08/24/2011: During the SLD visit with the CRW, the C2 team explained their role and the equipment, which they use to execute their mission. Master Sgt. James Gregg started the discussion with participation by Staff Sgt. Derek Carson, and Sgt. Brant.
Sgt. Gregg: We are from the 21st Air Mobility Operations Squadron (AMOS). Our primary mission in our squadron is air mobility division. Basically, in the theater, they schedule cargo, passengers, medevacs, pretty much anything that moves inside an aircraft in the theater.
SLD: And you are supporting that activity?
Sgt. Gregg: Yes. This particular UTC is DACE, which stands for Deployed Air Mobility Division Communications Element. Our primary mission is to support an AMD, if we were deployed to an austere location.If there isn’t a CAOC in theater, or if we’re going somewhere where there’s not sustainability assets, we provide the C2 element.The COM package starts with a satellite dish, it is a USC60, it’s quite old, but it is very capable. It is capable of 8.6 megs of data transfer. It can support NIPRNET and SIPRNET as well as phone transmissions. Just out of the box we can provide support for 41 NIPR clients, 92 SIPR clients and 72 phones. It originally was designed for a bare base type setup.
SLD: So it fits your mission profile.
Sgt. Gregg: Absolutely. Yes, sir. We also have radios. And I have some of my other gear inside. But we have Motorola standard radios to be replaced by newer radios in the future. But primarily, our job is, again, the air mobility division asset, but we fit into the CRW via JTF-PO, Joint Taskforce Port Opening. And our operations are primarily to support humanitarian missions.We deployed to Haiti, and most recently to Romania. For the deployment and to provide communications support we deploy five personnel each representing a different specialty. In the Romanian case, we deployed for 26-27 days.
Another big exercise for us was in 2009 when we supported the African Partnership Station exercise. We were deployed for six months in support of Navy SEABEES. They deployed with an ability to use one Sat phone. Once we got there we were able to provide almost a phone at every desk.
SLD: So the tent provides the workspace within which you lay out your C2 support equipment?
Sgt. Gregg: Yes. The satellite dish feeds three boxes of satellite modems. Of course, you have a NIPER and a SIPER transit box, and what you get there is just like you would at any NIPER/SIPER terminal. We provide on-station email hosted on site. You get your own deployed email account; you don’t have to fill up your web access account. File sharing, printer sharing, everything that you would expect to have at your desk is in these boxes.And we do classified, as well as unclassified phones. We do air/ground radio, as well as I mentioned the smaller radios. And a typical client that you’d see in the field is the laptops.
SLD: Could you explain about the shelter?
SSG Carson: The shelter is approximately 400 square feet. It takes four power pro and four HVAC personnel to set it up. And it takes approximately 45 minutes to set this up. We have four 806 Bravo military generators to support these shelters. We have six total for the AMB mission. The shelter provides a total of 2,400 square feet of board space.