Signal Company Restores Combat Communications

Photo By Sgt. Michael Bradle | Spc. Javon Courtney, a Nodal Network System Operator-Maintainer with the 73rd Signal Company, Sustainment Troops Battalion, 25th Infantry Division Sustainment Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, ensures that his equipment is online during a training exercise on Schofield Barracks, Hawaii on April 22, 2021. This exercise validates signal soldiers on the brigade’s Joint Node Network after 3 years of inoperation. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Michael Bradle)  

SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, HI, UNITED STATES

04.23.2021

Story by Spc. Michael Bradle 

25th Division Sustainment Brigade

SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii – Field Communications Access Restored to 25th DSB after 3 years.
Soldiers of the Joint Network Node Platoon, 73rd Signal Company, Division Sustainment Troops Battalion, 25th Infantry Division Sustainment Brigade, 25th Infantry Division have managed to restore field communication to the entire 25th DSB after three years of inoperation. This restoration is part of a recent equipment and training validation held for the 73rd Sig. Co. on Schofield Barracks, Hawaii on 22 April.
According to Sgt. Daniel Redburn, a Satellite Communications Systems Operator-Maintainer and part of the 25th DSB Communications Shop, the JNN suffered from a fatal overheating issue in 2018, causing it to go offline permanently. The next year, the JNN equipment was sent to an external source for a repair and reset and it was returned to the 73rd Sig. Co. Restoring field communications on the blank equipment prior to the validation took assistance from the JNN platoon, 25th DSB Communications Shop, the 25th Infantry Division Communications Shop, and external sources.
“It’s crucial for [the brigade] to be ready at all times,” said Sgt. 1st Class Ramiro Carlos, platoon sergeant for the JNN Platoon and noncommissioned officer in charge of the validation event.
While this training is normal for some, for Pvt. Demiya Staples, a Cable Systems Installer-Maintainer and recent graduate of the U.S. Army Signal School at Fort Gordon, GA, this is an opportunity for better real world training while at her first duty station.
“This training gives us the opportunity for hands on [experience],” Staples said. “We get to experience this as though we were out in the field or on assignment. It’s a great time to learn.”
For Spc. Javon Courtney, a Nodal Network System Operator-Maintainer with 73rd Sig. Co., this is a testing opportunity after years of rebuilding the Joint Network Node for the brigade. This is also an opportunity to cross train soldiers like Staples on JNN equipment.
“It’s good for other soldiers to see this kind of training because we can have them efficient in it,” Courtney said. “In case one of our operators [has a Permanent Change of Station] and no one else knows. That little bit of training will help the soldiers get into it.”
With the equipment fully restored by 2020 and the validation event for the JNN platoon completed in 2021, voice, data, and satellite communications will become more effective and efficient for the division’s sustainment brigade.

• Date Taken: 04.23.2021
• Date Posted: 04.23.2021 21:58
• Story ID: 394666
• Location: SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, HI, US