SAVANNAH, Georgia -- SAVANNAH, GA, — Airmen from the 134th Communications Squadron were given the opportunity to gain insight on how a combat communications squadron operates during their visit with the 224th Joint Communications Support Squadron here on June 26th.
The tour consisted of visiting multiple areas while viewing equipment that is used when setting up communications systems in deployed locations around the world in both peacetime and combat environments.
Senior Master Sgt. Rusty Messer, 134th CS Operations Superintendent said he wanted his Airmen to have the opportunity to see, touch, and ask questions about mobile, scalable equipment they will encounter in the deployed environment as well as be oriented to similar equipment they will receive in the foreseeable future.
Tennessee Air Guardsmen were able to obtain a better understanding of what they may come across when deployed and how the equipment is utilized.
“The members of the 224th JCSS were very gracious hosts,” said Senior Master Sgt. Rusty Messer. “They took the time and effort to have equipment set up to demonstrate the various capabilities they can provide as well as had subject matter experts available to brief the technical details and features of the equipment.”
Tech. Sgt. Tyler Renner, 134th CS Airman said visiting the 224th was very beneficial, and with his current knowledge on communications he was able to get a clearer picture on what a deployed combat communications set up would be like.
“The members of the 134th CS are highly skilled and talented individuals,” said Senior Master Sgt. Messer. “I wanted them to take the skills they have and build and adapt them to fully operate in the Agile Combat Employment (ACE) mobile environment. With the Air Force moving toward a deployed Hub and Spoke Distribution operation, this is a step toward developing multi-capable Airmen with expeditionary communication skills.”
Messer said visits like this introduce new concepts and create understanding of how other components operate. “Readiness is crucial and the Air National Guard must meet the same standards as their active-duty counterparts but with a fraction of the time and equipment available to train.”
The 224th JCSS provides deployable tactical communications for Joint and Special Operations Task Force Headquarters. They are capable of operating in environments without reliable terrestrial networks and are often first to deploy to establish communication networks to enhance command and control between units, services, or coalition forces.