howard;30:2Training Update: University of Information Technol-ogy Training Update; LTC Keith M. Perkins; 30:1V Corps Signal Soldiers train to ‘own the night’; SFCMichael Howard; 39:2

Transformation22nd Signal Brigade begins transformation in themidst of deployments; MAJ Maureen O’Connor; 30:2Data package training speeds Signal transformation;SPC Michael Howard; 30:2Employing the Signal company in a Unit of Action;CPT Brian “Jake” Jacobson; 30:3Keeping pace with Transformation; Larry Hunter; 30:2Theater defense: New Army Command to stand up inthe Pacific; U.S. Army, Pacific news release; 30:4

University of Information TechnologyTraining Update: University of Information Technology Training Update; 30:1

Warrant OfficersSignal systems support technicians key to success in amodularized force; CW5 Wayne Jensen; 30:4Warrant Officers briefed on issues at 32nd symposium;CW5 Andy Barr; 30:1

Warrior Ethos551st Integrates Warrior Ethos tasks in local FTX; CPT

Tausha Smith; 30:2

WIN-TTSM-WIN-T Update: AKMS Update: Army KeyManagement System; Al Walton; 30:2TSM-WIN-T Update: Joint Network ManagementSystem Update: (AN/USQ-176 (V) 1 and 2); MAJQuentin Smith; 30:2TSM-WINT-T Update: Warfighter Information Net-work – Tactical; MAJ Camilla A. Wood; 30:2

28 Winter 2006

Updates from Training and Doctrine Command systems managers for satellite communications, tactical radio and Warfighter Information Network-Tactical

TSM update

By Douglas A. Wilson

JTRS program update:Dennis Bauman, the Joint

Program Executive Officer for theJoint Tactical Radio System, is nearthe completion of conducting a fullassessment of the JTRS program(Clusters 1, 2, Airborne MaritimeFixed-Station, and 5) to includeprogram dependencies and acomprehensive risk mitigation plan.The results of this assessment willprovide the basis for an overall setof program recommendations to re-establish program cost, schedule,and funding health. Subject recom-mendations may include overallrestructuring of the JTRS programand associated acquisition strategy,baselining and prioritization ofprogram requirements, and arevised Future Years DefenseProgram funding profile. JPEOJTRS is in the final stages of the JTRSCluster assessments and re-planningefforts. These in-depth reviews arecritical to the development ofexecutable paths for these transfor-mational programs. The leadershipof the JPEO will finalize the JTRSway ahead in the next few weeks.Once completed, the JTRS wayahead, with projected cost andschedule plans for each clusterprocurement, will be briefed to theService and Department of Defenseleadership.

Enhanced Position LocationReporting System:

Training – The U.S. Army’stransformation to the Modular ForceStructure has resulted in a signifi-cant increase in the requisite numberof personnel qualified to operate theEPLRS Network Manager. InEPLRS-equipped units all of the

personnel assignments for MOS 25Cin the Modular Force Structurerequire the Additional Skill IndicatorT2, the EPLRS Network ManagerOperator/Maintainer.

Office of the Chief of Signalprojects 400+ positions in the EPLRS-equipped Modular Units. Thiscompares with approximately 150positions for the previous fieldedEPLRS Version 4 system. OCOS alsoprojects an additional 50 positionsfor the Reserve component and 50+National Guard slots. Currentplanning for the ASI T2 course at theSignal Center is for an annualcapacity of 96. This will not meet thefielding and sustainment require-ments for ENM Operators.

The skill sets required for ASIT2 are rapidly becoming the stan-dard for operation of data networksat Units of Action/Brigade CombatTeams and below. As more net-works gravitate to Internet Protocoland away from the Army DataDistribution Systems Interface, theimportance of T2 skill sets willincrease exponentially. Currently,the Army has no MOS-producingCourse that provides for the trainingof Mobile Network Operators/Managers. Traditionally, thisfunction has been performed byMOS 25C Soldiers.

The inclusion of ASI T2 train-ing in the mainstream resident POIfor 25C is the most reasonable, andpotentially attainable, solution to theproblem. The inclusion of T2training in 25C resident training willincrease the 25C course by fourweeks. Thus the potential maximumstudent load at any single point intime will be 96 (24 students per class,one class start per week for four weeks).The increased equipment trainingrequirements must meet this poten-tial student population. Uponapproval, initial conversion to T2training in the resident MOS 25C isprojected for FY-07

In the past the centralizedmanagement of the EPLRS MOS 25Cin the field was under the control ofthe Signal battalion commanders.The management of the ASI made itvery difficult to keep trained person-nel in the units, because in mostcases, the commander had to sched-ule and send his troops back to theSignal School for the ASI residentcertification training. The modularstructure changes resulted in adecentralized control of MOS 25Cand continues to make it moredifficult to get ASI-qualified Soldiersassigned in the BCTs.

Mainstreaming the ENMcourse into 25C core training willremove the requirement for Com-manders to return their 25Cs to theSignal Center for ASI residenttraining. The skill sets will beuniversal in 25C and sustainmentwill be conducted at Unit Level.

Materiel – The current produc-tion contract expires in June 2006.The ordering extension window isDec. 31, 2005. Present status of theArmy deliveries is approximately11,000 radio sets. The JTRSwaiverable ceiling remains at 12,896

TSM-TACTICAL RADIO

ADDSI – Army Data Systems Inter-faceAMF – Airborne-Maritime Fixed Sta-tionASI – Additional Skill IndicatorBCT – brigade combat teamCAV – CavalryDoD – Department of DefenseENM – EPLRS Network ManagerEPLRS – enhanced position loca-tion reporting systemFYDP – Future Years Defense Pro-gramID – Infantry DivisionJPEO – Joint Program ExecutiveOfficerJTRS – Joint Tactical Radio SystemOCOS – Office Chief of SignalUA – Unit of Action

ACRONYM QUICKSCAN

Army Communicator 29

radios sets. DA redistribution ofassets has resulted in fieldingsupport for the 4thInfantry Division,1st Cavalry, the Stryker BCTs, andNational Guard units which supportOperation Clear Skies. Additionalquantities to support fielding ofSBCT-7 and the remaining divisionswill require further redistributionand/or additional quantity buys.

Mr. Wilson is with the TRADOCSystems Manager – Tactical Radios,Fort Gordon, Ga.

TSM-WIN-T

‘LET THE FIELDING BEGIN’AN UPDATE ON THE JOINTNETWORK MANAGEMENTSYSTEM (JNMS)(AN/USQ-176A (V) 1 AND(V) 2)By Billy Rogers

With the Army Test andEvaluation Center’s IndependentEvaluator declaring that the JointNetwork Management System haddemonstrated remarkable improve-ments in the recent limited user testsince it’s March 2004 initial opera-tional test and evaluation, theproduct manager for networkoperations – current force took thefirst steps toward fielding by seekingapproval for full rate production andtype classification from the system’sMilestone Decision Authority, theprogram executive officer forcommand, control, and communica-tions – tactical on Oct. 25, 2005.

The MDA approved the JNMSto go into full rate production andalso its type classification of Stan-dard. The next step required beforethe JNMS can be officially fielded isapproval of the JNMS for materielrelease. The material release docu-ments are being prepared and areexpected to be ready by the end ofNovember 2005. Approval of a“conditional” materiel release isexpected by mid-December 2005.Conditional release means that thePdM must have an acceptable “getwell plan” to satisfy all issues

identified by the system’s stakehold-ers. First unit equipped systemfielding is expected to begin inJanuary 2006 with the 311th SignalCommand, Fort Shafter, Hawaii,followed by the 93rd Signal Brigade,Fort Gordon, Ga. Concurrent withthese Army fieldings, the otherservices are also fielding the JNMSto their respective commands.

ATEC’s system assessment ofthe LUT was approved and releasedin September 2005 and indicated that

the JNMS had met all its key perfor-mance parameters and was opera-tionally suitable, effective, andsurvivable with minor limitations.The LUT SA, along with the GA andBeta feedback was used by the PdMduring the full rate productiondecision review to demonstrate thesystem’s software maturity andreadiness to officially requestmateriel release and begin thefielding process.

The JNMS is an acquisition

30 Winter l 2006

category level III joint program thatprovides an automated joint commu-nications network planning andmanagement capability to jointtactical communication networkplanners/managers at CombatantCommands, COCOM Servicecomponents, Joint Task Force, andJTF Service components. It is anintegration of the capabilities ofcommercial-off-the-shelf, govern-ment-off-the-shelf applicationscoupled by some developmentalsoftware to meet deficiencies identi-fied by the COCOMs. It will replacethe interim system, the Joint DefenseInformation Infrastructure ControlSystem – Deployed, fielded to thewarfighting COCOMs in the late1990s.

JNMS provides the means fortimely decisions and synchroniza-tion of communication assets tosupport joint mission requirements,adds flexibility to better support thecommander’s intent, improvessituational awareness by providing acommon view of the network, andprovides a capability to better usescarce resources to optimize thecapacity of the network and supportthe fight.

There are two versions of theJNMS being developed. Theseversions are distinguished by thelevel of functionality provided. TheJNMS (AN/USQ-176A(V) 1) hasonly a network monitoring capabil-ity. The JNMS (AN/USQ-176A(V)2) has the full operational capabilitywhich includes planning, monitoringand reconfiguration, fault manage-ment, and security functionality.The V1 comes with a one-way fibermodem that provides a capability todisplay the network commonoperating picture of both the unclas-sified and classified networks on theV2’s management screen. Theimplementation of this cross-domainsolution is dependant upon accredi-tation approval by each site’sdesignated approving authority, aswell as, final approval by the De-fense Information Systems Agency.The current build of JNMS (Build1.3.x) received its “generic” typeaccreditation and full authority tooperate by the program’s DAA,

PEO-C3T, in May 2005.The JNMS materiel developer,

PdM Network Operations – CurrentForce, in conjunction with the AirForce and Navy lead commands forJNMS implementation, hand re-ceipted 13 suites (comprised of 1-V1and 1-V2 systems) to the MissileDefense Agency, Offet Air ForceBase, Neb.; U.S. Central Commandorganizations at USCENTCOM’sTheater C4 Control Center, MacDillAFB, Fla.; USCENTAF’s NetworkOperations and Security Center and281st Combat CommunicationGroup, Shaw AFB, S.C., and RhodeIsland; USCENTCOM’s TCCC-Forward, Bahrain; USARCENT’sNOSC, Kuwait; USPACOM andUSJFCOM TNCC/GNCC; and the93rd TNOSC. A 14th suite was handreceipted to the 93rd Signal Brigade,Fort Gordon, Ga., in support of itsHurricane Katrina mission.

The Beta initiative was imple-mented to gain additional userfeedback on training and operationaleffectiveness prior the full rateproduction decision and approval toofficially field. Abbreviated trainingfor the JNMS system administrators,planners and managers was pro-vided to all receiving organizations.The ARCENT suite has now beenreturned to the PdM. Final installa-tion and operational checkout of thesystems are in varying stages ofcompletion. Additionally, the JointStaff J6 used this Beta initiative tovalidate the JNMS concept ofoperations.

Concurrently with the Betainitiative, the next version of JNMSsoftware (Release 1.3) was devel-oped and tested by the JNMSContractor – Science ApplicationsInternational Corporation. Contrac-tor functional qualification testingwas completed in February 2005.Upon completion of the FQT, thegovernment took control of thesoftware and then conducted anindependent government assessmentof the software’s planning andmanagement functionality, also inFebruary 2005, to determine if it wasmature enough to request an exten-sion to the previously approved lowrate initial production and also

continue into a limited user test inJuly 2005. The Army’s Test andEvaluation Command conducted theGA and published an official systemassessment report in April 2005.Approval of the LRIP extension andcontinuing with the planning for theLUT was granted. The LUT wasconducted by ATEC’s OperationalTest Command in July 2005. Person-nel from all the services participatedin the LUT. Training for the testparticipants was conducted in June2005. The LUT consisted of two sites,one functioning as a COCOM GlobalC4 Control Center and the other as aJTF Joint C4 Control Center.

The Army, as the executiveagent for the development of theJNMS, requested that an inter-service training review organizationstudy be conducted to determine thefeasibility of consolidating all serviceJNMS resident training at onelocation – Fort Gordon, Ga. Thestudy was conducted in three phasesduring late 2004 and early 2005. Thestudy recommended consolidatingthe JNMS training at Fort Gordon.

Discrepancies discoveredduring the staffing of the study willrequire that the resource require-ment analysis be redone and staffedagain within the services. This effortis scheduled for November 2005.Final approval of the study’s recom-mendation is expected within 90days after completion of the newRRA. Once approved, actionsnecessary to establish the joint schooland resident training program by2nd Quarter FY07 begins.

The May 2000 approved JNMSoperational requirements documentis currently being revised to includethe mandated Net Ready KPP. TheORD has completed Stage I Jointstaffing. All comments have beenadjudicated and the ORD is nowgoing through Stage II J6 certifica-tion staffing. Once certificationstaffing has been completed, anycomments received will be adjudi-cated. ORD approval is expected byDecember 2005.

For further information onJNMS, contact Russell Benoit or BillyRogers, TSM WIN-T, (706) 791-7501/2334, respectively. DSN prefix is

Army Communicator 31

ACRONYM QUICKSCAN780. Email addresses arebenoitr@gordon.army.mil orrogersb@gordon.army.mil.

Mr. Rogers is a currently a SeniorSystems Analyst with Femme Comp,Incorporated (FCI) and provides TSMWIN-T with contract support servicesfor the JNMS program. Mr. Rogers hasbeen the primary TRADOC POC for theJNMS and has worked program issueswith representatives of the Joint Staff,other Services and Agencies since thecontract was awarded to ScienceApplications International Corporation(SAIC) in 2001. Mr. Rogers managednetwork management programs for theDefense Information Systems Agency(DISA) prior to his retirement and alsoprovided contract support services toTSM Network Management before itsmerger with TSM WIN-T in 2001.

