151st Communications Flight and 130th EIS, Salt Lake City, Utah, establish communication in U.S. Virgin Islands

Photo By Senior Master Sgt. Paul Gorman | Chief Master Sgt. Don Johnnson and Staff Sgt. Tony Baca, Joint Incident Site Communication Capability team members with the 151st Air Refueling Wing Communications Flight in Salt Lake City, Utah, set up a SWE-DISH CCT120 satellite dish outside the Leonard B. Francis Armory in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Sept. 20, 2017. The Sept. 7 deployment of the Utah JISCC helped re-establish critical military and emergency civil service communications within areas of the U.S. Virgin Islands severely impacted by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Paul Gorman)  

SAVANNAH, GA, UNITED STATES

10.03.2017

Story by Tech. Sgt. Jeremy Farson 

165th Airlift Wing

“This is one of the reasons I signed up for the Air National Guard,” said Master Sgt. Bodie Peterson, cyber transport, 151st CF. “I wanted to help with natural disaster and humanitarian needs.”

The goal of the unit is to help transform the communication infrastructure from not having telephones soon after the storm, to being able to communicate with Puerto Rico and mainland United States, in order to establish a pipeline of basic supplies to the people of the islands.

“Right now they are working with high frequency radios which can span hundreds of miles,” said Tech Sgt. Charles Treutlein, cyber transport, 130 EIS. “We will basically take radio signals and turn them to a digital signal and send it over satellite and be able to communicate back to mainland U.S.”
These Airmen are a part of a Joint Incident Site Communication Capability team which bridges communications gap between military and civilian agencies.

This JISCC team is looking forward to the challenges of the mission and playing a role in helping others.
“It feels good to be in the mix,” said Treutlein.”It feels good to be a part of something like this.”

The 165th Airlift Wing is providing transport for units from all over the country supporting relief efforts to the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. In the passenger terminal Airmen and Soldiers utilize the aircraft and services of the wing and the ADC traveling in support of hurricane relief efforts.

• Date Taken: 10.03.2017
• Date Posted: 10.03.2017 20:51
• Story ID: 250485
• Location: SAVANNAH, GA, US