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CAMP EGGERS, Afghanistan – Personnel from NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan’s Deputy Command-Support Operations held a four-day network expansion contract training class for members of the Afghan National Army at the Ministry of Defense in Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec. 8-11. The class is the first in a series to transition operations to Afghan control by the end of 2014.
Nineteen ANA senior leaders from the Network Operations Center at the MOD were present to learn the process of requesting a network connection from start to finish. The ability to share resources and information quickly is a vital component for successful operations throughout the ANA.
“The purpose of the class is to teach them the network expansion process,” said Maj. Mitch Belote, the DCOM-SPO Network Support Operations network expansion officer in charge and a native of Sandpoint, Idaho. “How we do the contracts to expand the network, to link all of the smaller locations together; any little site that wants connection, we link them together. That’s done through a contract process.”
The class covered everything from conducting a site survey, submitting a work order, selecting a project officer, doing a cost estimate and funding, to selecting a vendor.
“We went through step-by-step our contracting process that we do at NSO,” said Belote.
Several steps are involved in the contract process to acquire a new network connection installation at a site, and foresight and proper planning are necessary to be successful.
The requester must first identify the structure with its need for network and then define what they want, such as how many networks drops they need and computer ports per room, said Belote. All of that information is submitted to a contractor who will determine the amount of supplies that are needed to complete the request. Things must be done properly from the start to ensure successful completion of the project.
Air Force Master Sgt. William Hebb, the senior enlisted leader of the Network Support Operations for Deputy Command Support Operations and a native of St. Albans, W. Va., instructed the course and said at this stage the Afghans’ level of knowledge in this area is in its infancy stages. Since U.S. and coalition forces have been managing the majority of network operations in the country, they haven’t had enough experience yet with the process.
“Our intent is that our Afghan counterparts will achieve an understanding of the process and the ability to complete the process from cradle to grave,” said Hebb. “We hope to transition this over to them in the next 6-9 months.”
“This was the first class for NSO. This is the first time that they’ve been exposed to the process that we use to build their network,” said Belote. “We’re trying to train the trainers that are going to go and teach. We’re going to bring in some of them after the first of the year, and they’re actually going to do on-the-job training sitting side by side with us, going through the process. Our goal is that by the end of 2013, they will be doing all the operations and maintenance contracts themselves.”
Hebb said he is optimistic about the ANA’s ability to learn this process very quickly and take over operations swiftly.
“They seemed very excited about the class and were very attentive. They also asked a lot of questions.”
Each of the class participants received a certificate of completion.
| Date Taken: | 12.11.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 12.23.2012 22:24 |
| Story ID: | 99689 |
| Location: | CAMP EGGERS, AF |
| Hometown: | IDAHO FALLS, ID, US |
| Hometown: | ST. ALBANS, WV, US |
| Web Views: | 82 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, ANA signal leaders take step toward independence with first network expansion contracting course, by SSG Lynne Lantin, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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