ACAT – Acquisition CategoryATEC – Army Test and EvaluationCenter’sCOCOMs – Combatant CommandsCCG – Combat CommunicationGroupCONOPS – Concept of OperationsCOP – Common Operating PictureCOTS – Commercial-off-the-shelfDAA – Designated Approving Au-thorityDISA – Defense Information Sys-tems AgencyIOT&E – Operational Test and Evalu-ationITRO – Inter-Service Training Re-view OrganizationFQT – Functional Qualification Test-ingFRPD – Full Rate Production Deci-sionFUE – First Unit EquippedGA – Government AssessmentGCCC – Global C4 Control CenterTSM-SATCOM UPDATE

KA-BAND SATELLITETRANSMIT AND RECEIVESYSTEMAN-GSC-70(V)By Frank Stein

The Ka-Band Satellite Transmitand Receive System, AN/GSC-70(V)is a new terminal that was devel-oped to provide additionalwideband communications capabil-ity to Department of Defense usersand alleviate the spectrum satura-tion of the X-band. Ka-STARS willgreatly increase both available singleuser data rate and total satellitecapacity over today’s DSCS IIIsatellites and future WidebandGapfiller System satellites whilefocusing support to warfightingforces.

The AN/GSC-70(V) is a non-developmental item consisting of acombination of commercial-off-the-shelf and government furnishedequipment. Ka-STARS is ashelterized or fixed SATCOMterminal capable of transmitting upto 48 uplinks and receiving up to 56downlinks simultaneously. Ka-STARS will also have the capabilityto transmit and receive in bothpolarizations (right and left handcircular). This terminal system is

testing: The program managerfor Defense Communicationsand Transmissions Systems willprocure and install seven Ka-STARS terminals. One will belocated at Fort Monmouth, N.J.,to support the PM DCATS testbed and the other six terminalswill be installed at teleportlocations to support WGSsatellites 1 - 3. The Army isconsidering procuring anadditional four terminals tosupport WGS satellites 4 and 5.The Teleport Program Office isalso considering procuring anadditional six terminals (loca-tion to be determined) to satisfyincreased teleport requirements.The first Ka-STARS terminal is

currently being installed at CampRoberts, where system integrationtesting, the maintenance demonstra-tion, and instructor and key person-nel training will be accomplishedover the next year.

The automated test stationsoftware developed for the AN/GSC-52 Modernization Program will

GOTS – Government-off-the ShelfLRIP – Low Rate Initial ProductionLUT – Limited User TestJCCC – Joint C4 Control CenterJDIICS-D – Joint Defense Informa-tion Infrastructure Control System –DeployedJTF – Joint Task ForceKPPs – Key Performance Param-etersMDA – Missile Defense AgencyNOSC – Network Operations andSecurity CenterORD – Requirements DocumentOTC – Operational Test CommandPdM – Product ManagerPEO-CT3 – Program Executive Of-ficer for Command, Control andCommunications – TacticalRRA – Resource RequirementAnalysisSA – System AssessmentSAIC – Science Applications Inter-national Corporation

comprised of six subsystems:antenna, antenna tracking servo,transmitter, receiver, frequencygenerator, and control and monitor-ing. The terminal has redundantsubsystems with fault isolationcapabilities. The initial terminalswill use the 9.1 meter diameterantenna.

Terminal locations and

AN/GSC-70(V)/Ka-Starsterminal, Camp Roberts,California.

32 Winter 2006

be modified as required to supportthe Ka-STARS terminals. The testtypes and functionality of theoriginal software shall be retained,but modified as required to interfaceand control any new ATS testmeasurement and diagnostic equip-ment that may be required by thenew operating frequencies.

Training: Currently, there isno requirement to train the Ka-STARS terminal within the resident25S course at Fort Gordon; however,this requirement will be reevaluatedevery year. To satisfy the Army’straining requirements for Ka-STARS,the contractor is developing atraining plan, which will be re-viewed through the Department ofTraining at Fort Gordon to ensurestandardized training. This plan willdetail the training approach for IKPTraining, New Equipment Training,and Computer Based InteractiveTraining. The training plan willinclude a listing of all trainingsupport materials needed to conduct

IKP and NET, to include a curricu-lum outlin e. The contractor is alsodeveloping the Interactive ElectronicTechnical Manual. The IETM isbeing developed, with coordinationat the Signal Center training depart-ment, Space and Missile DefenseCommand/ARSTRAT, NetworkCommand and PM DCATS.

Point of contact for additionalinformation on Ka-STARS is FrankStein, TSM SATCOM, DSN: 780-7903, email: steinf@gordon.army.mil.

TELEPORT: - IN A THEATER

NEAR YOU!By Dale Sleeper

Warfighters around the globecan expect a major increase inreachback capacity and capabilitiesthrough the DoD Teleport System.The Teleport Program Office withinthe Defense Information SystemsAgency along with representativesfrom each service has been workingfor the past several years developinga better system to support

warfighter reachback requirements.Teleport has significantly added tothe capabilities and capacity of thecurrent standardized tactical entrypoint. Teleport will integrate,manage, and control a variety ofcommunications interfaces betweenthe Defense Information SystemNetwork terrestrial and tacticalsatellite communications assets at asingle point of presence.

Teleport will add capabilities toeight existing STEP sites whichinclude: Camp Roberts, California;Northwest, Virginia; Fort Buckner,Japan; Wahiawa, Hawaii; LagoPatria, Italy; and Landstuhl/Ramstein, Germany, which will beconsidered a single virtual teleport.Bahrain will be used as a secondarysite for extremely high frequencyonly. TPO has taken a generationalapproach to implement the system.

Generation One (FY02-06) iswell under way. It will providesatellite connectivity for deployedtactical communications systems

Proposed Teleport Generation Three Architecture

Army Communicator 33

ACRONYM QUICKSCAN

ATS – Automated Test StationATSS – Automated Test StationSoftwareCBIT – Computer Based InteractiveTrainingCOTM – communications – on – the– moveCOTS – commercial-off-the-shelfDCATS – Defense Communicationsand Transmissions SystemDISA – Defense Information Sys-tems AgencyDISN – Defense Information Sys-tem NetworkDoD – Department of DefenseDSCS – Defense Satellite Commu-nications SystemEHF – Extremely High FrequencyGFE – government furnished equip-mentIETM – Interactive Electronic Tech-nical ManualIKP – instructor key personnelIP – Internet Protocol

operating in X-band (DSCS,Wideband Gapfiller Satellite),commercial C- and Ku-bands,ultra high frequency, EHFSATCOM, and initial Ka-bandcapabilities.

Generation Two’s (FY06-07) architecture will be supple-mented with additional Ka-bandcapabilities. The Ka-band termi-nals will provide interfaces to theWGS, which will provide Ka-band and X-band coverage withthroughput far exceeding thecurrent DSCS satellite constella-tion. This generation will con-tinue to support legacy require-ments and begin adding InternetProtocol baseband equipment tosupport emerging Tri-Service IPrequirements.

Generation Three (FY08-12) consists of technology inser-tion for the Advanced EHFSystem. Teleport will also haveterrestrial connectivity to MobileUser Objective System to supportservice crossbanding and multiplehop requirements. Teleport isalso expected to install theWarfighter Information Network -Tactical suite of equipment tosupport Army communications-

Ka-Stars – Ka-Band Satellite Trans-mit and Receive SystemM-Demo – Maintenance Demonstra-tionM-hop – multiple hopMUOS – Mobile User Objective Sys-temNET – New Equipment TrainingNDI – non-developmental itemPM – program managerSMDC – Space and Missile Com-mandSTEP – Standardized Tactical EntryPointTBD – to be determinedTMDE – Test Measurement and Di-agnostic EquipmentTSAT – Transformational SatelliteTPO – Teleport Program OfficeUHF – Ultra High FrequencyWGS – Wide Gapfiller SystemWIN-T – Warfighter InformationNetwork - Tactical

on-the-move requirements andincorporate the Joint IP Modem tosupport all tri-service at-the-haltrequirements.

Once Generation Three iscompleted, teleports will requirefuture upgrades to support theTransformational Satellite and theEnhanced Polar System networks.

So remember warfighters, teleportwill always be in a theater near youproviding enhanced reachbackcapability when and where needed.

For more information onteleport, contact Dale Sleeper, TSMSATCOM, DSN 780- 7917, commer-cial (706) 791-7917, email:dale.sleeper@us.army.mil.

.

34 Winter 2006

Hurricane Katrina

Signal lends support

Army Communicator 35

By Kristy Davies

While Hurricane Katrina waspounding the Gulf Coast, the 67thSignal Battalion, part of the 93rdSignal Brigade here, was already onalert to go into action. The 67thdeployed to the devastated areaAug. 30 to do what they do best:communications.

“We were the first Soldiers todeploy from Fort Gordon in supportof the hurricane,” said LTC MichaelPlummer, 67th Signal Battalioncommander. “We left at 5:30 a.m. onthat Tuesday (after the storm hit).”

“We knew we would besupporting the First Army, com-manded by (LG Russel Honoré),”added Plummer.

The 67th initially sent 44Soldiers to Camp Shelby, Miss., atraining post primarily for theNational Guard. The camp is also amobilization center and was thenearest military location where a

command post could be set up thatdid not encroach upon civilians.

“We were the first people from(Joint Task Force-Katrina) there so atthat point I had (my) Soldiers with24 members of the First Army staff,”said Plummer. “We were the initialones who went in and startedhooking up the building, setting upwhat was going to be the base for the(First Army headquarters).”

Plummer returned for medicalreasons, leaving his executive officerin charge of the Soldiers remainingat Camp Shelby.

The 67th set up a data packageto allow Honoré the ability tocommunicate through commercialtelephones, e-mail and video tele-conferences.

“It wasn’t just militarypeople…I saw teams from SouthCarolina, a few vehicles fromGeorgia and (Federal EmergencyManagement Agency) definitely hadrepresentation there,” added

Plummer.“Since we were dealing with a

lot of civilian and non-Army agen-cies, (we had) to give them theability to talk back to whatever statesor organizations they camefrom…pulling in a lot of commercialaccess,” explained Plummer. “Thatwas something we’re very capable ofdoing, but we don’t normally bringin that much commercial access.”

The data package the 67th usesfor setting up communication incombat or in situations such as JTF-Katrina, comes with a phone andinternet capability, both secure andnon-secure, and can be set upanywhere in the world to bringservices to any organization they aresupporting. The package has videoteleconferencing capability as well.

“We set up a VTC that wehosted at our site that included LGHonoré, the (U.S. Northern Com-mand) commander and the presi-dent and his staff,” said Plummer

67th doestheir best: communications

36 Winter 2006

By SPC Brandon AirdNEW ORLEANS – The entire

nation, if not the world, watched onthe news when Hurricane Katrinastruck with devastating power. Things were carried off like feathersin the wind. Even huge, steel bill-boards were not safe; many crashedinto the businesses they once pro-moted. After it was all over NewOrleans and everything within a fewhundred miles could be viewed byan outsider as a third world country.

Soldiers of the 93rd SignalBrigade knew there was a very goodchance they would be deployed asHurricane Katrina bore down onNew Orleans; with levees breaking,the worst-case scenario was soonbecoming a reality.

“When the hurricane startedtoward New Orleans I asked if any

Signal Soldier provesblood IS thicker than water

with a smile. “It was kind of neatbeing a fly on the wall (during theVTC). It’s a full motion video andyou’re seeing the president thereinteract with LG Honoré who issitting at his table with his staff.

“Our Soldiers are there toprovide communications to enablethose people to direct the clean upteams,” said Plummer.

For the 67th it was a uniqueexperience to be supporting Ameri-cans in the homeland rather than ina foreign country.

“These were American people,so motivation is high and it just feelsgood to be helping Americansdirectly,” said Plummer. “These arethe people who stood by the sides ofthe road waving American flags tosupport the Soldiers. Just being ableto go back and help those peoplewho have been supporting us inwhat we’ve been doing, to me, thatis probably the most satisfying andrewarding thing to do.”

Currently, the 67th has 72Soldiers deployed to Joint Task

Soldiers in the battalion had familyin New Orleans,” said LTC StephanMiddleton, commander, 56th SignalBattalion. “I found I had threeSoldiers with family in the region.We left the field training exercise (wewere participating in) and wentstraight down south.”

By the time the 56th Signal

Force-Katrina in addition to ap-proximately 10 Soldiers from the93rd and 105 Soldiers f“I thinkwe’re doing great strides in helpingour own people,” said COL MarkCalvo, 93rd Signal Brigade deputycommander. “This will always beremembered in the eyes of theAmerican people for many years tocome.

“We are providing backbonecommunications for military andcivilian authorities,” Calvo saidabout the 93rd’s role. “The 67th(Signal Battalion) has done anoutstanding job establishing com-munications for FEMA and otherauthorities to reach out and bring inhelp.”

“(COL David Dodd), thecommander of the 93rd, is on theground directly involved withcommunications support for JTF-Katrina,” added Calvo.

The Soldiers with the 67thwere deployed for a 17-day string,or longer.

“Some Soldiers will be coming

back and others will stay longer,”explained Plummer. “As long asthere is a command structure there,we will probably have some of ourSoldiers engaged and whatever daythey decide to officially turn off JTF-Katrina under LG Honoré …it willgo down to a trickle as we pullback.”

The experience of having astateside mission has taught theSoldiers lessons that will not soon beforgotten. “The Soldiers (learned)they can contribute, they are a playerand that they can make a differ-ence,” said Plummer. “We havesomething we can do right here inour country. You don’t have todeploy to make a difference. You cando good right here.”

Ms. Davies is the editorialassistant for The Signal newspaper onFort Gordon. Prior to employment withthe paper, Davies was a radio newsdirector for several radio stations in theDestin, Fla. area. Davies is an Armyveteran who hails from Niceville, Fla.

SPC Cory Kelly, 518th SignalCompany, and his father, Warren,

reunite Sept. 7, in New Orleansafter Hurricane Katrina devastated

the area. Kelly deployed to NewOrleans Airport with his unit to

provide communications to relieforganizations and military units.

