MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - On March 6, 2012, the Joint Communications Support Element, a subordinate command of the Joint Enabling Capabilities Command, welcomed home 45 service members following a six-month deployment. These service members, who were deployed in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and New Dawn, provided critical communications requirements to various missions in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility.
JCSE, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary, provides rapidly deployable, mission-tailored communications capabilities ranging from small mobile team missions to full-sized joint task forces. JCSE maintains three active-duty squadrons (1st, 2nd and 3rd Joint Communications Squadrons), one U.S. Army Reserve Squadron (4th JCS) and two Air National Guard units (224th and 290th Joint Communications Support Squadrons), who rotationally deploy in support of operational requirements in the USCENTCOM AOR. Each active duty squadron is teamed with a corresponding National Guard or reserve squadron throughout a training and deployment cycle creating a composite task force.
JCSE has been continuously deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom since November 2001, Operation Iraqi Freedom since March 2003 and the follow-on Iraq mission, Operation New Dawn, since September 2010. JCSE’s rotating task forces of communications experts rapidly responded to emerging requirements from various units and forces across the USCENTCOM AOR during these deployments. Most recently, members from the 1st and 4th JCS, also known as Task Force 1-4, deployed to assist numerous forces and units assigned to USCENTCOM, U.S. Special Operations Command and the International Security Assistance Force.
U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Patrick Wampler, the commander of the 1st JCS and the task force commander for this deployment, spoke of the support JCSE can provide for this mission set.
“The battlefield changes on a daily basis, therefore JCSE can offer a full range of communications supporting special operations and conventional forces,” he said. “From a small executive communication package to a four-person team providing fixed communications for a joint task force, JCSE identifies the requirements and quickly provides the necessary command and control capabilities.”
Unique to Task Force 1-4’s deployment was a mission that was assigned as a result of the drawdown of forces in Iraq and eventual completion of Operation New Dawn in December 2011. Whereas JCSE normally focuses on setting up and connecting communications capabilities, Task Force 1-4 was charged with developing and executing a plan to disconnect and redeploy their communications equipment from numerous sites around Iraq. This disengagement plan, constructed and completed in less than one month, ensured that no JCSE assets were left in country when Operation New Dawn officially came to a close.
Wampler explained the challenges of a simultaneous effort to disconnect and redploy JCSE’s communications equipment from various locations on an accelerated timeline.
“When we pulled out of Iraq, some of our equipment was tagged to go to locations in the USCENTCOM area of responsibility, while other pieces needed to be sent back to headquarters for redistribution or refurbishment,” he stated. “Task Force 1-4 was able to quickly develop and execute a logistical plan to inspect, quality check and ship our equipment to the various locations identified.”
The men and women of Task Force 1-4 were key to JCSE’s successful completion of their mission for Operation New Dawn and other assignments in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Task Force 1-4 was relieved by JCSE’s Task Force 3-224, who will serve the next six-month rotation in support of communication requirements in the USCENTCOM AOR. JCSE’s dedication, expertise and quick-thinking , contributed greatly to this most recent deployment and will continue to ensure they are a value-added asset to the joint force commander.
| Date Taken: | 03.06.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 03.27.2012 08:34 |
| Story ID: | 85834 |
| Location: | NORFOLK, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 161 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, JCSE members return from rotational USCENTCOM deployment, by Whitney Katz, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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