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YAKIMA TRAINING CENTER, Wash. - From the top of a frozen peak in the middle of Yakima Training Center, Wash., soldiers retransmit communications across the desert landscape back to a tactical operations center during a field exercise conducted between Feb. 13 and March 7.
Three communication relay points set up on top of YTC hills collected, amplified and retransmitted radio communications back to 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, to keep the unit connected during the exercise.
“We are sort of a communications middleman,” Spc. Nathaniel Warren, a Shawnee, Okla., native said. “Our part in this field exercise is to accommodate communications for our companies, battalions and the brigade.”
To communicating across the vast expanse of YTC, the brigade relied on the retransmission points. The importance of maintaining the sites was not lost in translation on the soldiers atop of the hills.
“It’s very important because if any of the units need to talk to the brigade and there’s a mountain in the way, retransmission is the best way to facilitate the communication,” Sgt. Travis Callison, a Staunton, Va., native, said.
One site, Wolfpack 2, situated on the highest peak at YTC, literally stood above all the other relay stations. Relying daily on a truck to bring food and water up a small, steep road covered in snow, the soldiers maintained their point despite subfreezing temperatures on the warm days and winds that reached 60 mph most nights.
According to Callison, the relay site’s noncommissioned officer in charge, the freezing temperatures and wind have been a constant challenge, snapping antennas and breaking at least three large heaters.
The soldiers who maintain the sites say that, despite the weather at YTC, they enjoy providing an important function to their unit.
“I enjoy coming out in a Stryker and providing an essential asset to the brigade,” Callison said. “It is a fun job as long as you have people willing to do the mission.”
| Date Taken: | 02.26.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 03.05.2014 19:47 |
| Story ID: | 121544 |
| Location: | YAKIMA TRAINING CENTER, WA, US |
| Hometown: | SHAWNEE, OK, US |
| Hometown: | STAUNTON, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 349 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Retrans battle elements to connect brigade, by SSG James Bunn, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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