Kelly was fortunate to be part of arecon mission going past the

neighborhood where his wholefamily lived.

Battalion Soldiers left for NewOrleans, everyone with family made

Army Communicator 37

contact except SPC Cory Kelly, aNew Orleans native assigned to the518th Signal Company (TacticalInstallation Networking). Two of hisaunts, his father, grandparents and abunch of cousins all live in a smallneighborhood on the south side ofthe Mississippi River.

When the 56th received the callto deploy, Kelly didn’t know what tothink. “I almost didn’t want to go atfirst; but at the same time, I wantedto find Pops,” Kelly said, referring tohis father. What Kelly eventuallycame across could be seen as ananswer to prayers by many. Notonly did he find his father Sept. 7,but he found his uncle and his 95-year-old grandfather who refused toleave his house, and stayed put toweather out the storm. Kelly’s fatherand uncle had refused to leave hisgrandfather’s side. Kelly said hisgrandfather’s house didn’t suffermuch flood damage but that it wasaffected by the wind.

Kelly, who has six brothers andsisters, credited Middleton and COLDavid E. Dodd, 93rd Signal Brigadecommander, with helping him findhis family. “I was hoping to find hisfamily,” said Middleton. “He had to

be pretty worried not hearing fromthem at all.”

When Kelly, who brieflyattended Louisiana State Universityon a basketball scholarship beforejoining the Army, arrived at theneighborhood where he lived almostall his life, he couldn’t believe thecarnage the hurricane had wrought.

“There was a tree goingthrough the front room of mycousin’s house,” Kelly said. “I didn’tthink my house would have madeit.” His house was empty, but itwasn’t damaged although therewasn’t any power or running water.Most of the stores in the area werelooted.

At the last house he checked, hefound his cousin, and was told to goto a different location to try and findhis father. After leaving that streetand turning onto a different one,they passed by the church hisgrandfather built. It was still stand-ing without any damage. “Wealways referred to my grandfather asone of the ‘oaks’ of the family,” Kellysaid softly of his family’s patriarch.

“When I knocked on the doorof the second place, I was told to goaway,” said Kelly. “I looked through

the window and said ‘Hey, Pops. It’s me!’ He couldn’t believe I wasthere ‘cause I haven’t been home inalmost two years,” said Kelly, whoin November, has spent five years inthe Army.

“His father came outside andthey both hugged,” said Middleton.“It was a great feeling reunitingKelly with his family. It’s prettymuch the essence of why we arehere.”

The reunion was hard forKelly.

“It made me both happy andsad. It was really hard seeing myneighborhood like that,” said Kelly.“Everything I know is changed. Iwas planning on getting out of theArmy and coming back home. Nowthere is almost nothing to come backto. I don’t know what I’m going todo.” Kelly went on to state thatbeing in Louisiana and a part of thedisaster relief efforts made him feelgood about being in the military.

SPC Aird is with the 93rd SignalBrigade Public Affairs.

1LT Sharron Stewart, 252ndSignal Company, also contributed tothis article.

By 1LT Sharron Stewart

Like a Phoenix risingfrom the ashes, the city of NewOrleans steadily rises from themire and goes about themission of restoring order toher citizens. Soldiers of the 56thSignal Battalion came to assistthe beleaguered city in hergreatest time of need.

Approximately 120members of the 56th SignalBattalion were alerted Labor Dayweekend for support with HurricaneKatrina disaster relief efforts; andthe Soldiers haven’t stopped mov-ing.

According to LTC Stephen A.Middleton, 56th battalion com-mander, approximately 120 Soldiersdeployed to assist New Orleans inproviding communication services

for members of Joint Task ForceKatrina. Members of the battaliondeployed to Camp Shelby, Miss.,Baton Rouge, La., and parts of NewOrleans.

Middleton explained thebattalion’s responsibility includedsupporting 5th U.S. Army, the 13thCorps Support Command and parts

of the 82nd Airborne Divisionwith telephone communica-tions, voice, data, and video-teleconferencing so they couldcoordinate Katrina reliefefforts. In addition, the 56thSignal Battalion providednon-secure Internet Protocolservices, secure InternetProtocol services, and satellitecommunications. Fort Bragg,N.C., and Fort Dietrich, Md.,served as the strategic tactical

entry points that allowed access tothe signals.

He noted the battalion wasparticipating in a data exercisebefore the Labor Day weekend whenit was notified to deploy. He believesthe timing worked for the good ofthe battalion because Soldiers hadvalidated the mission’s equipment

56th Sig Bn assists in Katrina disaster relief

The battalion’s responsibilityincluded supporting 5th U.S.Army, the 13th Corps SupportCommand and parts of the 82ndAirborne Division withtelephone communications,voice, data, and video-teleconferencing.

38 Winter 2006

before they got the call to deploy.In New Orleans, elements of

the 56th set up operations at aCarnival Cruise Line terminal. Twovessels, the Carnival Cruise ship,Ecstasy and USS Naval ship, IwoJima, were used by FEMA foroperational purposes. The vesselsalso provided housing for evacuatedAmericans and members of the NewOrleans law enforcement communitywho lost homes in the flood or firesfollowing Hurricane Katrina’s strike.

Middleton went on to say thatone of the experiences that movedhim most was the honor of restoringthe American flag at the LouisArmstrong New Orleans Interna-tional Airport. Middleton said it wasbrought to their attention that theflag was tattered and had flownupside down. After the flag wasremoved it was rendered properhonors. The Soldiers conducted amini retreat and raised a new flag.

“I think taking down the oldflag and raising the new one is prettysymbolic of why we are down here,”Middleton said.

Middleton was impressed withthe dedication of the Soldiers, non-commissioned officers and officers tocomplete the mission. “It’s beenapparent since we’ve been downhere that our Soldiers believe in our

battalion motto, ‘Get the missionthrough.’ I couldn’t be more proudof what they are doing,” he said witha slight nod of his head.

He added he has not felt thesame synergy or united purposesince the aftermath of the horrificevents of Sept. 11, 2001. “We’ve hadthe opportunity to work alongsidewith people from all over thecountry, be it Red Cross workers,state officials, firefighters, police-man, National Guardsmen, Reserv-ists and members from our sisterservices. We are all here,” he said.

SGT Douglas Maye, a 63B,light-wheel vehicle mechanic with252nd Signal Company, said he washumbled by the effects of the devas-tation and at the same time proud ofbeing part of the mission. “I canactually say that I was able to comedown here, get on the ground and beable to do what I could do, instead ofwatching things from a distance.That makes me feel good,” Mayesaid.

SSG Carmella Rivera, a 25L,cable systems installer/maintainerwith the 518th Tactical InstallationNetwork Company, was awed bythe impact of the damage HurricaneKatrina wrought in downtown NewOrleans.

“When we first got here, one of

the first things I saw was a tree thatwas completely torn out of theground and that had left a big,gaping hole. It was lying on top of ahouse and the house was completelycaved in,” she said shaking her head.Rivera said she saw police cars withwindows blown out, completelystripped of their tires, radios andvaluables.

CPT Courtney Henderson,commander for the 252nd SignalCompany, had elements of hiscompany travel to Baton Rouge anddifferent locations in New Orleans.“Although the Soldiers are awayfrom their families and were prettymuch told to move out withoutmuch notice, they have not com-plained and have worked tirelesslybecause they believe in what we aredoing. They make it easy for me tosay that I love my job.”

“The motivation of the Soldiershas been outstanding. Even when wewere in a holding pattern in BatonRouge, everybody did what theyhad to do without complaining.They were pretty restless, theycouldn’t wait to get their systems upand running in order to show whatthe 56th is made of,” he said.

1LT Stewart is with the 252ndSignal Company.

By MAJ Francis Polashek

The G6 communications section of the35th Division’s Task Force Santa Fe deployedfor five weeks to New Orleans Naval AirStation, La., for Hurricane Katrina relief. ThisKansas City unit successfully coordinatedcommunications for units from all 50 statesand four territories. Its critical planningallowed units to function seamlessly in NewOrleans and southeast Louisiana. The sectionsupported 23,000 Soldiers, coordinatingdisjointed planning into a central point. Itworked with Defense Information SystemsAgency, United States Northern Command(Homeland Security), National Guard Bureau,Louisiana Army National Guard, Missouri Air

G6, 35th Division’s participationin Hurricane Katrina relief efforts

Army Communicator 39

National Guard, Missouri NationalGuard, Louisiana Air NationalGuard, and 82nd Airborne Division.It issued more than 1,500 radios,created the division Signal Operat-ing Instructions, deployed signalassemblages, emplaced a relay usedto summon a MEDEVAC to save a

diabetic civilian, and managed fivedifferent types of radio nets.

The Jefferson Barracks, Mis-souri 218th Engineering InstallationSquadron, Missouri Active NationalGuard collocated with the G6,providing data, voice, video, andradio service through their Interim

Satellite Incident Site Communica-tions Set. The consolidation of theAir and Army teams was transparentto the division through the dedica-tion and hard work of both theAirmen and Soldiers involved.

The G6 section was impressedby the huge outpouring of supportfrom people along the way duringthe four-day convoy to New Orleans.According to the G6, LTC RobertWilliams, “the people of Louisianahave shown remarkable support tous.” He was impressed by the way“the Guard personnel, many ofwhom had lost their homes in theflooding, welcomed us and bent overbackwards to help.”

The G6 had many challenges toinclude only hours notice beforereporting for duty, remaining inplace and weathering HurricaneRita, transforming unit structureduring deployment, serving on aKansas staff, and coordinating jointand interagency assets without anexisting command and control.Although challenging, Williamsstated this deployment has proven tobe a very rewarding experience.

MAJ Polashek is the 35th Divisiondeputy G6, Task Force Santa Fe, NewOrleans Naval Air Station, Belle Chasse,La.

By Stephen Larsen

FORT MONMOUTH, N.J. – Inthe aftermaths of Hurricane Katrinaand Hurricane Rita, many citizens,touched by the plight of the peoplewhose homes were destroyed andlives were turned upside down,tried to help in any way they could.Within Department of Defense, thisdesire to help took the form ofcommunications and acquisitionspecialists volunteering their timeand special skills to join the JointTask Force-Katrina and Joint Task

Force-Rita.One such volunteer was Alan

Thompson, an engineer with theProject Manager, Defense Commu-nications and Army TransmissionSystems’ Product Manager, DefenseWide Transmission System. Fornearly three weeks in September,Thompson who works at FortMonmouth, N.J., was deployed atPeterson Air Force Base, ColoradoSprings, Colo., as part of JTF-K withthe U.S. Northern Command/U.S.North American Aerospace Com-mand. He worked in the J6 Theater

C4ISR Control Center, commandedby Rear Adm. Nancy Brown.

“We worked 12-hour days,seven days a week,” said Thompson,adding that he is grateful for theopportunity – not only because it hasallowed him to apply his specialskills to help his fellow citizens, butalso because it gave him a glimpse ofthe big picture that not many get tosee.

For instance? On Saturdaymorning, Sept. 24, Brown’s executiveofficer, CPT Mary McLendon, camethrough the J6 TCCC and told all

Katrina task force volunteermeets President Bush

MAJ Michael Devine adjusts the CSS Very Small Aperture Terminal of aCSS SATCOM system recently at Louis Armstrong New OrleansInternational Airport, where he served as part of Joint Task Force-Katrina.

40 Winter 2006

parties to follow her. The team wasushered into a room, and before theyknew it, they were face-to-face withPresident Bush, who firmly shookeach JTF-K team member’s hand andthanked them individually for theirhelp in the relief effort.

“Doesn’t everyone spend theirSaturday mornings shaking handswith the president?” quippedThompson, quickly adding “Iappreciated, and was overwhelmed,that someone who deals with theleaders of the world would take thetime to, individually, stop by andthank each of us for the hours andeffort we put in away from ourfamilies and communities.”

Thompson said that his role atNORTHCOM was to represent PMDCATS/PM DWTS’ higher head-quarters, the Program ExecutiveOffice, Enterprise InformationSystems, working closely withpersonnel from the Program Execu-tive Office, Command, Control andCommunications-Tactical.

“I let the military plannersknow what PEO EIS/PM DCATS/PM DWTS products fit in with theoverall plan of JTF-K for restoring

Team Global Communications, andof course, COL Gale Harrington,PM DCATS and Art Reiff, thedeputy PM DCATS – for allowingme this opportunity,” said Thomp-son.

Mr. Larsen is a public affairsofficer with Program Executive Office,Enterprise Information Systems at FortMonmouth, N.J.

the strategic and tactical communi-cations in the Joint OperationsArea,” said Thompson, “and lookedfor opportunities to bring ourproducts to the table to assist in therebuilding.”

Some PM DCATS productsThompson offered to the JTF-Keffort included land mobile radios, aproduct of the Assistant ProductManager, Land Mobile Radio, forfirst responder communications; theFort Monmouth Teleport site, aproduct of the Assistant ProductManager, Satellite CommunicationsSystems, as a backup to the JTF-Keffort’s satellite communicationsnetwork; and the Multi-MediaCommunications Systems andCombat Service Support SatelliteCommunications system, productsof PM DWTS, which providesatellite access for Non-secureInternet Protocol Router Networkand Secure Internet Protocol RouterNetwork connectivity and wirelesslocal area network connectivity.

