198th Signal Battalion: can you hear me now?

Army Communicator, Fall, 2004 by Marimer Navarrete, Jo Hoots, Neal Snyder

The Internet, cell phones and video technology--how can we live without them? On the virtual battlefield of the business world, organizations that don't adapt to the latest technology quickly fall behind their competitors. On the real battlefield, where success and failure are often measured in Soldiers' lives, communications technology is playing an even more critical role.

That's why signal exercises like Grecian Firebolt 2004 are so important to the military. This annual exercise, in its 16th year of operation, is a joint effort among elements from the Army and Air National Guard, Army Reserve and Air Force, even though the number of participants is smaller due to the military's involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Delaware National Guard 198th Signal Battalion deployed to Fort Dix this year to provide Signal support to quartermaster units participating in Quartermaster Logistic Liquid Exercise. "From here, we can communicate back and forth with Fort Devens [another QLLEX site], [the 311th at] Fort Meade, and [the 359th Signal Brigade at] Fort Gordon," said LTC Jane F. Zak, unit commander and GF commander for the Signal units at Fort Dix. Zak explained that this exercise helps signal units accomplish their signal mission and prepares them for possible deployment by providing a tactical training environment. "In our war mission, we install, operate, maintain and protect communications networks in a tactical environment," she said. "We provide our customers with all the telecommunications services like phone, Internet and video teleconference."

As GF commander, Zak had authority over approximately 250 Soldiers from varying units. These included the Delaware Army National Guard's 259th Signal Company, Company B of the 101st Signal Battalion from the New York Army National Guard, the Army Reserve 820th Signal Company from Texas, and an element from the Connecticut Air National Guard's 103rd Air Control Squadron. These units brought skills ranging from network administration, to data link connectivity, to cable and wire expertise.

Soldiers from the 103rd ACS provided the connectivity power via the satellite dish that eventually linked Fort Dix with Fort Devens, and using a tropospheric scatter microwave radio terminal, set up a "shot" to the tropo at Fort Meade, a distance of about 150 miles. This entailed sending microwave transmissions that bounce through the troposphere (the layer of atmosphere closest to Earth) and are received at a terminal on the other end.

"This type of dish is really to move large amounts of information or data," said Zak. "When you're dialing here, or you're sending an e-mail--it's all going to be routed together and sent to the TROPO at the other site, which can be a hundred miles away."

At Fort Dix, the primary signal mission was to provide communications support to the 402nd Quartermaster Battalion and 227th Quartermaster Company. While the "cable dogs" of the 820th Signal Company ran wires and cables, Company B from the 101st Signal Battalion set up and maintained two 40-foot antennas that brought Internet and phone service to distant QLLEX sites around Fort Dix. "On those sites, the 101st wired in phones, so we could talk back and forth, and installed data ports--basically for laptop service," said Zak. "So hopefully, while the Grecian Firebolt Soldiers are supporting them with communications, they in turn will provide us with laundry and showers."

The 261st Signal Brigade, higher headquarters for the 198th, assigned five Soldiers to Fort Dix to install the data packages and work as network administrators. "We're basically like an [Information Technology] office--we monitor and maintain the computer systems and the LANs (Local Area Networks) that process voice and data signals coming in through the satellites and TROPO (troposheric) shots," said SPC Ronny Mutiiz, an automation specialist.

With a four-day set up time from when boots hit the ground, signal units participating in GF at Fort Dix and around the nation almost immediately began troubleshooting to test the network architecture before the start of the exercise. As Zak explained, the challenge was to make sure that everything worked, from the network "backbone," down to the field radios and phones.

As equipment was up and running, efforts turned to training on tactical skills critical to successful deployment, such as convoying with weapons, reacting to explosives on the road, defending a site, probing a perimeter and reacting to a sniper attack. "What we've done is modify the training to train as we will fight, so our setup here is very similar to what is in Kuwait," said Zak.

ACRONYM QUICKSCAN

ACS--Air Control Squadron

GF--Grecian Firebolt

LANs--Local Area Networks

QLLEX--Quartermaster Logistic Liquid Exercise

TROPO--tropospheric

SFC Snyder serves with the Army Reserve 311th TSC Public Affairs Office. Before joining this unit, he was Public Affairs NCOIC for the 9th Theater Support Command, Fort Belvoir, Va. In 1997, he was deployed to Germany with the 201st Public Affairs Detachment in support of Operation Joint Endeavor. In his civilian capacity, he is command information officer for the U.S. Army Environmental Center.