Photo By Spc. Douglas York | Spc. Benjamin Taai, a native of Honolulu, who serves as the portal administrator, or...... read more read more
By Spc. Douglas York
Multi-National Division-Baghdad Public Affairs Office
CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq – Until the invention of the radio by Heinrich Hertz and Nikola Tesla during the late 1800s, battlefield communications relied heavily on signalmen standing on hills, waving flags or runners carrying messages across miles of front lines.
In fact, it was not until the end of World War I that most nations' commanding officers permanently implemented the radio as a means to get communication down to the front lines. However, even that required mile after mile of wires and talk boxes.
Essentially, if signal wire repairmen were hurt or killed, or if radio transmission operators went down, the mission could quickly draw to a stand still, or the tide of the war could shift.
Decades later, as the 4th Infantry Division conducts operations in Baghdad, that point remains; but, with the advent of the internet, fiber optics and wireless networks, the world of military communications is vastly different, requiring signal Soldiers and leaders to have an unprecedented knowledge of high-tech communications systems.
"We provide all of the local area network services to the division headquarters and support to all of the brigades," said Maj. Bennett Hayth, a native of Roanoke, Va., who serves as the officer in charge of the division's automation management office, 4th Infantry Division and Multi-National Division – Baghdad. "We're also responsible for all of the local services, such as Microsoft Exchange, the portal [MS SharePoint] and name resolution for the internet," he added.
Hayth and the less than 50 Soldiers and civilian contractors under his command run a 24-hour operation, manning two sections, Enterprise and Help Desk, while taking care of the divisions' file servers, share folders, local switching and routing. Additionally, his crew makes sure all of the phones work and the computers talk. In a nutshell, they are the one-stop-shop for every bit of information flow at the 4th Inf. Div. Command Information Center, and it requires diligent and intelligent people to keep it all running smooth.
According to Hayth and the DAMO's non-commissioned officer in charge, Sgt. 1st Class Troy Merritt, a native of Austin, Texas, one Soldier in particular from their crew has been a huge contributor to their continued success: Spc. Benjamin Taai, a native of Honolulu, who serves as the portal administrator or webmaster.
"He basically holds the responsibility of the entire mission of the CIC being able to collaborate all of their information and data on the portal," said Merritt. "It's a heck of a lot of responsibility for a specialist to have. He is extremely sharp and, as a matter of fact, he is the system expert for the portal, as numerous brigades come to him," he added.
Both Merritt and Hayth noted that Taai works at a skill level well above that normally expected by a Soldier of his rank and his expertise puts him on par with his professional-level Department of Defense civilian partners in his career field.
"We actually send him up to Taji, and he's been to some of the other [Forward Operating Bases] to build up their portals to get them going and working correctly," said Hayth.
"He also trains up a lot of the civilian contractors that deal with SharePoint and brings them up to speed when they come into theater," added Merritt.
Taai however, tends to look at his responsibilities in a somewhat narrower spectrum than his leaders do.
"Basically, what I do is make sure that the SharePoint is up [and functioning]," he said. "That way our units, our subordinate units and their leaders, can pass information with a good flow. It's a very critical job because of the emphasis of sharing information."
Information is the key to the DAMO mission as communication of vital information is the backbone of the 4th Inf. Div.'s overall mission and success.
"Without communications, the [division] is dead-in-the-water and we can't perform our mission in combat," Merritt said. "We have to specifically lock down our network and consistently do scans to look for devices that are not authorized so we can keep this network secure and safe, and to prevent people from bringing in viruses, Trojans and worms."
Merritt and Hayth said that they also ask the Soldiers and civilian workers to do their part by making sure the anti-virus software on their machines is working and current as well as to not plug in the aforementioned unauthorized USB devices, such as hard drives or thumb drives, without scanning them for viruses first.
"[It's] a consistent battle because you have people that don't fully comprehend or understand the value of this network and how valuable it is to the overall mission," Merritt said, of keeping the network safe.
Despite working 18-20 hour days when they first arrived in Iraq, getting acclimated and operational, the occasional hiccups on systems division wide, and the fact that the information technology field is always evolving, all of the DAMO personnel do their best to stay viable and functional.
"It's an ever-growing field and everything's always getting better," said Spc. Bryan Pilger, a native of St. Genevieve, Mo., who serves in the DAMO Help Desk. "As it's getting better and more sophisticated, we have to go out there and learn it so that we can provide tech support to people who are using the new software. If we help people, they don't mind helping us back – and it's a really good community," he added.
Though the hours can sometimes be taxing and the troubleshooting difficult, Hayth and Merritt both said they know where the communications start and end.
"The Soldiers and the NCOs are the key element to this entire mission, and without them, it wouldn't function," Merritt said.
In this new era of high-tech, high-speed warfare, without any of the DAMO personnel, the information and communications of the Ironhorse "force" would never "be" with anyone.
| Date Taken: | 08.29.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 08.29.2008 03:28 |
| Story ID: | 22986 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 224 |
| Downloads: | 164 |
This work, Ironhorse webmaster keeps the 'force' communicating, by SPC Douglas York, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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