IPs, ITs and ETs at the tip of the spear letter from Iraq

CHIPS, Jan-March, 2005 by Sharon Anderson

Since the start of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, Navy technology specialists have been an essential part of tactical planning and operations. Information Professional Officers (IPs) and enlisted Information Systems Technicians (ITs) and Electronics Technicians (ETs) have been building a critically needed communications infrastructure and providing direct support to operational commanders.

They have excelled in ground combat communications roles that have traditionally belonged exclusively to the U.S. Army Signal Corps and Marine Corps. For three years, these dedicated technology warriors have battled hazardous combat conditions, extremes in weather, an austere living environment and long working hours as part of joint and coalition efforts to secure democracy and fight terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Almost all are volunteers motivated by their commitment to the U.S. mission and their shipmates from every Service and coalition nation.

Some personnel are working under the leadership of Rear Adm. Nancy E. Brown, Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications and Information Systems (DCS CIS) for the Multinational Forces-Iraq (MNF-I). The MNF-I mission is to build a network of Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4I) support for joint, combined and Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) operations in the Iraq Joint Operations Area (JOA). Others are working for the Joint Operations Center (JOC) or in other crucial areas.

Cooperation between players and forging partnerships are key to building communications capabilities. In addition to joint and coalition partners, personnel work with industry, the U.S. Embassy, the Iraqi Ministry of Communication, the Ministry of Defense, the Iraqi Interim Government and the Iraqi Minister of the Interior.

Concentration is focused on C4I capabilities to ensure situational awareness to shorten the decision-making cycle for the field commander. Networks and other IT capabilities are being built according to joint standards for interoperability and information sharing. Efforts have resulted in increased bandwidth, secure and non-secure voice and data capabilities, and vital command and control nodes extending services to the most remote military bases in Iraq.

Doing Whatever Needs to be Done

IT2 Jeremy Headrick is the Information Work Space manager at Camp Victory. He says he has installed IWS on more than 100 computers and trained countless people on the program since he has been in Iraq. He frequently flies by Black Hawk helicopter to different theater locations to install the IWS collaborative tool suite. IWS is a command and control chat tool on the coalition network, the Combined Enterprise Regional Information Exchange System or CENTRIXS. Headrick says the work he is doing is saving time, money and lives.

"Troops and field commanders can talk to each other in chat rooms, if their secure phones are not working. They can discuss troop movements .... They actually use what I do to keep them from having to travel. It is really dangerous here to move from one location to another, so there is less need for troop movement and less risk," says Headrick.

Headrick calls IWS a weapons program. All of it is Web based. "It has different chat rooms.... It is based on a very wide range of technologies. It is like AOL (America Online) with a Webcam. It is specifically for the military. We built it for ourselves."

IT2 Jamone Robinson works in the JOC as a webmaster. "I make sure there is adequate bandwidth; I consider anyone who works in the JOC to be my customer," says Robinson.

To prepare for deployment, Navy personnel spent two weeks at Fort Bliss, Texas, for weapons training. In a heightened security posture, personnel wear body armor (ballistics flak jacket with plates) and Kevlar helmets. They also carry an MCU2P chemical mask. Officers carry a 9mm weapon and ammunition with them at all times. Enlisted personnel carry an M-16 rifle with ammunition.

IT1(SW) Steven Schwalbe says being in Iraq is a challenge in itself with the heat, dust storms and daily rocket and mortar attacks by insurgents. He works in the JOC doing basic IT work using Windows XP Professional.

"We fix Microsoft Outlook problems, printer issues and we set up conference calls ... whatever needs to be done." Schwalbe has been at Camp Victory about three months. He says there are good days and bad days.

"Sometimes we wear bulletproof vests. We have to carry weapons with us and sometimes we have to wear Kevlar helmets. Basically, it's been pretty good for us here, but sometimes it can get a little hectic during the day because you don't know what's going to happen."

IT2(SW) Miguel Gomez, who is working in the knowledge management process at Camp Victory, is building a database of subject matter experts for a yellow pages/ white pages directory. It will help personnel find the assistance they need by typing a query for an online search.

Lt. Brian Jones is an IP working in the Knowledge Management Division on CENTRIXS.

"The people we support are decisionmakers and those who provide logistics support to the troops in the fight. We help to make our customers work smarter, more effectively and more efficiently," says Jones.