FORT BLISS, Texas — Moving a joint task force headquarters from one installation to another is more than loading equipment onto trucks and driving it home. For a small team of military intelligence systems maintainers and integrators, the move of Joint Task Force-Southern Border’s headquarters from Fort Huachuca, Ariz. to Fort Bliss required months of planning, troubleshooting and adapting to constantly changing requirements.
The teams, forward and home-station, consisted of Soldiers with the Signal, Intelligence and Sustainment Company, Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 1st Armored Division, assigned to Joint Task Force Southern Border, in support of Operation Ardent Vanguard split its efforts between Fort Huachuca and Fort Bliss as the headquarters prepared to return to its home station.
Four Soldiers worked forward at Fort Huachuca while three others remained at Fort Bliss to prepare the intelligence infrastructure needed for the headquarters' return. Their mission was to keep intelligence systems operational while simultaneously building the foundation for the next phase of operations.
"We were aware that as the unit got ready to come back, it would be a pretty large undertaking," said U.S. Army Sgt. Steven Hall, the noncommissioned officer in charge of the home-station team. "That was kind of our focus, taking over and getting ready for the new mission here."
The work began before the headquarters' return was certain. Soldiers forward at Fort Huachuca spent roughly three months supporting the mission, while the Soldiers at Fort Bliss prepared facilities, networks and alternate capabilities.
The uncertainty made planning particularly difficult.
"The biggest challenge for me is going through and trying to forward plan," Hall said. "Because especially as an entire division is getting ready to jump back, and with us even just focused on the intelligence aspect of that, the plans are constantly changing."
The number of systems required at different locations changed as plans developed, forcing the maintainers to balance equipment supporting the forward mission with equipment needed at Fort Bliss.
The team also had to learn and employ systems that were unfamiliar to them. At Fort Huachuca, Soldiers learned the newer Trojan Communication and Video Teleconference Suite, or TCVC, while also establishing alternate communications capabilities.
Spc. Luis Martinez worked primarily with the Modular Communications Node-Advanced Enclave system, a robust lightweight system that converges separate communications networks, while Spc. Christopher Tenda and Spc. Anthony Madrona learned the TCVC system. As the mission progressed, Martinez also learned the newer system so the team could maintain continuity.
Troubleshooting became a major part of the mission as the headquarters prepared to close out operations in Arizona. Some examples are the Command, Joint and Mobile Intelligence Communications system (CJMIC) and Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications system (JWIC); both are mobile systems designed to provide multi-network and communications capabilities. The team worked through problems affecting the system's network and video teleconference functions, eventually restoring the capability. The solution came just as the requirements disappeared.
"Good news is, we don't need JWIC capabilities here anymore, so you guys can put it away." Martinez recalled being told by an Army major after the capability was restored.
The experience illustrated a central reality of military systems integration; success often means solving a problem quickly, even when the requirement changes immediately afterward.
While Soldiers were troubleshooting systems in Arizona, the Fort Bliss team was preparing the receiving site. Hall said the maintainers had to conduct a site survey, determine the space required for systems, establish security requirements for classified networks, and coordinate authorization to operate in the new facility. They also coordinated network infrastructure inside the Division headquarters' sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF). Power presented another challenge. The team had to account for the power requirements of its systems while working with other organizations responsible for establishing permanent power.
The maintainers' role went beyond simply connecting equipment.
"Our role is to understand what high side capabilities the Division needs to conduct intelligence operations,” Hall explained. “And then be able to employ different devices to help support their mission and maintain them going forward."
That responsibility became particularly important during the transition. The home-station team had to determine which systems would immediately work at Fort Bliss, identify alternatives, and ensure the headquarters retained the ability to conduct required intelligence operations.
For both small teams, the scale of responsibility was significant. Chief Warrant Officer 3 Dusty McSpadden, the officer in charge of the forward team, said the section consisted of only four Soldiers including himself, while the home-station team only had three at Fort Bliss. Both teams were collectively supporting intelligence systems across the division.
The forward team's impact extended beyond the headquarters move. McSpadden said the Soldiers rebuilt infrastructure, created redundancy systems and tested capabilities that previous units such as 10th Mountain Division and 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), who previously led JTF-SB, did not have time to establish.
"10th Mountain did the crawling and 101st did all the walking. So, when we got out there, we were doing the running," McSpadden said. " We were doing new capabilities in the Joint Operations Area that nobody else had done."
The team also tested new equipment and capabilities while supporting the Joint Intelligence Operations Center at Fort Huachuca.
"The whole time we were there, every day was something different," McSpadden said. "Every day was these guys crushing something new, learning something new, and going outside of their comfort zone."
That adaptability became one of the defining characteristics of the mission. The Soldiers were not simply maintaining an established network. They were integrating unfamiliar equipment, responding to changing requirements and building infrastructure that would support a headquarters return to its permanent installation.
McSpadden said that work helped demonstrate the value of having a small, specialized team responsible for intelligence systems. He described the team's ability to influence the broader intelligence community and Division as significant despite its size.
The return to Fort Bliss also gave the team greater control over the infrastructure supporting the mission. At Fort Huachuca, changes to facilities and permanent infrastructure required coordination with the home station. At Fort Bliss, the team could work directly with installation and Division organizations to establish the environment required for mission operations.
"For instance, at Fort Huachuca if JTF-SB wanted to use a fixed facility but then do shore power, they had to coordinate with the home station,” Hall explained. "Here we have the ability to say, this is our installation. We're going to make this happen."
The difference is more than convenience. Permanent infrastructure provides the headquarters with a more sustainable environment for a mission expected to continue for years.
McSpadden said the experience at Fort Huachuca also gave the Military Intelligence community an opportunity to expose Soldiers and warrant officers in training to an operational environment. For the maintainers, the mission provided experience applying their technical skills to a real-world operation.
"One of the cool things that's unique about the JTF mission is that a lot of the times when we do our jobs, all of what we're seeing is simulated usage," McSpadden said. "Being on a mission such as the JTF, those of us that didn't go to Iraq or Afghanistan, this is the first time we've been able to see this kind of implementation directly affected in an operational environment."
Now back at Fort Bliss, the unit is helping to establish conditions for what McSpadden described as a continuing mission. "What we were doing in Fort Huachuca and what we're doing here is setting the stage for this to be a continuous mission until 2030," McSpadden said.
The significance of the move extends beyond returning Soldiers and equipment to their home station. It places the mission in an environment where the unit has its own personnel, technologies and permanent infrastructure readily available.
"For us to be here at home station with our equipment, with our families close; doing a mission that's going to have an impact over the next couple of years," McSpadden detailed. "This is the nation calling us. This is us doing our job."
Soldiers that are responsible for the systems that make intelligence operations possible often work behind the scenes. Their work may not be visible when a headquarters is functioning normally, but the successful movement of the JTF-SB headquarters demonstrated how essential these capabilities are.
As McSpadden put it, "These Soldiers can accomplish great things if you give them good leadership and a purpose."