“I really appreciate the supportof my immediate management –Tom Lucy, PM DWTS, LindaBartosik, the leader of PM DWTS’

APM LMR – Assistant Product Man-ager, Land Mobile RadioAPM SCS – Assistant Product Man-ager, Satellite Communications Sys-temsCSS SATCOM – Combat ServiceSupport Satellite CommunicationsCSS VSAT – Combat Service Sup-port Very Small Aperture TerminalISISICS – Interim Satellite IncidentSite Communications SetJ6TCCC –J6 Theater C4ISR Con-trol CenterJTF – Joint Task ForceJTF-K – Task Force-KatrinaJTF-R – Joint Task Force-RitaLAANG – Louisiana Air NationalGuardLARNG – Louisiana Army NationalGuardMMCS – Multi-Media Communica-tions SystemsMOANG – Missouri Air NationalGuardMOARNG – Missouri Army NationalGuardNGB – National Guard BureauNIPERNET – Non-secure InternetProtocol Router NetworkNORAD –North American Aero-space CommandNORTHCOM – U.S. Northern Com-mandPEO C3T – Program Executive Of-fice, Command, Control and Com-munications-TacticalPEO EIS – Program Executive Of-fice, Enterprise Information SystemsPM DCATS – Project Manager, De-fense Communications and ArmyTransmission SystemsPM DWTS – Product Manager, De-fense Wide Transmission SystemSIPRNET Secure Internet ProtocolRouter NetworkSOI – Signal Operating Instructions

ACRONYM QUICKSCAN

President George W. Bush shakes the hand of engineer Alan Thompsonas other members of Joint Task Force-Katrina await their turn to meet thepresident, Sept. 24 at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado Springs, Colo.

Army Communicator 41

News and trends of interest to the Signal Regiment

Circuit check

NEWS

REDESIGN CONFERENCEADDRESSES SIGNAL FUTUREPART IBy Kristy Davies

It is the beginning of the end,the end of old thinking that is.

Day one of the Signal RedesignConference kicked off Nov. 7 at theU.S. Army Reserve Center on FortGordon, as representatives frommultiple Army organizationsincluding 3rd Infantry Division,Training and Doctrine Command,Network Enterprise TechnologyCommand and every organizationrelated to Signal, gathered in thedrill hall.

Opening remarks were madeby BG Randolph Strong, chief ofSignal, and COL Tim Day, directorof Combat Development, U.S. ArmySignal Center.

Strong welcomed everyone tothe conference, but reiterated thatthe conference was a workingconference and not a social gather-ing.

With the Joint Network Nodehaving been fielded rapidly, thereare still some issues that must besolved prior to the Signal Regimentmoving towards Warrior Informa-tion Network-Tactical.

“We just really have to cleanup the battlefield of JNN, get JNNsorted out and change our focus tothe future fight,” explained Day.

“We have to make sure the(organizational) structure andequipment fight the future fight butintegrates with WIN-T l),” addedDay. “What we’re talking about (atthis conference) is the force structureimplications for JNN.”

In his briefing to the represen-tatives, COL Jeffrey Smith, directorfor TRADOC Program IntegrationOffice-Network, explained theimportance of the redesign in

regards to networking and “enablingthe Warfighter.”

“The network is commandedby the Warfighter,” Smith said in anexuberant voice to the Soldiers andcivilians attending the conference.

Smith proceeded with theresults of LandWarNet II, lessonslearned from 3rd Infantry Divisionand the concept of Doctrine, Organi-zation, Training, Material, Leader-ship, Personnel, and Facilities.

“LandWarNet II taught us thatour organizational solutions had toreflect the joint nature of war,” saidSmith. “The fundamental purpose ofthe network is to enable and informa commander, leader or Soldier tomake better decisions, provide moredevastating fire power and toachieve more comprehensive resultson the battlefield.”

Certain issues have arisenduring the implementation of thenew networking technology.

“Based on Operation IraqiFreedom One, the Army decided toprovide its maneuver force with ajoint, interoperable data network.3rd ID received the JNNs for itsdeployment to OIF three,” explainedSmith. “That allowed people toconnect directly to a hub.”

Smith explained the concept ofDOTML-PF, the basis of restructur-ing Signal. A common doctrine willresult in having a common way offighting. Organizations must beprepared for future transformationand training must prepare Soldiersfor an adaptable network. No one inthe commercial world has theArmy’s requirement for near realtime connectivity and informationexchange.

“We need to bring in commer-cial technologies and train our newSoldiers on those commercialtechnologies to include IP,” ex-plained Smith. “We have to train on

(Left) BG Randolph Strong, Chief of Signal, emphasized the conferencewas a working conference, not a social gathering. The first step isredesigning the Signal Corps to meet the needs of the Army, pointed outby (not pictured) COL Jeff Smith, director for TRADOC Program IntegrationOffice-Network. “The focus of this (conference) is to get the organizationalpiece correct,” Smith stated.

42 Winter 2006

this new language of IP.”Having material which is more

tailored to the needs of communica-tion between the Soldier and com-mand post would allow everyone tobe using information that can beshared by anyone at any location atany time, according to Smith.

Smith also briefed that thenetwork is a complex interaction ofbiology and physics.

“The network itself reflects theprofoundly human nature of com-bat,” Smith explained. “We musthave a (structural design) thatconstantly keeps up with thewarfighter.”

The first step is redesigning theSignal Corps to meet the needs of theArmy.

“The focus of this (conference)is to get the organizational piececorrect,” continued Smith. “We(need to) organize all these SignalSoldiers on the battlefield so thatthey bring the network ever closer tothe warfighter. If we can make thewarfighter and the network largelyone and the same, then we willachieve an extraordinary capability.”

After Smith’s briefing, confer-ence participants split into workgroups for the remainder of the dayto work on funding, personnel,organizational, and technical issues.

“We have the right (people)here and have representation of alllevels,” said Day. “We have peoplefrom the field to the guys who do thestrategic hubs. They are tremendousprofessionals.”

The conference continuedTuesday and Wednesday with allday work groups and a back briefingto the Council of Colonels onWednesday. The last day for theconference is today and will consistof feedback from the work groupproponents, briefings to the generalofficers and closing remarks.

“We’ve got to have network-savvy Signal officers, Soldiers,(noncommissioned officers), civiliansand contractors who are able tounderstand the scientific and biologi-cal basis of this network well enoughto influence and alter the course ofan enemy’s intentions,” said Smith.“Approaching these issues from a

DOTML-PF standpoint, our easyway of describing it, is the onlycomprehensive way.”

Ms. Davies is the editorialassistant for The Signal newspaper onFort Gordon. Prior to employment withthe paper, Davies was a radio newsdirector for several radio stations in theDestin, Fla. area. Davies is an Armyveteran who hails from Niceville, Fla.

REDESIGN CONFERENCEADDRESSES SIGNAL FUTUREPART IBy Kristy Davies

The outlook for the SignalRegiment is positive and strong as itmoves into a new era of JointNetwork Node and LandWarNet.

The Signal Redesign Confer-ence, held at the U.S. Army ReserveCenter here, ended Nov. 10. Theconference opened the eyes oforganizations and representativesfrom throughout the Army includingTraining and Doctrine Command,Network Enterprise TechnologyCommand, 9th Army Signal Com-mand, Division G6s, Theater andCorps Signal Brigade commandersand the Department of the Army.

BG Randolph Strong, Chief ofSignal; BG Carroll Pollett, NETCOMcommanding general; and BG JeffreyFoley, director for architecture,operations, networks and space,Office of the Chief Information

Officer/G6, listened to the generalofficer back brief on the final dayand wrap up of the conference.

“There is going to be a shift ofexpertise,” said COL Jeffrey Smith,director for TRADOC ProgramIntegration Office-Network whenaddressing the panel of generalofficers. “Our focus today is Signalorganizations that now support thewarfighter. A warfighter never asksfor an (Integrated Theater SignalBattalion - Joint), he asks for capabil-ity.”

Approximately 180 personnelrepresenting organizations through-out the Army attended the four-dayconference.

The Signal Center conductedthe force redesign conference torefine the LandWarNet operationalconstruct and the Signal Regiment’sforce structure in order to meet therequirements of the Army modularexpeditionary Army and clean upthe JNN battlefield.

The leaders of fourworkgroups addressed the accom-plishments made during the three-day period. While doing so, Pollettrequested clarification on the basis ofcertain aspects of the redesign whileFoley emphasized the importance ofknowing what you are changing.

“We have to be very careful onwhat source we use to identify theproblem,” explained Foley. “Wehave to make sure we clearly definethe problem, who said it, what

Leaders from four workgroups addressed the accomplishments madeduring the three-day redesign conference. BG Carroll Pollett, NETCOMcommanding general, requested clarification from the group on the basisof certain aspects of the redesign and BG Jeffrey Foley, director forarchitecture, operations, networks and space, emphasized the importanceof knowing what you are changing.

Army Communicator 43

authority, under who’s action are weworking this and does it have theblessing of those commanders outthere who are living it.”

John Twohig, division chief ofForce Design Requirements Integra-tion Directorate Future Center,Headquarters TRADOC, stepped upto explain more of the purpose of theconference.

“A redesign implies a muchgreater change,” he said. “Thereason why we are looking at doingthis now is because now is theopportunity when the conjunctionwith the ITSB redesign throughoutSignal structure can be pushedaround to address shortfalls in theG6/S6 with that structure. It’s arefinement of Signal structure fromthe support to theater level.”

Issues with the Signal structurewere addressed from the strategicand tactical levels.

“At the conference, we at leastidentified a lot of key areas that wenow have to focus our efforts inorder to restructure all of Signal,”said Terry Edwards, director ofarchitecture, office of the CIO/G6.“Not just the technology and equip-ment part of it, but also the structureso that they can meet the objective.”

Signal, medical and infantrypersonnel walked away from theconference with a feeling of accom-plishment.

“Sometimes it is difficult tomeasure because we’re only here fora few hours,” said Foley. “From theout brief that we received ... I thinkwe did make progress. I think wedid hit a number of the targets.”

Changes to be felt as a result ofthe conference will vary fromimmediate to future changes. AForce Design Update will be submit-ted by Dec. 1 for the new ITSB-J,which are JNN based NETCOMbattalions for theater Army supportmissions.

“Many of the concepts devel-oped (from the conference) will beplayed out in the (Total ArmyAnalysis) 9-13 and will enable theArmy to begin the resourcingprocess to gain dollars, equipmentand personnel for this force struc-ture,” explained COL Tim Day,

director of Combat Development,U.S. Army Signal Center.

Signal Soldiers have much tolook forward to as the changesensue. The Signal Regiment willcompletely change to a JNN-basedforce in conjunction with Armymodularity by 2009.

“There will be no more Signalbattalions in below corps level,”explained Day. “Signal units andSoldiers will be integrated into theArmy warfighting organizations asan integral part of the warfightersweapon systems. warfighters willfight the network, and employ it, justlike any other weapon system.”

“This JNN force structure,without Signal battalions in thetactical formations, is a naturaltransition to the units,” continuedDay.

Focus for Signal officers will bethe S6/G6 positions supporting thewarfighter while Soldiers comingout of Advanced Individual Trainingwill go to a JNN company or to aG6/S6 network operations section. Asignificant change is that there willno longer be a Signal battalion orbrigade headquarters above theSoldiers, according to Day.

Training will be greatly im-pacted as Signal moves closer toLandWarNet-University.

“The LandWarNet-Universityconcept has the potential to changetraining across the Army,” addedDay.

The current equipment, MobileSubscriber Equipment, is expected tobe replaced by JNN and later withWarrior Information Network-Tactical by 2009.

“JNN is a transitional capabil-ity to overcome our network capa-bilities gap until WIN-T arrives onthe battlefield,” explained Day.

Having a say in restructuringthe Signal Regiment is a revolution-ary change as officials received inputfrom the field.

“I think the biggest thingSoldiers in the field need to under-stand is that they do have a voice infixing and changing the regiment,”Day explained. “The CG (of theSignal Center) has made it a hugepriority to go out and get feedback

from the field and do somethingabout it. The men and women heretoday are very professional, moti-vated and focused on taking care ofour Soldiers in the field. I think thatmessage is getting out to the fieldand that’s just based on the amountof e-mails and phone calls we nowget from corps, division and brigadeG6/S6.”

The Signal Redesign Confer-ence has been deemed a success.

“It was a synchronizationeffort,” added Foley. “We identifiedsome major decision points that haveto be made. (The conference also)helped educate the Signal Regimentby letting everyone know what weare doing. It was a wonderfulinformation sharing opportunity.”

Although the Signal RedesignConference came to a close, it is justthe beginning of the full transforma-tion.

“(The conference) was a specialconference designed to ‘clean up’ theJNN force structure,” said Day. “Wewill have LandWarNet Wargame III(early 2006) to validate the results ofthis conference and to begin theWIN-T preparation for TAA 10-15.”

Fort Gordon is the center of theentire Signal transformation andplays a key role.

“Signal is a critical piece to theoverall Army architecture and is akey component,” said Edwards.“Signal plays a critical part becausewhat enables us to get to be a netcentric force is the network and thenetwork structure is being designedright here at Fort Gordon. FortGordon is, therefore, a criticalplayer.”

Transformation, redesign,restructure and refinement willcontinue to be significant to theSignal Regiment as many changes lieahead.

Foley expressed his gratitudetowards the Signal Regiment.

“I’m proud to be associatedwith so many good people workingso hard to make the Army a betterplace to serve, and our warfightingforces a better place to fight.”

Ms. Davies is the editorialassistant for The Signal newspaper on

44 Winter 2006

Fort Gordon. Prior to employment withthe paper, Davies was a radio newsdirector for several radio stations in theDestin, Fla., area. Davies is an Armyveteran who hails from Niceville, Fla.

JNN-N simulation continuestransformationBy Tammy Moehlman

Stimulating training is nowavailable online for the new JointNetwork Node - Network.

The new 25N occupationalspecialty, or JNN-N nodal systemoperator/maintainer Soldiers, arenow able to train using simulations.

The 25N military occupationalspecialty was recently made officialalong with the beginning of coursetraining this month for the new JNN-N equipment. The biggest thing withthe new equipment and relatedtraining is the simultaneous intro-duction of simulation training forJNN-N online.

“The most significant thingabout this particular simulation isthe timing. It’s the first time that asimulation has come out with a newpiece of equipment at the sametime,” said Terry Moehlman, chief ofPublications/Media Branch, Univer-sity of Information TechnologyDivision. “The simulation is notstandalone training, but is used inconjunction with regular training atthe resident schoolhouse.”

Soldiers with an Army Knowl-edge Online account can access theUIT portal at http://uit.gordon.army.mil and downloadthe simulation.

