Photo By Senior Airman Kevin Nious | U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Karol Josef Bustamonte and U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt....... read more read more
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CHANNEL ISLANDS AIR NATIONAL GUARD STATION, Port Hueneme, Calif.— Cyber defense operation specialists from the 129th Rescue Wing participated in a disaster communications exercise in preparation for the upcoming wildfire season May 2-13, 2022 at Channel Islands Air National Guard Station.
During the exercise, members of the 129th Communications Flight practiced assembling a self-contained, portable network that can be used to provide phone, radio and internet service to more than a dozen civilian first responders during a natural disaster.
The Joint Incident Site Communications Capability (JISCC) system can be an invaluable tool for emergency workers following a wildfire or hurricane if communication infrastructure undergoes severe damage, making it tough to coordinate relief efforts.
“If there is a disaster, we’ll have the capability to bring communications to an area that doesn’t have anything available,” said U.S. Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Andrew Powell who helped supervise the drill. “When we go out into the field, we’re going to be several miles away from any kind of civilization and we have to roll as autonomously as we can.”
The joint exercise was conducted in conjunction with members of the 146th Airlift Wing. The two units were tasked with the JISCC assignment in 2021 by the National Guard Bureau to ensure California would have access to this equipment in both the northern and southern regions of the state.
“We’re training with (the 146th Airlift Wing) because when the fires do kick off, one or both of us are getting tasked out,” said communications commander U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Alfred Tamayo. “We need to help each other get this expertise prior to fire season, so when we do get that notification, we (can) set up communications pretty quickly for the first responders so there’s no issues (and) they can go out and do their jobs to keep the residents safe in those areas.”
The members from Moffett included technicians with years of experience working on a JISCC team as well as Airmen who were setting up the equipment for the first time.
“The goal of the mission here is to provide training and opportunity for new members of the JISCC team to become more proficient at setting up and operating the JISCC terminal,” said U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Eric Lightfoot, a non-commissioned officer in charge of radio frequency transmissions for the communications team.
“This exercise is really my first exposure to the JISCC equipment,” said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Kimberly Jennings. ” I’ve definitely grown a lot more proficient at setting up antennas and learning about how all the different devices work. I think it’s going to be very beneficial in the future when we have various deployments.”
Powell believes the experience gained from this two-week exercise will help bolster his ranks for the upcoming wildfire season.
“The members that we have for the (homeland response force) team, we’re ready to go,” Powell said. “But with the additional (newly trained) members, we’ll be ready for fire season and be able to satisfy more mission support needs,” Powell said.
| Date Taken: | 06.03.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 06.04.2022 13:54 |
| Story ID: | 422163 |
| Location: | CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 106 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, 129th Communications Flight Prepares for Wildfire Season, by SrA Kevin Nious, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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