Comm Training

Airmen from the 1st Combat Communications Squadron set up a USC-60 satellite Sept. 22, 2009 at Aviano Air Base, Italy, during a weeklong training exercise. The training is in preparation for the largest transformation in the history of Air Force communications, which transitions 16 communications Air Force Specialty Codes into 11 new cyberspace support specialties. It takes a three-person team about an hour to set up the approximate 400-pound, 30-piece, satellite which comes in 12 containers when broken down. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Patrick Dixon)

Comm Training

Tech. Sgt. Jonathan Gifford, 1st Combat Communications Squadron ground and radio maintenance, inserts the first panel into the center hub of a USC-60 satellite Sept. 22, 2009 at Aviano Air Base, Italy. Sergeant Gifford and 19 other communications Airmen in eight different Air Force Specialty Codes from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, took part in the weeklong training exercise. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Patrick Dixon)

Comm Training

Staff Sgt. Nathon Wheat, 1st Combat Communications Squadron radio maintenance, inserts the final panel into the center hub of a USC-60 satellite Sept. 22, 2009 at Aviano Air Base, Italy, during a weeklong training exercise. Sergeant Wheat and other radio and satellite communications Airmen on his team, based out of Ramstein Air Base, Germany, conducted cross-flow training in preparation for their upcoming merger to the new transmission systems Air Force Specialty Code in October 2009. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Patrick Dixon)

Comm Training

Staff Sgt. Nathan Bonds (center), 1st Combat Communications Squadron radio maintenance, locks a panel on a USC-60 satellite into place Sept. 22, 2009 at Aviano Air Base, Italy, during a weeklong training exercise. Fellow radio and satellite communications Airmen gather around as the two career fields undergocross-flow training in preparation for their upcoming merger to transmission systems in October 2009. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Patrick Dixon)

Comm Airmen prepare for largest transformation in AF history

Published Sept. 25, 2009
By Tech. Sgt. Michael O'Connor
31st Fighter Wing public affairs

AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy -- Twenty communications Airmen stationed in Germany took part in a training exercise Sept. 18-24 at Aviano Air Base, Italy, as preparation for the largest transformation in the history of Air Force communications to be completed this October.

When it's all said and done, more than 27,000 enlisted Airmen will transition from 16 communications Air Force Specialty Codes to 11 new cyberspace support specialties designed to help the Air Force face future challenges of working in and protecting a cyber environment.

"We train and maintain at home and work when we're deployed," said Staff Sgt. Frank Barone, 1st Combat Communications Squadron satellite communications. "This is our first [temporary duty mission] training and learning each other's duties, roles and responsibilities."

The training afforded the combat communicators assigned to the 1st CBCS at Ramstein Air Base, Germany a chance to share information and get hands-on experience.

"We have a lot of new people in the unit and this TDY provided a variety of training opportunities, such as being a part of a convoy and moving equipment to a location and setting up combat communications," said Tech. Sgt. Jonathan Gifford, 1st CBCS ground and radio maintenance. "With both radio and SATCOM AFSCs merging to form transmission systems, this type of training allows both to get hands-on experience in building up and tearing down the equipment and learning what each other does."

The 1st CBCS mission is to provide air and ground deployable combat-ready communications and air traffic control services and equipment for wartime, peacetime, restoral and contingency taskings in support of Department of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Europe, U.S. European Command, NATO, and U.S. Air Forces in Europe missions in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

In many cases, the unit's mission requires its members to be some of the first U.S. forces to arrive at an operating location. Because of the nature of the operation and the services the unit provides, unit members are frequently among the last personnel to leave--hence the unit motto, "First In--Last Out."

For more information about the merger, go to http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123153203.