The Airmen assigned to a Joint Incident Site Communications Capability were deployed for 11 days to provide the Island with a communications system that allows first responders to have telephone, internet, radio, and satellite capabilities.
Lt. Col. Brian A. Silver communications flight commander with the 105th Communications Flight said the 105th JISCC team was originally deployed from New York to Mississippi, on Sept. 10, 2017, to be on stand-by for Hurricane Irma relief.
“We were sent to do a type of damage assessment mission where we relay full-motion surveillance video from an air plane to a ground station and upload it to a website which would allow the operation site to see what the airplane sees in real time,” said Silver
When it was determined that the JISCC team was not needed they came back to SANG.
“When they saw Irma didn’t effect Florida as badly as they thought it would, they decided to cancel some of the missions and ours was one of the ones canceled,” said Silver.
The crew received a call in flight to be re-deployed to the Virgin Islands for the hurricane Maria relief effort.
“We were landing and they were saying we need you in the Virgin Islands,” said Silver.
The crew was originally slated to go to the Virgin Islands Tuesday before the storm, but command then deemed it better for the crew go after the storm.
“At the airfield we were one of the first there,” Said Silver “our prime objective to re-establish communication for airport operations.”
The 105th JISCC crew was the only JISCC on the island of St. Croix relied upon to maintain communications.
The JISCC seven-man team had to operate for 24 hours, seven days a week, said Silver.
Tech. Sgt. Pedro Santiago with 105th Communications Flight said the 105th Guardsmen worked with many other National Guardsmen including those from Virgin Islands, Arizona and Washington State.
Seeing the bigger picture was pretty rewarding, you feel like your apart of it and you’re an important part of it, said Santiago.
Date Taken: | 11.01.2017 |
Date Posted: | 12.03.2017 13:17 |
Story ID: | 257225 |
Location: | NEWBURGH, NY, US |
Web Views: | 62 |
Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 105th Airlift Wing Joint Incident Site Communications Capability returns from St. Croix, by SSgt Terrence Clyburn, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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