Photo By Richard Maupin | Joint Communications Support Element Commander, U.S. Army Col. Kirby Watson (pictured...... read more read more
MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - On March 6, the Joint Communications Support Element welcomed home Task Force Patriot from a six-month deployment in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. Task Force Patriot, a team comprised of more than 40 JCSE personnel from JCSE’s 3rd Joint Communications Squadron and the Florida Air National Guard’s 290th Joint Communications Support Squadron, brought critical mission-tailored communications capabilities to forces downrange as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Following mission completion, these highly-trained, rapidly deployable joint communication experts returned to JCSE headquarters, at MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa, Fla., and were greeted by family and friends during a celebratory homecoming ceremony.
JCSE’s top-notch communication experts and their scalable equipment sets brought an added versatility to joint force commanders. While downrange, Task Force Patriot deployed two to five-person teams at various sites throughout Afghanistan to provide secure and non-secure voice, network and video teleconferencing services. Task Force Patriot simultaneously supported small joint task forces at multiple sites, although their communication systems were capable of being scaled up to provide services to a full joint task force headquarters, if necessary.
JCSE member, U.S. Air Force Capt. Nathan Van Loon, the 3JCS Operations Officer, commented on the broad level of expertise the team demonstrated during this recent deployment.
“Task Force Patriot provided mission-tailored, customized services to the warfighter which ran the gamut of communications support,” he said. “The team’s efforts provided communication services from direct support to the joint force commander with command and control functions to facilitating critical radio and satellite transmission to technical assistance for workgroup management functions.”
JCSE has continuously deployed rotational teams of joint communications experts to the USCENTCOM AOR over the past decade to provide uninterrupted connectivity across the full spectrum of operations. Each six-month rotation is a new opportunity for JCSE teams to further enhance their communications skill sets, build on the command’s corporate knowledge within the AOR and remain actively aware of current processes used downrange.
“Our joint communications expertise and familiarity in the AOR allows our teams to expeditiously tie into other services organically within our command and provide a robust communication network to the joint force commander,” added Van Loon.
JCSE member, U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Jeremy Boutin, the Task Force Patriot’s Senior Non-Commissioned Officer-in-Charge, concurred with Van Loon’s comments and added, “No matter what Service branch we were supporting downrange, our guys were good at what they did and were willing to go the extra mile to provide communications solutions to various sites in Afghanistan.”
Following each rotational deployment, the JCSE team leads work closely with JCSE’s training division to ensure lessons learned are fully captured and incorporated in the next team’s Mission Readiness Exercise, a significant training event that all JCSE personnel participate in prior to deploying. The close relationship between the JCSE team leads and the training division is critical to maintain the relevance and realism of the MRE training scenarios and also ensure JCSE members continue to provide efficient and effective communications solutions when requested.
“Prior to deploying, our team received almost a full year of technical and tactical communications and weapons training which were evaluated during the MRE,” explained Boutin. “Based on the variety of customers and the team’s ability to adapt to any situation, we were fully trained and our versatility enabled us to go above and beyond the mission requirements we were asked to provide.”
After successfully turning over operations to the follow-on JCSE rotational team, Task Force Patriot redeployed and was welcomed by the JCSE Commander, U.S. Army Col. Kirby Watson, on the tarmac once their plane arrived at MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa, Fla. To allow the team to focus on catching up with family and friends, Watson quickly released Task Force Patriot members for some well-deserved time off.
JCSE’s long-standing history of supporting operations in Afghanistan during OEF has continued to provide reliable and efficient communications services to forces downrange. After assisting forward operating bases at numerous sites and providing mission-critical communications expertise downrange, JCSE’s Task Force Patriot eagerly returned home to their loved ones. In gratitude for the service of both Task Force Patriot and their families, JCSE celebrated the team’s homecoming and made it a special occasion for everyone.
| Date Taken: | 04.02.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 04.16.2013 08:44 |
| Story ID: | 105260 |
| Location: | MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 459 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, JCSE team concludes six-month deployment in Afghanistan, by Julianne Sympson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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