Going the Distance: AFN Airman Shares His Story of Longevity

Photo By Tech. Sgt. Hugo Delgado | U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Robert Duenas, American Forces Network Okinawa Maintenance Manager, sets up a TriCaster system interface at Camp Smedley D. Butler, Japan, Jan. 8, 2021. The TriCaster system enables a multi-camera and audio operation and allows live videos to be played on various social media platforms. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Hugo Delgado)  

JAPAN

01.08.2021

Story by Tech. Sgt. Hugo Delgado 

AFN Okinawa

CAMP SMEDLEY D. BUTLER, Japan –

Air Force Master Sgt. Robert Duenas, American Forces Network Okinawa maintenance manager, settled into his chair and performed a routine system startup on a TriCaster, a device used for livestreaming. The device itself is made up of monitors, numerous buttons, switches, and a computer. He has never played songs for the radio, or produced a video news story, but without his expertise, the broadcasters at AFN could not serve the local community with command information.
“I’m in charge of maintaining all the radios, TVs and anything that has a power cord connected to it,” Duenas said. “We make sure that those are working right for the broadcasters.”
Duenas’ career field, cyber transport systems, enables network communication to run smoothly.
“We can do anything from special operations, to intelligence, anything that deals with computers and getting on the internet,” said Duenas.
However, his position at AFN Okinawa is somewhat rare, and he has used his time at AFN to expand his skillset.
“For AFN, there’s less than 20 stations around the world,” he said.
Yet of the maintainers stationed throughout these AFN affiliates, only a handful of them are Air Force service members. “Yeah, we’re unicorns,” said Duenas, as he continued with his routine system startup.
This included camera signal checks on multiple screens and adjustments to audio levels in the television studio.
“This is important because it allows the director of the livestream to be able to hear properly so that he or she can properly adjust camera angles,” said Duenas.
The initial transition from a traditional communications unit to AFN was challenging at first for Duenas.
“When you get to AFN it’s a whole other discipline,” he said. “You don’t touch anything with switches and routers. So learning a new job where you’re working with TVs and decoders—I was kind of resistant to that.”
As he neared the end of his tour at AFN, Duenas looked back and reflected on his unique opportunity to be part of the organization for as long as he did.
“To do this job 10 years straight? There’s members that maybe come in, leave then come back, but I’ve really gotten to see this organization grow,” he said. “I’m pretty sure I’m the only military guy in all of AFN that’s been doing it this long.”
He wouldn’t change it for the world, he said, and spoke to his favorite part about the job.
“I really just enjoy being like the unsung hero,” he said. “It takes a lot for someone to say ‘Thanks for putting on that show.’ I take pride in putting that out there, whether you get the praise or not. You’re touching all these units, raising morale, getting information out. That part is really rewarding.”

• Date Taken: 01.08.2021
• Date Posted: 06.03.2021 09:54
• Story ID: 398010
• Location: JP