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PAKTYA PROVINCE, Afghanistan – “They were off to the races,” said Staff Sgt. Randall E. Youngs Jr., an information technology noncommissioned officer with 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), and a native of Fort Worth, Texas. “You could see the eagerness in their eyes as they executed their tasks with efficiency and speed.”
Racing to see which team could complete pre-designed tasks, 40 soldiers of the Afghan National Army’s 203rd Corps, Signal Khandak, competed in the first-ever Signal Olympics, Oct. 27-30, at Forward Operating Base Thunder, Afghanistan.
Facilitating the event, as well as advising and assisting the khandak, was 1st Lt. Jack Stefchek, a native of Chicago and adviser to the Afghan National Army’s 203rd Corps, Signal Khandak, and signal officer with the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), as well as Youngs.
“The intent of this event is to improve upon the ‘three P’s’ of the Signal Khandak which are planning, proficiency and pride,” said Stefchek. “The endstate of this event is they are going to get better at doing what they need to do to support the [203rd] Corps, independent of myself and advisers.”
The events consisted of setting up and operating a Very-Small-Aperture Terminal, an OE-254 VHF antenna and the disassembly and assembly of an M16 rifle.
“A very-small-aperture terminal [VSAT] is small, portable satellite,” Youngs explained. “They can be an invaluable tool for battlefield operations, allowing voice, video and data to be transmitted without having an accessible communications network.”
Satellite communication is an important tool during combat operations however; radio communication is still a standard for operational communication, which is where the OE-254 comes in to play.
“An OE-254 is a VHF [Very High Frequency] antenna,” Stefchek clarified. “It extends your range for communication up to [approximately] 50 clicks [31.07 miles].”
Just as communication is important with combat operations, weapons knowledge is as well.
“Just like in the United States Army, you’re a Soldier first and should know your weapon inside and out,” said Youngs. “They exceeded my expectations as we observed them disassemble their rifles, then put them back together.”
“The competition went pretty well,” said Lt. Col. Ali Hassan, commander of the Signal Khandak, 203rd Corps, Afghan National Army. “Hopefully we can continue this training. We have had great experiences with our advisors over the past few years, we have learned a lot, so we will have the capability to train our soldiers by ourselves [when the advisers are gone].”
“They are improving daily,” expressed Stefchek. “I’ve seen the pride of the unit increase dramatically just by working as a team. Their proficiency has also grown,”
Development, both as individuals and as a group, was the essence of implementing a competition. As an added incentive, the winning team also received a banner to display in their headquarters.
“Being able to contribute to their development was a great opportunity for me,” said Youngs. “Seeing how well they executed during this competition and the motivation they showed, gives me high hopes the future of this Khandak.”
| Date Taken: | 11.04.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 11.05.2013 14:13 |
| Story ID: | 116259 |
| Location: | GARDEZ, AF |
| Hometown: | GARDEZ, AF |
| Hometown: | PAKTIA PROVINCE, AF |
| Hometown: | PAKTYA PROVINCE, AF |
| Hometown: | CHICAGO, IL, US |
| Hometown: | CLARKSVILLE, TN, US |
| Hometown: | FORT CAMPBELL, KY, US |
| Hometown: | FORT CAMPBELL, TN, US |
| Hometown: | FORT WORTH, TX, US |
| Hometown: | HOPKINSVILLE, KY, US |
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