Marine stays connected through radio network

Photo By Monique LaRouche | Lance Cpl. Kishion Harringan, aviation communication systems technician and Lance Cpl. Jeffrey Ireton, tactical data systems administrator with Marine Tactical Air Command Squadron 38, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward), Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan, ride their bikes wherever they go. Their bicycles help them get around base faster, leaving them more time to do the things they like best, like working out and keeping in touch with their families.  

CAMP LEATHERNECK, AFGHANISTAN

03.20.2012

Story by Petty Officer 3rd Class Monique LaRouche 

Regional Command Southwest

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan - Lance Cpl. Kishion Harrigan, an aviation communication systems technician at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan, with Marine Tactical Air Command Squadron 38, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward), feels a connection to those Marines when he’s maintaining and operating radios.

In the darkest hours of the night, he can hear the activity of the troops outside the wire. Over the radio, there are sounds of war and combat. In his shop, Lance Cpl. Kishion Harrigan can hear the troops out in the battlespace.

Harrigan, an aviation communication systems technician at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan, with Marine Tactical Air Command Squadron 38, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward), feels a connection to those Marines when he’s maintaining and operating radios. The unit supports the tactical air aviation element and battle staff to plan, coordinate and execute air operations.

Monitoring the radio network is one task to his job. He tests radios and listens to the dialogue for most of the night.

With a far-away look in his eyes, he smiled, and said, “Vicariously, I feel like I’m out there with them.”

Being close to the troops outside the wire is important to Harrigan. He says it’s hard to describe the strange feeling listening to them in a faint place out there, but he knows he is part of a much bigger mission.

To escape the everyday demands of deployment, Harrigan, a native of Baltimore, and his good friend, Lance Cpl. Jeffrey Ireton, a tactical data systems administrator from MTACS-38, ride down Camp Leatherneck’s gravel dirt roads avoiding the potholes and trenches. Riding their bikes is a healthy outlet and convenient for stopping by the exchange or picking up laundry. Biding the laws of the road, they wear helmets for safety.

Harrigan’s blue and silver bicycle is speckled with mud. On the handle bars, he sports a bell. He joked as he said he rings the bell when he passes one of his sergeants on his way home from work.

Loving his military occupation and his life in the Marine Corps are some of the reasons Harrigan is in for the long haul. Putting his training to good use, he is happy with his new experience in Afghanistan.

“When I first got to my unit [in California] maybe six or seven months ago, I was the first one picked to come out here,” Harrigan said.

Harrigan is on his first deployment and has only been in country three weeks, but he is missing his family back home. He loves his mom and appreciates the “morale phone calls” to call family back home. He uses them when he can. The internet sometimes doesn’t work the way he would like it to, especially during bad weather, so it’s hard to Skype, but he does what he can to keep in touch.

In his shop of 10, Harrigan has his military family too. They go to the gym, play video games and look after each other.

Even though Harrigan is able to spend time with his friends and have the comforts of Camp Leatherneck, he’s always aware of the mission outside the wire.

• Date Taken: 03.20.2012
• Date Posted: 03.23.2012 09:24
• Story ID: 85689
• Location: CAMP LEATHERNECK, AF