A forum has been establishedon the website to provide technicalsupport for UIT Simulations, accord-ing to SSG Christopher Page, non-commissioned officer in charge,Simulations Branch, Directorate ofTraining. He also adds that “allsimulations that have been devel-oped to support Life Long Learningare available through the UIT webportal.”

The simulation providesrealistic training including theturning on of lights, the actualsounds the equipment makes during

each process, and also simulates theactual time it takes the equipment toperform an action.

“Simulations are high fidelity3D virtual reality views of equip-ment and systems that are used asinitial (resident) and sustainment(deployed) training,” said Page.“The 3D environment makes it veryrealistic. All aspects of creating asimulation for a system have beentaken into account.

“For instance, if it takes oneminute for a radio to perform a selftest, then that delay time is dupli-cated within the simulation. All LED(light emitting diode indications),alarms and warnings have also beenduplicated in the simulation.”

The simulation took a year todevelop and was loaded to thewebsite Oct. 18, 2005.

“Simulation is a key part of theLifelong Learning initiative that theSignal Center has been working onfor the past four years.

Lifelong Learning simplymeans using technology to delivertraining and education to Soldiersand leaders wherever they are andwhenever they need it.

“Simulation helps us get awayfrom the heavy dependency that wehave on equipment. It helps us use aPC-based replication of the equip-ment for familiarization, acquiringand practicing information technol-ogy skills. Of the three types ofsimulations (live, virtual and con-structive), the JNN-N simulation is avirtual simulation used to assistinstructors with initial JNN-N NodalSystem Operator/maintainertraining and units with sustain-ment,” said MAJ Charles Dugle,chief, Simulations Branch, Director-ate of Training.

All simulations are set up inthe same way so that operating andnavigating a simulation neverchanges, just the subject matter. Thismakes it easier for the users to focuson learning the equipment and noton how to run the simulationprogram.

The training focuses on fourmodes of learning: familiarize,acquire, practice, and validate,according to Page.

“A simulation will actuallysave on the amount of the actualequipment we’ll need in the school-house for training. You can havefewer pieces of the equipment in theschoolhouse because you train usingthe simulation on laptop or desktopcomputers. Then the student goesthrough a series of tasks,” saidMoehlman.

The simulation is followed upwith a hands-on validation with theactual equipment. Often equipmentgets damaged when it’s used fortraining and that’s another advan-tage to simulations.

“You can’t break the simula-tion; if something happens youreboot your computer... and startover,” says Moehlman. “Plus ittracks how many errors are madeand where they need to go back anddo a refresher.”

Another advantage to theonline simulation training is theaccess it gives to Soldiers deployedor in Reserve or National Guardunits.

The simulation also “providestraining for the reserve componentSoldiers,” said Moehlman.

With most training providedon the UIT portal Soldiers have theoption of going through the wholecourse or just the simulation. Thesimulation is the only trainingavailable online at this time for JNN-N, but the whole course will beavailable in the future. The trainingis so new not all the parts have beenplaced online. This realistic trainingwill compliment instruction at theresident schoolhouse and thosehundred to thousands of miles away,he said.

“No matter where the Soldieris stationed, they will be able tocome back to one location anddownload the simulations that theyneed for training,” said Page.

Ms. Moehlman is with the FortGordon Public Affairs Office. A gradu-ate of Augusta State University with adegree in communications, she workedfor five years as a visual informationspecialist before working with the PAOoffice. She serves as a broadcaster andstaff writer/graphic artist for the

Army Communicator 45

newspaper The Signal.

$5 BILLION WORLD-WIDESATELLITE SYSTEMSCONTRACT WILL OFFER ONE-STOP SHOPPING FOR FEDERALAGENCIES

By Stephen Larsen

FORT MONMOUTH, N.J. –Federal agencies – both Departmentof Defense and non-DoD – requiringcommercial satellite terminals andassociated services will soon be ableto order what they need, when theyneed it, from the World-WideSatellite Systems contract, a compre-hensive indefinite delivery/indefi-nite quantity contract.

Army officials expect theWWSS solicitation to be released toindustry in the first quarter of fiscalyear 2006, with contract awardslated for the third quarter of fiscalyear 2006.

A partnership of the ProjectManager, Defense Communicationsand Army Transmission Systemsand the Project Manager, WarfighterInformation Network-Tactical, theWWSS contract will have a ceilingvalue of $5 billion over a term of fiveyears.

The WWSS contract will offersix commercial satellite terminaltypes: Combat Support Service VerySmall Aperture Terminals, fixed-station satellite terminals, flyawayVSATs, military-certified satelliteterminals, prime mover/trailer-mounted satellite terminals anddeployable satellite earth terminals.Depending on user requirements,these satellite terminals may berequired to operate on any militaryor commercial satellite in the C, Ku,X and Ka-bands.

“We plan to award the WWSScontract to up to six prime contrac-tors,” said Kevin Carroll, the U.S.Army’s Program Executive Officer,Enterprise Information Systems.“Each prime contractor will berequired to provide complete turn-key solutions, including hardware,software, support services anddata.”

According to Scott Mathews,project leader for the WWSS ProjectOffice of PM DCATS, it is theGovernment’s intention to award toat least two to small businesses thatmeet the full requirements of thecontract, assuming a small businessis within the competitive range.

For more information about theWorld-Wide Satellite Systemscontract, check the Industry Interac-tive Business Opportunities Page forFort Monmouth at https://abop.monmouth.army.mil/ orcontact Scott Mathews atscott.a.mathews@us.army.mil or byphone at (732) 532-2339.

Mr. Larsen serves as a publicaffairs officer with the Program Execu-tive Office for Executive InformationSystems at Fort Monmouth, N.J.

Federal agencies – both Department of Defense and non-DoD – requiringcommercial satellite terminals ranging from (left) Combat Support ServiceVery Small Aperture Terminals to (right) deployable satellite earth terminalswill soon be able to order what they need, when they need it, from theWorld-Wide Satellite Systems contract. Army officials expect the WWSSsolicitation to be released to industry in the first quarter of fiscal year 2006,with contract awarded slated for the third quarter of fiscal year 2006.

DOD, INDUSTRY LEADERS MEETTO SUPPORT JOINTWARFIGHTERby Anthony Ricchiazzi

TOBYHANNA ARMY DEPOT,Pa.— Department of Defense andprivate industry leaders recently metto discuss the benefits and chal-lenges of public-private partnershipsto continue providing warfighterswith the best weapons systems in the

shortest time and at the lowest cost.The Public Private Partnership

Conference, sponsored by the U.S.Army Communications-ElectronicsLife Cycle Management Commandand hosted by Tobyhanna ArmyDepot, was held at the Skytop LodgeJune 26-28. The Honorable ClaudeM. Bolton, assistant secretary of theArmy for acquisition, logistics andtechnology/Army acquisitionexecutive, served as keynotespeaker.

Other speakers and attendeesincluded David Pauling, assistantdeputy under secretary of defense,Materiel Readiness and MaintenancePolicy; MG Michael R. Mazzucchi,C-E LCMC commander; MG DanielMongeon, director, Logistics Opera-tions, Defense Logistics Agency;Victor Ferlise, deputy to the com-manding general for operations andsupport, C-E LCMC; representativesof the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force andMarine Corps, and representativesof more than 23 companies.

“The conference served as anopportunity to share the successes,best practices and challenges ofpublic private partnering andperformance based logistics,” saidRon Cappellini, director of BusinessManagement and conference chair-man. “By having these conferences,

46 Winter 2006

DoD and industry contribute to acommon goal of providing qualityequipment and support to America’swarfighters.”

Partnering is gaining momen-tum, according to Cappellini. Overthe last decade, Tobyhanna has had97 partnerships. Currently there are32 active and 24 in negotiations.Business Planning Division, BusinessManagement Directorate, is prima-rily responsible for partneringinitiatives. The team has initiated 19new partnership agreements thisyear alone.

Tobyhanna has the mostpartnerships of any DoD organiza-tion. Partnerships include Engineer-ing and Professional ServicesCorporation for the AN/PRC-112Dradio and Northrop Grumman forthe Command Post Platform.

The AN/PRC-112D is a greatexample of partnering, Cappellinisaid. A small corporation was ableto obtain a major program byemploying the services of largerorganizations. The Soldier, theprivate corporations and the depothave all benefited by this initiative.“The Communications SystemsDirectorate has done an outstandingjob assembling, testing and fieldingAN/PRC-112D radios,” he added.

“On the CPP [Command PostPlatform] program, we will work forNorthrop Grumman providing newequipment training. This will allowus to gain further knowledge of thesystem, which gives us strongerleverage to provide long term

sustainment,” Cappellini said. “Wealso have partnerships for theStryker Brigade Combat Team, theTactical Operations Centers and areestablishing partnerships for un-manned aerial vehicles.

“We also had AMC inputabout Performance Based Logistics,”he added. “PBL is a hot topic in theDefense Department. It provides afocal point for managing a system’slife cycle.”

Representatives of businessessuch as General Dynamics, NorthropGrumman and VSE Corp. sharedtheir experiences and insights.Cappellini said attendees also hadbrainstorming sessions to discuss thebenefits of partnering and identifyareas for improvement. This was apowerful vehicle for the privatesector to share their perspectiveswith key government policy makers,government customers and organicpartners, he noted.

“We’ll use that information todocument and correct systemicproblems affecting partnering,” headded. “For example, smallercompanies sometimes could notmeet the advance payment require-ment when working with depots.We have to be paid before we beginwork on a system. That’s a ‘some-times’ problem for large companies,but a stumbling block for smallcompanies who don’t have thefinancial reserves to pay up front.Legislation now allows them toreceive advance payments fromprogram managers, which can then

be forwarded to depots they workwith.”

Cappellini added that theprivate sector representatives hadmany positive comments aboutpartnering with Tobyhanna person-nel, their strong work ethic and thequality of products produced.

“For the most part, partneringhas been successful,” he said. “Theprivate sector can take their workanywhere; it’s imperative to providequality products on time and withincost. If a business comes back toTobyhanna, it tells me we’re meetingthese criteria. The number of newpartnerships we’ve established isevidence that we are recognized as aone of the Defense Departmentsleading full service providers andwe are the best value.” Cappellinisaid that partnering “keeps depotsand the private sector healthy” bycontributing to workload for both.He explained that by keeping asteady stream of workload for bothsides, neither loses significantcapabilities and can meet the currentand future needs of warfighters.

“The private sector is verygood at developing new productsand technologies to give ourwarfighters the best capabilities,” hesaid. “There is a clear need tomaintain that science and engineer-ing edge, and to maintain thesustainment side, which is at depotslike Tobyhanna. There are certainaspects of equipment sustainmentfor which they have better capabili-ties than the private sector. If wework together, then we can keep

The Honorable Claude M. Bolton, assistant secretary of theArmy for acquisition, logistics and technology/Armyacquisition executive, addresses attendees of the the PublicPrivate Partnership Conference hosted by Tobyhanna ArmyDepot. Attendees discussed the benefits and challenges ofpublic-private partnerships. Public-private partnerships helpthe warfighter obtain the best systems in the shortest time atthe lowest cost.

Francesco Musorafiti, owner of EPS, talks to members of theP-3 conference during a brainstorming session. DefenseDepartment and private industry leaders met to discusspublic-private partnerships. Partnering offers viable optionsfor long-term sustainment of systems. Tobyhanna has themost partnerships of any Defense Department organization.Currently, there are 32 active and 24 in negotiation.

Army Communicator 47

them both viable, so if a surge comesfrom a war or other emergency, thenation has the capability to meet it.”

If the partnering is donecorrectly, the warfighter will obtainthe best systems in the shortest timeat the lowest cost. Also, public andprivate sectors will have viableoptions for long-term sustainment ofthe systems.

“Many of the systems wesupport now are relatively old,”Cappellini said. “Partnerships bringus back into the fold as subcontrac-tors when new systems are devel-oped. Legislative initiatives allow usto work directly with private corpo-rations. As a result, we can workwith program managers and corpo-rate laboratories to develop partner-ships, which we’ve been doing forabout 10 years now.”

Tobyhanna Army Depot is theDefense Department’s largest centerfor the repair, overhaul and fabrica-tion of a wide variety of electronicssystems and components, fromtactical field radios to the groundterminals for the defense satellitecommunications network.Tobyhanna’s missions support allbranches of the Armed Forces.

Tobyhanna Army Depot is partof the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Life Cycle ManagementCommand. Headquartered at FortMonmouth, N.J., C-E LCMC’smission is to research, develop,acquire, field and sustain communi-cations, command, control computer,intelligence, electronic warfare andsensors capabilities for the ArmedForces.

Mr. Ricchiazzi is a public affairsofficer with the Tobyhanna PublicAffairs Office, Tobyhanna, Pa.

AWARDS

PM DWTS’ DEVINEHONORED FOR ‘CONNECTARMY LOGISTICIANS’SOLUTION WITH ARMYACQUISITION EXCELLENCE

AWARDBy Stephen Larsen

ARLINGTON, Va. – MAJMichael Devine, under whoseleadership Team CSS Communica-tions of the Project Manager, De-fense Communications and ArmyTransmission Systems/ProductManager, Defense Wide Transmis-sion Systems met the Army DeputyChief of Staff for Logistics’ (G-4)number one goal to “Connect ArmyLogisticians” by providingwarfighters with Combat ServiceSupport Satellite Communicationssystems, was honored with a 2005Army Acquisition Excellence awardat the U.S. Army Acquisition Corpsannual awards ceremony in Arling-ton, Va., on Oct. 2.

Devine, who served as theassistant product manager, DWTS-Belvoir from Jan. 21, 2003, to May 30,2005, won the individual award inthe category of “Information En-abled Army,” which honors excep-tional achievement in the develop-ment and implementation of anetwork-centric, knowledge-basedArmy architecture interoperablewith joint systems and incorporatingtechnological advances.

The Honorable Claude BoltonJr., Assistant Secretary of the Armyfor Acquisition, Logistics andTechnology ASA, and LTG JosephYakovac Jr., the military deputy tothe ASA (ALT), presented the awardto Devine before an audience filledwith the Army’s Acquisition Corpsleadership.

