Seabee Battalion Exercises Deployable Satellite Capabilities

Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Alexa Trafton | NAVAL STATION ROTA, Spain (May 13, 2017) Electronics Technician Seaman Eric Hamm, from Waynetown, Indiana, and Electronics Technician 2nd Class Eric Eernisse, from Choctaw, Oklahoma assemble a Ruggedized Deployable Satellite Access Terminal (RDSAT) on Camp Mitchell on board Naval Station Rota, Spain on May 13, 2017. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 1 is forward deployed to execute construction, humanitarian and foreign assistance, special operations combat service support, and theater security cooperation in support of U.S. European Command. (U.S. Navy Photo by Builder 3rd Class Alexa Trafton)  

ROTA, SPAIN

05.13.2017

Story by Petty Officer 3rd Class Alexa Trafton 

Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 1

NAVAL STATION ROTA, Spain (May 13, 2017) Seabees completed a communications exercise at Camp Mitchell on board Naval Station Rota, Spain, on May 13, 2017.
The exercise assessed the ability of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 1’s Communications department to set up a Ruggedized Deployable Satellite Access Terminal (RDSAT).
“This exercise helped us evaluate our expertise with the RDSAT, as well as give us the awareness of probable issues we could run into with it during operation,” said Ensign Isaac Leskowat, from Tulsa, Oklahoma, the communications department head.
The RDSAT is a $5 million system that provides mobile network capabilities in a field environment. The exercise tested the RDSAT’s full capabilities including network operations and Voice Over Internet Protocol phone systems while evaluating the command’s integration of the RDSAT in a forward deployed environment.
Within four hours, the Communications department erected the dish, ran cables and had a fully operational network via the RDSAT. The team maintained the network throughout the 72 hour exercise, which provided an opportunity to train junior Sailors on the processes and capabilities of the system.
For Electronics Technician 3rd Class Hastings Dempsey, from Haymarket, Virginia, it was indeed a learning experience.
“This was my first time fully working with the RDSAT,” said Dempsey. “I learned the important aspects of my job that have to do with the RDSAT and the capacity at which it is supposed to perform so we can have working, successful communications.”
The assessment was a success and provided important training to new members of the department, as well as refresher training for those who had not worked with the system in a few months.
“Getting firsthand experience is important for our department,” said Chief Information Systems Technician Joshua Cuthbert, from New Orleans, Louisiana. “Seasoned members of the department are able to provide information and insight that you wouldn’t get from just reading an operations manual.”

• Date Taken: 05.13.2017
• Date Posted: 05.18.2017 11:03
• Story ID: 234279
• Location: ROTA, ES
• Hometown: HAYMARKET, VA, US
• Hometown: NEW ORLEANS, LA, US
• Hometown: TULSA, OK, US