Squadron keeps deployed Airmen in touch with their families

Air Force Links ^ | Master Sgt. Will Ackerman

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3/27/2006 - SATHER AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- During World War II and the Korean and Vietnam Wars, deployed troops looked forward to mail call. This was their primary mode of communication with family and friends. However, letters could take weeks or even months to arrive.

Today’s warriors still receive mail, but now they have instantaneous communication through telephones and e-mail. Keeping these lines open is the job of the 447th Expeditionary Communications Squadron.

“We are all working in communications to keep people in touch with their families,” said Master Sgt. Kirk Baldwin, the post office superintendent.

Although telephone calls and e-mail comes to mind when people think of communication, the post office provides a “tangible” piece of home.

“The Internet is great. But it’s not a crayon or a stick drawing that a 4-year-old did in kindergarten,” Sergeant Baldwin said. “(Mail) is a real piece of my life I can hold.”

The postal staff here works with the Army at the joint military mail terminal, or JMMT, nearby to process mail for more than 108,000 troops deployed to the Baghdad area. Two of his staff at the JMMT processes an average of 13,000 kilograms of outgoing and 25,000 kilograms of inbound mail daily. During January’s Army and Air Force personnel rotation, the JMMT processed more than 978,000 kilograms of mail.

With the exception of money orders, the Sather Air Base post office provides services found at a stateside post office. Deployed servicemembers can also mail “personal” letters up to 13 ounces free. Additionally, mail sent to other military postal centers overseas is free.

Letters and packages provide tangible mementos, but “there’s nothing like hearing someone’s voice,” said Staff Sgt. Tavares Mays, a telephone voice maintenance technician. His office maintains the telephone hardware and wiring inside buildings. They also recently installed defense switched network lines at New Al Muthana Air Base, which is adjacent to Sather AB.

He said a problem is users breaking telephone wires or turning off ringers.

“A lot of our time is spent troubleshooting,” said Staff Sgt. Garry Bean, a telephone technician. “But once we actually find the problem, it’s normally an easy fix.”

Although there’s no telephone operator here, they get calls from customers asking for a phone number. But they find the number in the phone book on the Sather AB intranet home page, just like the customer.

“We will give the customer the number out of common courtesy,” Sergeant Bean said.

Although the telephone systems here are only DSN accessible, the chance of the lines not working are minimal, said Neal Creasy, a government contractor who programs and maintains the telephone main frame system here. Mr. Creasy, who has more than 40 years as a telephone programmer, said the telephone switch here has multiple redundancy capability and battery back-up for power.

“When you dial somebody’s number from here, you know you will get through. This is just as modern as anything in the states,” he said.

With the morale call policy restricting usage to two 15-minute calls a week, people can communicate daily through e-mail. Although not at a broadband speed, the e-mail and Internet here are vital links to people outside of Sather AB. Keeping the servers operating is the network control center’s job.

“We give you connections to the outside world,” said Tech. Sgt. Alvin Mills, network control center noncommissioned officer in charge.

The NCC creates user e-mail accounts, ensures network connectivity and trouble shoots problems people have with their accounts or their desktop computers. “Network connectivity is our number one challenge,” Sergeant Mills said. “The signal can freeze if a lot of people try to access at the same time.”

Unlike a home base where computers are primarily for official use, morale use here is allowed. People can use the Internet for news and education and e-mail for communicating with families. For people such as security forces whose workcenters are not computer based, there is also a morale tent with computers and telephones.

“It’s gratifying to know I’m providing a means for people to stay in touch with their families,” Sergeant Mills said.

With any communications system the quality is only as good as the infrastructure. Working with their Army counterparts, the cable maintenance technicians are responsible for more than 500 miles of copper strand wiring for telephones and 250 miles of twin-fiber wiring for the Internet on the Victory Base Complex.

Not knowing where the wiring was placed is their biggest challenge when a fault occurs. “There were not a lot of cable prints to know where the wiring is,” said Tech. Sgt. Gerald Boulay, cable maintenance NCOIC. “Part of what we are doing now is locating cables and mapping it.”

A hidden asset in the communications link is technical control. Working with a contractor, they manage the incoming and outgoing signal from the Deployable Ku-Band earth terminal. The DKET satellite system has redundant capability and provides capability for communications upgrades and expansion. It is the conduit for the telephone and Internet signals in and out of Sather AB.

Although the communications team keeps morale high working behind the scenes, they know their reach is felt and appreciated by everyone here.

“Our main goal is to keep everyone in touch,” Sergeant Baldwin said.

[SandRat]

Staff Sgt. Tavares Mays checks a telephone switch at Sather Air Base, Iraq, Saturday, March 18, 2006. He is a voice maintenance technician with the 447th Expeditionary Communications Squadron.
(U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Will Ackerman)

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