Photo By Sgt. Rachel Grothe | U.S. Army Sgt. Adam D. Wood shows Spc. Marben Louie D. Mariano serial numbers for...... read more read more
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SAGAMIHARA DEPOT, Japan – “Japan is where I proposed to my girlfriend of nearly a decade,” said U.S. Army Spc. Marben Louie D. Mariano, signal support specialist, 303rd Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, 9th Mission Support Command.
“Rosemarie always wanted to see cherry blossoms, but we came here in November, which was not cherry blossom season. We went to Empire Palace and saw cherry blossoms. So I thought, that’s the signal that I need to propose to her,” said the Philippines native of his first trip to the Land of the Rising Sun.
Mariano is in Japan for a second time, working with signals once again, but this time in a very different way. Instead of walking through cherry blossom trees he is walking through rows of computers and telephones, ensuring wires and I.P. addresses do not cross. Behind him people buzz with excitement celebrating a successful first phase of a brand new exercise.
He is supporting the inaugural iteration of the 303rd MEB created Exercise Imua Dawn, a newly risen command post exercise designed to assess the large unit’s ability to effectively connect a variety of different sections and communicate utilizing Live Virtual Constructive Gaming.
“The technology we are using, and testing ourselves will makes the battlefield run smoothly,” U.S. Army Sgt. Adam D. Wood, Local Area Network Manager, 303rd MEB, 9th MSC, explained of the rising communication technology. “What would take multiple days, now can be done at the snap of a finger.”
Without these systems commanders and soldiers would have to convoy and drive down to different forward operating bases, putting them at risk. This technology allows a FOB commander to sit down at that system and talk to his subordinate commanders at other locations, Wood said.
The systems must be set up and maintained by signal soldiers like Mariano and Wood, who also keep everything running behind the scenes.
“The hardest thing is the setup. You have to make sure you hit your priorities first, like your highly connected, (for example) your commanders. They need to communicate first. Then you trickle down to your smaller sections of units and connect them,” said Wood. “We have to keep track of assigned network and I.P. addresses. There are only so many, and two devices can’t have two like I.P. addresses because there’s a conflict and neither device will work.”
The tech soldiers are not just in Japan to facilitate information traffic. They are training themselves.
“We have different signal teams for different things,” explained Wood. “I’m doing the network operations side, Mariano works with radios. He is cross-training in this type of environment because we are not using radios. Signal as a whole is just constant troubleshooting, and if you complete whatever you are doing you can always help out someone else.”
| Date Taken: | 07.09.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 07.09.2015 23:13 |
| Story ID: | 169592 |
| Location: | SAGAMIHARA, KANAGAWA, JP |
| Hometown: | EWA BEACH, HI, US |
| Hometown: | PEARL CITY, HI, US |
| Hometown: | WAIPAHU, HI, US |
| Web Views: | 79 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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