Kevin Carroll, the ProgramExecutive Officer, Enterprise Infor-mation Systems, to whom PMDCATS reports, said he was proudthat not only did Devine win theindividual award in the “Informa-tion Enabled Army” category, butthat PEO EIS’ Product Manager,Joint-Automatic IdentificationTechnology won the team award inthe same category.

“This was a good night for PEOEIS,” said Carroll. “It underscoresthat we (PEO EIS) are on the righttrack in our programs to provideinformation and enterprise tools fornot only Army, but also for Joint

warfighters.”“I am proud of MAJ Devine

and the entire Team CSS Communi-cations and their dedication andtireless efforts to connect Armylogisticians,” said COL GaleHarrington, the Project Manager,Defense Communications and ArmyTransmission Systems. “Theirinnovative approach streamlined thebusiness process and ultimatelysaved the lives of Soldiers by elimi-nating the need for them to beplaced in harms way in the conductof their daily logistics mission.”

“Mike (MAJ Devine) is theepitome of today’s Army SignalOfficer – bright, energetic, andinnovative,” said Thomas Lucy, theProduct Manager, Defense WideTransmission Systems. “As the PMDWTS, I watched as Mike took anidea and turned it into a reality. He’sa genuine out-of- the-box thinker.”

Devine, who said he was“flattered” to receive the award,recently returned from Louisiana,where he reunited with members ofTeam CSS Communications as partof Joint Task Force-Katrina, toprovide CSS SATCOM systems tosupport the relief effort.

“In Louisiana, we provided asmaller version of what we fielded inIraq,” noted Devine. “Whether it’s awar or emergency, there are the

Kevin Carroll (left), the ProgramExecutive Officer, EnterpriseInformation Systems with MAJMichael Devine, after Devine washonored with a 2005 ArmyAcquisition Excellence award at theU.S. Army Acquisition Corps annualawards ceremony in Arlington, Va.on Oct. 2.

48 Winter 2006

same requirements for trackingmateriel – to know what you have,what you need what you’ve gotcoming, and where it is.”

First dedicated communicationsnetwork for Army logisticians

Before Devine and Team CSSCommunications provided the CSSSATCOM system, Combat ServiceSupport warfighters – the logisti-cians of the battlefield – did not havetheir own dedicated communica-tions network on the battlefield. Toplace requisitions for everythingfrom “bullets to butter,” Soldiers hadto rely on “dropping disk” or“sneaker net” – that is, they havehad to physically hand-carry diskscontaining requisitions data fromone location to another. In Iraq, thismade Soldiers targets for insurgents’attacks on convoys with improvisedexplosive devices, car bombs, rocket-propelled grenades, and small armsfire – until Devine and Team CSSCommunications provided CSSSATCOM.

“This is the first time a logisticssystem is saving lives in a tangiblemanner,” said CW-2 Angel Montero,a Combat Service Support Automa-tion Management Office technicianfor the 3ID. “Every single CSSSATCOM use is a drive Soldiersdidn’t have to take through ‘ambushalley.’”

The commercial-off-the-shelfCSS SATCOM system, whichincludes CSS Very Small ApertureTerminals in tandem with the CSSAutomated Information SystemsInterface, which provides securewireless local area network access.The CSS SATCOM system providesNon-Classified Internet ProtocolRouter Network access via satelliteto CSS users almost anywhere in theworld through a global network,connecting remote users to one ofseveral hub stations around theworld.

Devine and Team CSS Com-munications contributed to Armytransformation by fielding CSSSATCOM systems to the Army’sfirst modular unit of action, the 3rdInfantry Division of Fort Stewart,Ga. Using a spiral, rapid develop-

ment approach, the CSS SATCOMfielded prototype systems to the 3ID,starting in April 2004, then replacedthem with newer technologythroughout the fielding process,which they completed fielding inOctober 2004. The fielding success-fully culminated with the 3ID’sredeployment to Iraq in January2005, fully-trained and with theopportunity to conduct reception,staging, onward movement andintegration – tasks units mustcomplete as part of deployment with33 CSS SATCOM systems.

According to CW-2 TimMcCarter, of the 3ID’s SupplySupport Activity, the CSS SATCOMsystem is improving the processes ofthe 3ID by “maximizing the poten-tial of the whole requisition system.”

“Previously, units were notreliably getting status on parts,” saidMcCarter. “Were they ordered? Notordered? Re-ordered? But with CSSSATCOM, they know the status oftheir orders instantaneously, and ittakes the human error out of theprocess, because no longer doesevery single person down the linehave to be available to do what theyhave to do. Soldiers can now orderparts in the middle of the night –being able to order at any time is ahuge combat multiplier.”

“This is the first time in thehistory of the Army that someone atthe battalion level has got thiscapability,” said Montero. “We’reright there with corporate Americain logistics communications – thathas never happened before.”

The Army Deputy Chief ofStaff for Logistics’ (G-4) made CSSSATCOM the centerpiece of itsnumber one goal to “Connect ArmyLogisticians,” funding for 775 CSSSATCOM systems to be fieldedthroughout the Army. As of Sept. 29,2005, Team CSS Communicationshas fielded 278 CSS SATCOMsystems to modular force and otherunits.

Mr. Larsen is a public affairsofficer with the Program ManagerDefense Communications and Army Transmission Systems, FortManmouth, N.J.

Leader Transition

MG JAMES C. HYLTON– EXIT INTERVIEW

By Eric Hortin

FORT HUACHUCA, Ariz. –“It’s been a terrific ride.”

How many out there would beable to say that after working for thesame company for nearly 34 years?

MG James C. Hylton, com-manding general, U.S. Army Net-work Enterprise Technology Com-mand/9th Army Signal Command,is on the last leg of a ride that startedback in December 1971. After a longseries of assignments from company-level to the Joint Staff, Hylton endshis career in a place where he is veryfamiliar.

Twice before, he was assignedto the 11th Signal Brigade at FortHuachuca; first in 1985 as the 40thSignal Battalion executive officer,and the second time in 1994 as thebrigade commander. Hylton was nostranger to Greely Hall, either. Heserved in the Inspector General’soffice in 1983, when it was calledUnited States Army InformationSystems Command, and then againin 1996 as the Assistant Chief ofStaff, G-3, when it was United StatesArmy Signal Command.

Hylton assumed command ofUSASC in July 2001, when it was amajor subordinate command of U.S.Forces Command. Army Transfor-mation was underway, and Hyltonwas up to the challenge.

“Essentially the transition thattook place here was a traditionaltransition of command,” Hyltonremarked on his arrival to commandUSASC. “We (Hylton and MGWilliam Russ) talked about the near-term priorities, some near-termactions that were on-going, and ofcourse his perspective on some of thelonger term challenges that mightconfront the command.

Those priorities includedsustaining current missions whileposturing USASC to respond to newmissions as the command and therest of the Army transformed.

Army Communicator 49

“I felt very comfortable fromday one… we had a great staff inplace,” Hylton said. “We werepostured and we had the rightpeople in the right positions to beable to respond to both priorities thatwe shaped early on as we movedinto this command position.”

These priorities didn’t change,even when the rest of the world did.Just two months after assumingcommand, the nation suffered theworst terrorist attack in its history;Sept. 11, 2001. As far away as FortHuachuca is from New York andWashington, D.C., USASC forceswere playing parts in both locations.

Several USASC Soldiers, onduty providing communicationssupport to the Secret Service in NewYork, worked side-by-side with firefighters and police to rescue andevacuate the wounded at the WorldTrade Center buildings. Severalmembers of the command wereinside the Pentagon when the attackoccurred, and witnessed the devas-tation first-hand. Individuals andteams from USASC, and more out ofthe 21st Signal Brigade from FortDetrick, Md., were immediatelycalled into action at the Pentagon torepair the destroyed infrastructurethere.

“We leveraged every capabilitywe had to be responsive to the Armyand to the Defense Department’simmediate requirements as a resultof the attack on our nation and theinfrastructure that was destroyed,”Hylton said. “But, almost concur-rently with that, we immediatelybegan to posture our tactical forma-tions; specifically the early prioritywas the 11th Signal Brigade. We hadgood indications that we were goingto – as a result of presidential pressconferences, presidential correspon-dence, the leadership of our congress– it was very clear that we weregoing to respond in some manner tothe attacks on our nation.”

Elements of the 11th deployedjust before Christmas 2001, tosupport the early stages of OperationEnduring Freedom. The 86th SignalBattalion, supporting the 10thMountain Division (Light) from FortDrum, N.Y., deployed to Afghani-

stan. There, the 86th performed themission for which it was trained – tohelp the warfighters communicate.With a mix of tactical satellite, line-of-sight and a lot of ingenuity, the86th supplied the task force a mix ofsecure and non-secure data andvoice communications, and videoteleconferencing capabilities.

As the war on terrorismprogressed, more and more often,NETCOM’s units were called in tosupport the constantly growingrequirement for high-level commu-nications services. The 7th SignalBrigade, 93rd Signal Brigade and theentire 11th Signal Brigade – toinclude elements from the headquar-ters – were deployed into SouthwestAsia.

“At one point in time, about 79percent of our command’s totaltactical force capability was de-ployed,” Hylton said. “We were in aposition where we simply did nothave enough force structure tofacilitate the continuation of thisenduring mission.”

The solution to the dilemmawas to commercialize communica-tions in theater. With the assistanceof industry, the tactical Signal forcesin theater were able to withdraw andprepare for any other missions

required of them. Since then,between 1,200 to 1,400 contractorshave been deployed at any giventime to Southwest Asia – equal totwo-plus battalions – over the lasttwo years. They provide the critical,never-ending mission supportcapabilities commanders on theground require.

In spite of all the deploymentsand issues supporting the war onterrorism, USASC still had totransform into an organization thatwould eventually be known asNETCOM/9th ASC. It would be aglobal organization with newmissions, a reorganization of unitsand staff, and all the challengesassociated with them.

“The actions that were going tobe required to transform ArmySignal Command to an enterprise C4(command, control, communica-tions, and computers) global organi-zation were many,” Hylton said.“We took a very hard look at whatwe perceived would be the eventualGeneral Order 5 mission, which wasthe restated command’s mission.Essentially, what we found out as aresult of that mission analysis wasthat the Army Signal Commandclearly had within its staff frame-work the capabilities to meet many

MG James C. Hylton relinquishes command of NETCOM/9th ASC, FortHuachuca, Ariz.

50 Winter 2006

of the missions that were anticipatedor that would eventually evolveunder General Order #5, signed bythe Secretary of the Army; however,we were missing a couple of compo-nents.”

Army Signal Command wouldcomprise the core of the organiza-tions; but there was also a need forspecialized organizations to tacklethe issues of standards, policies andrequirements across the Armyenterprise. One such organizationwas the Enterprise Systems Technol-ogy Activity, which was created tolead the enterprise engineering andimplementation efforts. Severalorganizations within the ArmySignal Command were folded underESTA, along with some from theChief Information Officer/G-6,formerly known as the Directorate ofInformation Systems for Command,Control, Communications, andComputers.

General Order #5 was signedAug. 13, 2002, and NETCOM/9thASC officially activated Oct. 1, 2002;it was the first direct reporting unitin the Army realigned as a result ofArmy Transformation. Most in thecommand would agree that it was achallenging start, but not unex-pected given the scope of therequirement. But with a staff that’ssomewhat smaller than wouldnormally be found in an organiza-tion with global responsibilities,Hylton attributes the successfultransformation – while still manag-ing operational war fighting require-ments – to a hard-working, dedi-cated staff.

Since that time, NETCOMunits have been involved in everyoperation in support of the war onterrorism, numerous humanitarianmissions in the Western Hemi-sphere, and major exercises. Thosesame units have also carried outtheir day-to-day missions support-ing overseas theater commands,Homeland Security, the DefenseDepartment, White House, andmore. Army Transformation hasalso been the catalyst for restructur-ing initiatives within the command;and the command has been at theforefront of major changes within

the Signal Regiment.“I have great pride in our

people and what they have contrib-uted to our mission and the transfor-mation of the Signal Regiment,”Hylton said. “Our people havehelped shape the organizing andequipping component for both ourtactical and strategic forces, ournetwork operational forces; theyhave helped put into place conceptslike the Integrated Theater SignalBattalion, the network operationsforce design updates, the JC4 forcedesign updates; they’ve doneconsiderable work to enable ourcurrent force, but more importantlyto enable the future force.”

Hylton has, at every opportu-nity, done what he could to praiseand recognize the people in thecommand. NETCOM’s employeesare, in his words, “the silentenablers.” Most will never befeatured in national magazines,mainstream newspapers, or journals;but Hylton still thinks the membersof the NETCOM team are worthy ofpraise.

“Our people have a tremen-dous reputation around the worldbecause they perform,” Hylton said.“They’re part of the team, and that’swhat contributes to our mission

successes, globally; I’m just veryproud of all that they’ve done, and,again, what they’ve done to set theconditions for the future.”

To show his appreciation andlet the NETCOM Soldiers andCivilians know how he felt, one ofHylton’s final initiatives was torecognize those who have goneabove and beyond. Those whomade a difference were dubbed“Heroes” by Hylton; and he saysthat all who work in the gray halls ofGreely Hall, in the brigades, andaround the world are deserving ofthe title.

“The fact of the matter is…they are indeed heroes because theywork day in and day out to providean enabling capability to our na-tion,” Hylton commented. “Iwanted people to understand andhave an appreciation for the rolepeople have had within the contextof impacting our global mission. Itranges from the operations missiontoday to all the incredible workthat’s been done here as we’veattempted to enable and influenceand to shape the future capabilitiesof our regimental forces – bothtactical and strategic. They haveindeed laid the foundation for thefuture.”

MG James C. Hylton gets briefed.

Army Communicator 51

As his successor, BG CarrollPollett, takes charge, Hylton iscomfortable that those same peoplewho have been working so hard andlong to make NETCOM/9th ASCsuccessful will continue to besuccessful under the new command-ing general. Pollett was the com-manding general of the 5th SignalCommand, a major subordinatecommand of NETCOM. Thatassignment, Hylton says, givesPollett an advantage as he assumescommand.

