FORT MCCOY, Wis. — The G-6 at Global Medic 2009 is comprised of many units to include all services except for the U.S. Coast Guard.
"The G-6s mission is to provide [the Continental United States] wide satellite communications systems and this year we have succeeded for Global Medic," said Lt. Col. Barry Birdwell, commander of the G-6.
Lt. Col. Birdwell said the G-6's goal is to ensure voice and data communications are available for the medical companies from the time they set foot on the ground until the time they leave. "No communications equals zero command and control."
Where they built upon in previous exercises, this year is the first that the communications team has ever successfully connected the Military Computer for Combat Casualties or the MC4, said Lt. Col. Birdwell.
The MC4 tracks medical logistics and patient care and this year's Global Medic can train as they operate the MC4.
This year has been the smoothest Global Medic for communications and the G-6 is five days ahead of where they were last year. "The stress level is way down from last year's Global Medic," said Sgt. Rich Kuehn, the non-commissioned officer in charge of the G-6.
Sgt. Kuehn said this year's team has performed phenomenally. "We have Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines all working together to support the whole exercise." There are several means by which communications are provided, the primary is fiber wire followed by radio frequency and plain old cable," said Sgt. Kuehn.
It is the G-6s job to keep servers up, and with the help of the Air Force it has satellite communication links between all three bases participating in Global Medic.
Air Force Tech. Sgt. Terry Neff said working with the Army Reserve, they can provide everything from promina to infrastructure. Promina is a communications tool that takes several signals and compresses them down into one signal which is then sent out through the satellite.
"Boring is good for communications, that means everything is working well," said Lt. Col. Birdwell. "This is a real mission for us, not training, and we are doing a great job."