Airmen keep communication flowing

Photo By Staff Sgt. Dilia Ayala | Staff Sgt. Juan Gallegos, 518th Tactical Instructor Company system administrator, answers a question from Staff Sgt. Cheri Longenecker, Counterinsurgency Center for Excellence command, control, communications, and computer systems staff section non-commissioned officer-in-charge, during the unit information management officer course here recently. Gallegos and his team teach this course weekly to train servicemembers to be a direct point of contact to help resolve computer system issues within their individual units. A 732nd Air Expeditionary Group Joint Expeditionary Tasking or JET Airman, Gallegos is deployed here from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, and is a native of Robert Lee, Texas. Sergeant Longenecker is deployed here from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, and is a native of Lancaster, Penn.  

TAJI, IRAQ

05.20.2009

Story by Staff Sgt. Dilia Ayala 

332d Air Expeditionary Wing

CAMP TAJI, Iraq — It is often said communication consists of three parts: the sender, the message, and the receiver of the particular message. It is also said that if there is a glitch with any of the three parts, the communication cycle is broken.

A team of Joint Expeditionary Tasking or JET Airmen here work to make sure the vital cycle is not broken, thus contributing to overall mission accomplishment.

"Our job as computer-system administrators is to issue, maintain and get [computer] accounts open," said Staff Sgt. Juan Gallegos, 518th Tactical Instructor Company system administrator and 732nd Air Expeditionary Group JET Airman. "We manage the network and keep information available to all the users, as well as keep the network secure. Essentially, we keep the communication flowing."

Sergeant Gallegos said he is one of a handful of JET Airmen assigned to the Army and charged with maintaining and managing the base's computer network. All are responsible for keeping their customers happy by ensuring all their computer-system needs are taken care of in a timely matter.

"As a network administrator, I'm responsible for operating and maintaining the switches and routers on the strategic networks," said Senior Airman Jerry Sanchez, also a JET Airman. "I'm part of a team that is responsible for ensuring that the lines of communications on the network are up and running.

"Without us, the units on the camp would have a severe setback while trying to accomplish their missions," added the Allen, Texas, native deployed from Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.

As part of his weekly duties, Gallegos, who is deployed here from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, teaches a class that decreases the amount of time service members have to wait for a computer issue to be resolved.

"I conduct information management officer training," said the sergeant, a native of Robert Lee, Texas. "We train these IMOs so they will know the basic techniques to troubleshoot the computer system. That way it will make our job easier, and it keeps the customer satisfied.

"If it was just us, we'd have a bunch of computers lined up [waiting to be fixed]," he continued. "By training individuals at every unit, computers can be troubleshot instantly for certain issues and can be back up in minutes instead of a couple of days."

One of Sergeant Gallegos' newest IMO students, Chief Petty Officer Edward Brunner, Scan Eagle Sentinel Site 2 officer-in-charge here, is thankful for the training.

"We have a lot of personnel coming and going, a lot of equipment changes so we have to have a unit administrator, otherwise we'd be asking the [system administrators] to be coming over all the time," said the Woodbridge, Va., native. "So by taking this course, I am able to take a lot of the workload off of them and fix it right there on-site. It's a lot faster and more efficient that way."

Gallegos said IMO training is available to every unit here and encourages units to have members within their units trained as IMOs.

"This training is available to every unit out there that has a need for an IMO, someone who can serve as a direct point of contact for computer issues," said the JET Airman. "The main reason for this class is to keep the network up and running; to keep it available for the customer, for everyone on base. We need it to be up and running."

Maintaining communications across base and throughout the area of responsibility is vital to mission accomplishment, said Gallegos.

"If the network is down, the communication cycle is broken," Gallegos said. "We keep the communication flow open, and it helps keep the mission going. We ensure the communication system is available 24/7 and decrease the amount of downtime as much as possible."

Overall, 1,500JET Airmen with the 732nd AEG serve at the more than 60 locations throughout Iraq.

• Date Taken: 05.20.2009
• Date Posted: 05.20.2009 11:10
• Story ID: 33855
• Location: TAJI, IQ