“They’re going to get anextraordinary leader,” Hylton said.“They’re going to get a leader thathas a broad operational backgroundfrom his experience at the divisionand corps level through his experi-ences at the Defense InformationSystems Agency, and of course hisassignment just prior to arrivinghere from 5th Signal Command.

“BG Pollett has a transforma-tional, visionary mind that will beinvaluable to the command as heassumes his leadership role.”

For Hylton, the time fastapproaches and he leaves with goodfeelings about where the organiza-tion is headed and the people in it.He does confess that some thingsthat came naturally in his Army lifehaven’t yet materialized as hetransitions into retirement; he has noplan.

“Having been in the Army alittle over 33 years, not having adefined plan for the next series ofmoves is certainly something that’sforeign to what has been thiswonderful Army life that we havelived,” Hylton said. “We leave withwonderful feelings and memories,great friends, and we leave with alevel of great anticipation for whatcomes next.”

Mr. Hortin is with NETCOM/9thASC Public Affairs, Fort Huachuca,Ariz.

(Editor’s note: Vince Breslin,NETCOM/9th ASC command histo-rian, contributed to this article.)

Hylton visits signal Soldiers in the desert terrain of Iraq.

TOBYHANNA WELCOMESDDTP COMMANDER

By Jacqueline Boucher

TOBYHANNA ARMY DE-POT, Pa. — LTC YvonneMacNamara took command of theDefense Distribution DepotTobyhanna, during a change-of-command ceremony July 8. Shereplaced LTC James O’Grady whoretired.

DDTP is the Tobyhanna ArmyDepot tenant agency responsible forreceiving, storing and issuingcommunications-electronics sys-

tems, components, repair parts andequipment. The depot and DDTPare recognized as partners providingexcellence in communications-electronics systems integration,overhaul and repair, fabrication andworldwide logistics support, accord-ing to the unit’s mission statement.

“This is a world-class mainte-nance activity,” MacNamara said.“We must ensure we provide world-class support across the spectrum ofdistribution services.”

Sixty-eight employees work forDDTP and provide supply, distribu-tion and transportation support forthe depot. Tobyhanna is also thesole communications-electronicsmaintenance depot in the U.S. Armyand the largest full service facilitywithin Department of Defense.

Tobyhanna’s material andsystems include radar, telephone,anti-intrusion devices, airbornesurveillance equipment, and naviga-tional instruments.

Of all the command positionsavailable to her, the 19-year Armyveteran chose Northeastern Pennsyl-vania because she said, “(It’s) exactlywhere I want to be.

“This is the type of command I

LTC Yvonne MacNamara assumedcommand of the DefenseDistribution Depot Tobyhanna,during a change-of-commandceremony July 8. The TobyhannaArmy Depot tenant agencyemploys 67 workers and providessupply, distribution andtransportation support for thedepot.

52 Winter 2006

wanted. Tobyhanna was my num-ber one choice of assignment,”MacNamara said. “I’ve worked innumerous jobs where the civilianworkforce outnumbered the mili-tary. However, I’ve always workedin the retail side of the house, notwholesale. I’m looking forward tothe challenges ahead,” she added.

As commander, MacNamaraplans to focus on developing andimplementing comprehensivetraining for new employees as wellas continue to build on the partner-ship with the depot and AmericanFederation of Government EmployeeLocal 1647.

MacNamara believes inempowering workers by providingeducation and training. Thatincludes having capable leaders inpositions to ensure the job gets done,she added.

“We have a lot of new peoplewho are hungry for knowledge,”MacNamara said. “I want to makesure we give them the tools andtraining to be able to accomplishtheir mission.”

MacNamara is a native of BigClifty, Ky., and graduated fromWestern Kentucky University inBowling Green in 1986 with abachelor of arts degree in history.She earned a master’s degree inmanagement and leadership fromWebster University, Pope Air ForceBase, N.C., in 1996.

She has held myriad positionsin the United States and overseas.Her career began at the101st Air-borne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky.,where she served as the tech supplyplatoon leader for the division mainclass 9 warehouse under the 801stMaintenance Battalion. While at FortCampbell, she also worked as thebattalion motor officer for the 426thSupply and Transportation Battalionand finally as the assistant divisionprotocol officer at Headquarters,101st Airborne Division.

Following these assignments,she attended the QuartermasterOfficer’s Advance Course. Upongraduation, MacNamara accepted anassignment to Okinawa, Japan,where she served with the AreaMaintenance and Supply Facility,

58th Signal Battalion, and then ascompany commander for Headquar-ters and Headquarters Company,10th Area Support Group.

MacNamara returned fromOkinawa to fill the position oftraining officer for the ReadinessGroup Bragg that supported the U.S.Army National Guard and Reserveunits in North Carolina. From thereshe traveled to Germany and wasassigned first as a staff supply officerin the Class 9 branch at Headquar-ters, U.S. Army-Europe, and then asthe commander of the MaintenanceActivity Mannheim, a subordinateunit of the General Support Center-Europe.

MacNamara then served withthe G4, Headquarters, U.S. ArmySpecial Operations Command at Fort

Bragg, N.C., followed by anassignment as chief of the U.S. ArmySpecial Operations CommandMateriel Management Center beforestarting a two-year tour of duty here.

“I recently received the com-mand briefing and took a compre-hensive tour of the depot with COL(Tracy) Ellis and Mr. (Frank)Zardecki,” MacNamara said. “I’mamazed at the level of the depot’scapabilities and the different pro-grams found here. It’s no wonderTobyhanna provides the ‘best value’and is DoDs premier electronicsindustrial facility.” the differentprograms found here. It’s no won-der Tobyhanna provides the ‘bestvalue’ and is DoDs premier elec-tronics industrial facility.”

Ms. Jacqueline Boucher, public affairsspecialist, is with the Tobyhanna ArmyDepot Public Affairs Office, Tobyhanna,Pa.

OF INTEREST

DEPOT’S COMPUTER WARRANTYREPAIR AIDS WAR ONTERRORISMBy Anthony Ricchiazzi

TOBYHANNA ARMY DEPOT,Pa.— Depot technicians here and

overseas now repair computersunder manufacturers’ warranties.

Tobyhanna has repairedcomputers for the military for 12years in the Command, Control andComputers Directorate and atForward Repair Activities world-wide. Computer Service and RepairDivision technicians were the first torepair computers for contractors likeDell and Itronix and still offer theserepairs to customers in the UnitedStates.

Now, with the War on Terror-ism, manufacturers like Dell andItronix are partnering withTobyhanna to keep up with thedemand for warranty repairs.

“This started in 2002,” saidAlex Radkiewicz, logistics manage-ment specialist, Business Manage-ment Directorate. “The initial reasonwarranty repair partnering wasdeveloped was a desire by our FRAcustomers for ‘one-stop-shopping’ torepair STAMIS (Standard ArmyManagement Information Systems).STAMIS is constantly replacingfielded hardware so that at anygiven time there is a mix of warrantyand out of warranty equipment outthere. Soldiers can bring theircomputers to our FRAs for repairwhether it’s in or out of warranty.”

Since the war started, compa-nies have been approachingTobyhanna. Because Tobyhanna hasFRAs in Southwest Asia, technicianscan provide warranty repair on theirbehalf.

“They provide the parts andpay the labor fees,” Radkiewicz said.

Warranty Service Agreementswere signed with Dell, Itronix(which provides ruggedizedlaptops), Hewlett-Packard and MPC,formerly MicronPC.

“With this kind of service, wemake it easier on our customers.Soldiers don’t have to use differentprocesses for different companies ordetermine if their computers are inor out of warranty,” Radkiewiczsaid. “They can just bring them to aTobyhanna FRA.”

Tobyhanna can repair comput-ers under warranty for any organiza-tion in the federal government,including all Defense Department

Army Communicator 53

organizations, civilian and military.Special arrangements are unneces-sary because the work is donethrough the company.

“Tobyhanna was the first depotto put this program in place, and itwas initially for units at Fort Bragg,”said Charles Marsala, FRA supervi-sor at Fort Bragg. “We’re repairingabout 400 per year at Bragg, mostlyfor Womack Army Medical Center.”

Marsala noted that the 3rdInfantry Division bought thousandsof Itronix computers and thatTobyhanna is the authorized war-ranty repair center.

“We were supporting about 40of those per month in Iraq when Ileft and we will support them herewhen the 3rd ID returns this fall,” hesaid.

Marsala was the supervisor forFRAs in southwest Asia and saiddeployed FRAs repair substantiallymore than those stateside. The FRAsin SWA are conducting about 700warranty repairs per month.

“When I left there in June,Balad (Iraq) was processing about800 work orders per month,” hesaid. “Camp Arifjan (Kuwait) wasprobably doing that number too.”

Most of the problems are fromsand getting into the components.Also, Marsala said that sometimesSoldiers would forget to change the

voltage setting from 110 volts, usedin the U.S., to the 220 volt settingused in SWA and Europe, whichwould damage the power supplycomponents.

“We’ve received nothing butpositive feedback about the Dellsupport,” he said. “MAJ MarkWalworth, the automation chief atFort Stewart (Georgia) visited oursite at Balad and said the 3rd Infan-try Division is very pleased with oursupport. Itronix has a 48–hourturnaround and every repair wasahead of schedule. They gave us avery good forward stock of parts.”

Because of Tobyhanna’s quickturnaround ability, a Navy contrac-tor with the Navy’s Space and NavalWarfare Systems Command, askedTobyhanna to repair the computersfor the Internet cafes they set up inSWA for the military. There areabout 150 cafes with 15 to 20 PCseach. Marsala said technicians hadjust begun that mission when he leftSWA.

“A number of FRA customersand potential customers haveexpressed their interest in this typeof relationship,” Radkiewicz said.

Tobyhanna has 25 FRAslocated worldwide, includinginstallations throughout the UnitesStates, such as Fort Bragg, N.C., andLewis, Wash., Iraq, Afghanistan,

Mark Cooper places a computermicro processor chip onto themother board of an Itronix laptopcomputer. Tobyhanna repairsthese and other manufacturers’computers under a warrantyrepair program. Techniciansrepair hundreds of computershere and in Forward RepairActivities worldwide. Cooper isan electronics mechanic in theCommand, Control and ComputerSystems Directorate’s ComputerRepair Division.

Europe and Korea. For furtherinformation about these FRAs, callThomas Yanochko, chief of theForward Repair Activity Division atTobyhanna Army Depot, 570-895-6479, DISN 795-6479. Or contact thedepot’s Customer Service Office, 1-877-ASK-TOBY, 570-895-8629, DISN795-8629; e-mail: ask-toby@tobyhanna.army.mil.

Tobyhanna Army Depot is theDefense Department’s largest centerfor the repair, overhaul and fabrica-tion of a wide variety of electronicssystems and components, fromtactical field radios to the groundterminals for the defense satellitecommunications network.Tobyhanna’s missions support allbranches of the Armed Forces.

About 4,400 personnel areemployed at Tobyhanna, which islocated in the Pocono Mountains ofnortheastern Pennsylvania.

Tobyhanna Army Depot is partof the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Life Cycle ManagementCommand. Headquartered at FortMonmouth, N.J., C-E LCMC’smission is to research, develop,acquire, field and sustain communi-cations, command, control computer,intelligence, electronic warfare andsensors capabilities for the ArmedForces.

Mr. Ricchiazzi is a public affairsofficer with the Tobyhanna PublicAffairs Office, Tobyhanna, Pa.

54 Winter 2006

ANNOUNCING THE INAUGURALCOMBINED ARMS CENTERCOMMANDING GENERAL’S2006

Special Topics Writing Competition:“Countering Insurgency”

“The ‘expert’ thing just killsme. I thought I understood some-thing about counterinsurgency,until I started doing it.”

- LTC John A. Nagl, author,Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife:Counterinsurgency Lessons fromMalaya and Vietnam

The Army absolutely needs tounderstand more aboutcounterinsurgency – nothing lessthan the future of the civilized worldmay depend on it. If you havesomething smart to contribute,submit it to the Combined ArmsCenter Commanding General’s 2006Special Topics Writing Competition:“Countering Insurgency.” Thepossible topics are near-limitless:relevant historical studies, culturalconsiderations, gaining and sustain-ing public support, ethical chal-lenges, enhancing COIN coalitionoperations, transitioning fromcombat to nation-building, tacticaland strategic issues, armor in COIN,winning hearts and minds, thebattles for Fallujah, “lawfare,”etcetera (for more ideas, see thecontest rules, enclosure 3, atmilitaryreview.army.mil).

Winning papers will be well-written, carefully researched,analytically oriented critiques,proposals, or relevant case historiesthat show evidence of imaginative,even unconventional, thinking.Submissions should be approxi-mately 3,500 to 5,000 words long.

First prize is $1,000, featuredpublication in the Combined ArmsCenter’s Military Review, and acertificate of recognition signed bythe commanding general, LTGDavid Petraeus. Second prize is$500, publication, and a signedcertificate. Third prize is $250,publication, and a certificate. Fourthprize is $250, special consideration

for publication, and a certificate.Essays should be submitted

with an enrollment form not laterthan April 1, 2006, to Military Review,ATTN: COIN, 294 Grant Ave., FortLeavenworth, KS 66027-1254, or viaemail tomilrevweb@leavenworth.army.mil(Subject: COIN).

For a copy of the enrollmentform and additional information,visit the Military Review website orcall (913) 684-9330.

ARMY ANNOUNCES UNITDESIGNATIONS IN THEMODULAR ARMY

U.S. Army Public Affairs

The U.S. Army announcedSept. 30 new unit designations inongoing efforts to build the modularforce. These naming conventionssupport the Army’s continuedmodular force restructuring, whilepreserving most of its famous andhistoric lineages. A blue-ribbonpanel composed of distinguishedmilitary leaders reviewed variousproposals for naming these unitsbefore making its recommendations.The resulting plan enables the U.S.Army to retain the names of many ofits activated regiments and divi-sions, allowing these units to con-tinue their proud traditions amongtoday’s Soldiers.

