Photo By Master Sgt. Amanda Sampson | U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jonathan Guitron, American Forces Network-Pacific...... read more read more
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YOKOTA AIR BASE, JAPAN – The American Forces Network-Pacific Information Technology section is not like a typical communications squadron.
As the backbone and distribution system for radio and TV broadcast transmission in the Pacific, they support 235 AFN users at 11 geographically separate units (GSUs) and are responsible for a $12 million enterprise.
AFN-Pacific spans a good portion of the Pacific, with stations at Diego Garcia, Korea, Japan, and Hawaii. The IT section is located at AFN-Pacific Headquarters at Yokota Air Base, Japan.
“Our mission is to ensure our users can communicate anywhere in the world, which in-turn enables AFN to provide entertainment and relevant command information to our overseas troops and their families,” said Master Sgt. Barry Davies, AFN-Pacific IT section chief.
Without IT, there would be no American Forces Network.
IT section’s role within AFN-Pacific is to administer, maintain, and install Defense Media Activity (DMA) computer systems and networks, which includes items such as PCs, laptops, printers, and servers.
“This may not seem overwhelming, but there are hundreds of tasks that fall within these categories,” Davies said.
Those tasks travel down from higher headquarters at DMA, as well as up from the local AFN-Pacific affiliates, and some have strict requirements that only certain IT personnel meet.
“Our section is comprised of three Air Force Specialty Codes (AFSCs) and one Japanese employee,” said Tech. Sgt. Nikos Papadopoulos, AFN-Pacific IT non-commissioned officer in charge of system administration.
“We aim to split the work equally, to share the knowledge and capabilities but some jobs can only be completed by specific individuals due to training and security requirements.”
The IT section is broken down into three subsections: system administration which controls the 33 servers in the Pacific, network administration which maintains the underlying network infrastructure, and the Enterprise Service Desk.
All IT personnel man the Enterprise Service Desk and assist AFN-Pacific users with various trouble tickets. This is the most time-consuming aspect of the job, but technology improvements have made things easier.
“When I first joined, most of our work had to be done at the user’s computer,” Papadopoulos said. “But we can do a lot remotely now.”
On average, IT closes out twenty trouble tickets per week.
Weekly telephone and online meetings with DMA and technical services representatives from the local affiliates help identify problems early and develop solutions.
Working within AFN-Pacific also presents Air Force IT personnel a unique opportunity to diversify their skillset and make and implement policy downward to the local affiliates, something they typically wouldn’t do in a traditional communications squadron.
Thanks to AFN-Pacific IT’s knowledge and expertise, operations continue to run smoothly, and American Forces Network remains on the network in the Pacific.
| Date Taken: | 10.28.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 10.28.2021 03:05 |
| Story ID: | 408178 |
| Location: | YOKOTA AIR BASE , TOKYO, JP |
| Web Views: | 174 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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