Until now, the Army was usingworking terms to describe variousunits and their levels of responsibil-ity. Now that the redesign is com-plete, the new unit designationsprovide familiar terms that Soldierswill identify with and use easily:

Armies: The units of employ-ment will become the Army compo-nent of a Joint Major Command andwill be referred to geographically.This headquarters will be capable ofassuming the duties of a Joint TaskForce or a Joint Force Land Compo-nent Command – with augmentationfrom other services – and controllingoperations. Soldiers assigned to oneof these commands will wear thepatch of a traditional numberedarmy and perpetuate its lineage and

honors.

Corps and Divisions:The unit of employment will

feature three-star and two-starversions, consisting of a headquar-ters of about 800 and 1,000 Soldiersrespectively and are capable offunctioning as a Joint Task Force anda Joint Force Land ComponentCommand. The three-star UEx willbe a corps, and will perpetuate thelineages and honors of an historicalcorps. The two-star UEx will be adivision, and will perpetuate thelineages and honors of an historicaldivision.

Brigade Combat Teams:The unit of action will become

a Brigade Combat Team, and willperpetuate the lineages and honorsof a divisional brigade or separatebrigade. These Brigade CombatTeams will be of three types: Heavy,Infantry, and Stryker.

Battalions:The constituent battalions for

brigade combat teams will continuethe lineages and honors of U.S.Army Regimental System’s battal-ions — as they have for nearly 50years. The special-troops battalion ofeach Brigade Combat Team willperpetuate the lineages and honorsof the headquarters company of thebrigade being perpetuated by theBrigade Combat Team.

The unit designs formerlyknown as support units of actionwill now be organized into fivetypes: Combat Aviation Brigades,Fires Brigades, Battlefield Surveil-lance Brigades, Combat SupportBrigades (Maneuver Enhancement)and Sustainment Brigades. Battal-ions subordinate to the supportbrigades will also continue thelineages and honors of U.S. ArmyRegimental System battalions.

These unit designations enablethe Army to perpetuate virtually allof our regiments and divisions activenow, and thus to pass their proudtraditions along to our Soldiers.

For more information, contactLTC Carl Ey at (703) 614-2487, orcarl.ey@hqda.army.mil.

Army Communicator 55

ACRONYM QUICKSCAN

ASA ALT – Assistant Secretary of theArmy for Acquisition, Logistics andTechnologyBCT – Brigade Combat TeamCAISI – CSS Automated InformationSystems InterfaceCOIN – counterinsurgencyCOTS – commercial-off-the-shelfC-E LCMC – Electronics Life CycleManagement CommandCPP – Command Post PlatformCSSAMO – Combat Service SupportAutomation Management OfficeCSS – Combat Service SupportCSS SATCOM – Combat ServiceSupport Satellite CommunicationsCSS VSAT – Combat Service Sup-port Very Small Aperture TerminalDDTP – Defense Distribution DepotTobyhannaDISC4 – Directorate of InformationSystems for Command, Control, Com-munications, and ComputersDoD – Department of DefenseDOTML-PF – Doctrine OrganizationTraining Materiel Leadership Person-nel and FacilitiesESTA – Enterprise Systems Tech-nology ActivityFRA – Forward Repair ActivitiesIBOP – Interactive Business Oppor-tunities Page

IEDS – improvised explosive devicesID – indefinite deliveryID – Infantry DivisionIQ – indefinite quantityIP – Internet ProtocolISTB – Integrated Theater SignalBattalionISTB-J – Integrated Theater SignalBattalion - JointJFLCC – Joint Force Land Compo-nent CommandJNN – Joint Network NodeJNN-T – Joint Node NetworkNetwork-Tactical JTF – Joint Task ForceSUA – sup-port unit of actionIEDS – improvised explosive devicesLAN – local area networkLED – Light Emitting DiodeMOS – military occupational specialtyNETCOM – Network Enterprise Tech-nology CommandNIPRNET – Non-Classified InternetProtocol Router NetworkP3 – Public Private PartnershipPEO EIS – Program Executive Of-ficer, Enterprise Information SystemsPM DCATS – Project Manager, De-fense Communications and ArmyTransmission SystemsPM DWTS – Product Manager, De-fense Wide Transmission Systems

PM J-AIT – Product Manager, Joint-Automatic Identification TechnologyPM WIN-T – Project Manager,Warfighter Information Network-Tac-ticalSSA – Supply Support ActivitySTAMIS – Standard Army Manage-ment Information SystemsSWA – southwest AsiaRPGs – rocket-propelled grenadesRSOI – reception, staging, onwardmovement and integration – tasksunits must complete as part of de-ploymentTRADOC – Training and DoctrineCommandUA – units of action (BCT)UEx – units of employment (corpsand division)UEy – units of employmentUIT – University of Information Tech-nologyUSASC – United States Army Sig-nal CommandVSATs – Very Small Aperture Ter-minalsWIN-T – Warfighter InformationWWSS – World-Wide Satellite Sys-tems

56 Winter 2006

Signal Museum outreach:

By Robert Anzuoni

During the past year, the U.S.Army’s Signal Corps Museum atFort Gordon, Ga., has conductednumerous outreach programs toeducate people about the importantrole the Signal Corps and FortGordon played in our history. Theprograms also provide support tocommunity activities, which give themuseum a large, captive audience.

The warm spring weatherbrings many requests and opportu-nities to begin a new year of out-reach programs. The first event ofthe year was the Fort GordonAmerican Red Cross Canteen Dance.The museum provided an exhibitwith a uniformed living historyinterpreter to compliment the RedCross volunteer in period attire.April proved to be the busiest month

with seven programs which in-cluded a presentation to the BeechIsland Agriculture Club in SouthCarolina, a parade and living historydemonstration at the CongareeWestern Weekend in South Carolina,a presentation at WoodworthLibrary on Fort Gordon for NationalLibrary Week, the Spring Festival inMitchell, Ga., an air show at ShawAir Force Base in South Carolina, theCinco-de-Mayo Festival on FortGordon, and a Military AppreciationDay in Aiken, S.C. The fast pacecontinued in May with an antiquecar show in Aiken, S.C., a photo-graphic exhibit in the Augusta Mall,and the Memorial Day Parade inAiken.

In June, the museum providedan exhibit for the Signal Corps Ballat Fort Gordon and participated in a

World War II camp for childrensponsored by the State Museum ofHistory in Raleigh, N.C. The wholecamp lasted a week, but the first dayprovided an opportunity for themuseum to teach the children aboutlife in the Army during WWII.Topics such as training, uniforms,insignia, field equipment, andcommunication equipment werecovered. The students showed aspecial interest in the pigeon equip-ment. The children were even taughtabout V-mail, used in WWII andgiven photo copies of it for useduring the week. The end of Junealso brought the chance to celebrateour nation’s independence. Themuseum set up a special exhibit forthe public at the Fort Gordon 4th ofJuly celebration. While enjoying theevents leading to the fireworks

educating people on Signal Corps’ role in history

Army Communicator 57

display nearly 5,000 people wereable to see the museum exhibits.

In July, the museum partici-pated in “Georgia on My Mind”, anopen house at the Georgia VisitorCenter. At the center a living historydemonstration was conducted forthe Augusta Chapter of the Ameri-can Business Clubs.

Things picked up again inSeptember with the Fort Gordon’sNew Comer Event, the ProfessionalCowboy Association Rodeo, andOktoberfest. The rodeo, again,provided an opportunity for themuseum to reach a different audi-ence. The combination of rides,food, and music brought a widerange of visitors from children toretired military personnel. TheSignal Corps Museum providedexhibits ranging from messengerpigeons to radios. The museum alsoprovided special exhibits for anSignal Officer Career Course DiningOut and a reunion of the 551st SignalBattalion. Three WWII radar opera-tors attended providing today’syoung Soldiers a unique opportunityto connect with signalmen of thepast.

October provided the opportu-nity for the museum to participate infive more programs. On Oct. 7, themuseum provided a special displayat the Fort Gordon Retiree Apprecia-tion Day which included Civil WarSignaling and WWII communica-tions. On the 13th, a special exhibitwas set up at Silver Bluff HighSchool in Aiken, S.C., for the dedica-tion of a Veterans Memorial Walk.On Oct. 15 the museum sent itsVietnam era jeep to the Boshears AirShow at Daniel Field in Augusta.Tens of thousands of people at-tended and were able to see theSignal Corps Museum exhibit. OnOct. 19, the museum sent its WWIIWillys MB jeep to an antique carshow in Evans, Ga.

Also in October the museumjoined four Army museums from

Fort Jackson, S.C., for the annualCelebrate Freedom Festival atWoodward Field in Camden, S.C.Nearly 100,000 people attended thethree day event. The first day wasreserved for school groups andbrought 1,800 students from kinder-garten through high school to themuseum exhibits. A complete WWIImessage center was set up withradio, field telephone, and pigeoncommunications demonstrations.

The outreach program sched-ule for 2005 concluded with twoVeterans Day exhibits. On Nov. 10,a special exhibit covering the SignalCorps in the Civil War and WWIIwas set up in the Signal TowerCourtyard. The WWII exhibitfeatured a fully equipped PG-68Combat Mobile Pigeon Loft. Thelast event was on Nov. 11 at theUniversity of South Carolina campusin Aiken. A special exhibit was setup for a Veterans Day programsponsored by the USCA HistoryClub. The exhibit included SignalEquipment from the Civil War,

Dressed in a WWII uniform, Bob Anzouni (left) with the Signal CorpsMuseum, tells Aiken County Area 5 assistant superintendent Andy Reevesand Silver Bluff High School teacher Jim Jacks about some of the WWIIitems he brought to Silver Bluff High School Oct. 13. School officialsdedicated a memorial walkway to veterans Oct. 13.

WWI, WWII, and Vietnam. Such outreach programs

provide a unique opportunity for theSignal Corps Museum to reachlarger audiences than its dailyvisitors, and a chance to educate alarge segment of the populationabout the contributions our Soldiershave made to our nation. Best of all,when the museum joins with anexisting event, the museum does nothave the worries associated withorganizing a large activity; and adiverse group is touched by whatthe Signal Corps is and has done topreserve the history of the SignalCorps’ defense of our country. TheSignal Corps Museum is alreadypreparing for outreach programs for2006.

Mr. Anzuoni, director of the U.S.Army Signal Corps Museum, alongwith two staff members, operates andmaintains the museum on Fort Gordon,Ga. The museum is open daily (not onSunday or designated holidays).

58 Winter 2006

Strange SignalsMuzak - thanks to MG George O. Squier

By Mike Rodgers

Did you know thatChief Signal Officer, MGGeorge O. Squier inventedMUZAK?

MUZAK: Mu’zakA trademark for

recorded backgroundmusic played in stores,restaurants, elevators,and other public places.(There is no escaping it,editor’s opinion).

MUZAK is atrademark name pre-sented by MG George O.Squier in 1922. Squierwas the 7th Chief SignalOfficer (8th if you includeLTC William J.L.Nicodemus who was onlyacting Chief SignalOfficer).

The name MUZAK comes from two words“Kodak” and “mus”. The “mus” came from theword music and the “ak” from Kodak to create theword MUZAK.

Squier observed workers were more produc-tive when music was played in the backgroundwhere they worked. His system was readily putinto use by many building owners and shops andof course offices to provide a calming and sooth-ing sound. The most notable of places whereMUZAK was piped in was elevators.

A backlash againstMUZAK began in the 1950when some people accusedMUZAK of brainwashingand it was even challengedin court. Nonetheless itremained popular. Presi-dent Dwight Eisenhowerhad it installed in the WestWing of the White House.

Now while somepeople find the MUZAKstyle of music pleasant,others find it annoying tothe point of aggravation. The term MUZAK hasbecome synonymous forexcessively bland music.

MUZAK was/isdelivered in several ways. At first, in the early 1920s, itwas distributed fromphonograph records overelectrical lines. It was alsotransmitted over frequency

modulation radio and also telephone lines. Todaymuch of it is transmitted via satellite.

Today the MUZAK Corporation operates in15 countries and is still heard in shopping malls,elevators, and while on hold on the phone.

So, love it, hate it or show no indifference toMUZAK you now know who to thank for thebackground noise you probably pay no attentiontoo anyway.

Mr. Rodgers is the exhibits designer for the U.S.Army Corps Museum, Fort Gordon, Ga.

MG George O. Squier

Strange SignalsMuzak - thanks to MG George O. Squier

Army Communicator 59

Army Communicator Statement of Ownership 2005

60 Winter 2006

Army Communicator Statement of Ownership 2005 (continued)

and integration and undergoesconvoy live-fire training, advanced riflemarksmanship training with reflexivelive-fire exercises, and qualifies withtheir weapon prior to moving past theline of departure. Movement past LDplaces the Soldiers in a scenario-driven exercise which emulatesportions of both a brigade combatteam signal network, and itsconnection into larger division, corps,and joint networks, while immersed inan urban operation environment. Aftera successful exercise, the students areinducted into the Regiment –confident, competent, and ready todeploy.

Our revisions of AIT are just the

AIT – advanced individual trainingLD – line of departure

first step in our efforts to transformsignal education and training. We aredeveloping programs that botheducate and train the centerpiece ofthe Signal Regiment – the signalwarrior. It is our goal to bringinnovation into that tenuous balancingact between appropriate amounts ofeducation and training so that weprovide an even more capable signalSoldier, non-commissioned officer,warrant officer, and officer to the force.

We owe it to every member ofthe Regiment to properly train them for

ACRONYM QUICKSCAN

certainty and educate them foruncertainty.

We now move rapidly to applysimilar innovation to the NCO, warrantofficer, and officer programs.

As we do, I look forward tohearing your thoughts on the Soldiersand leaders that we send into yourformation and how we can do evenbetter in the future.

BG Randolph P. StrongChief of Signal

Chief of Signal Comments continuedfrom Inside Front Cover

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MOS – military occupational specialtyNCO – non-commissioned officer