Photo By Cpl. Austin Lewis | The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit’s Joint Task Force Enabler package is established...... read more read more
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By 1st Lt. Joshua W. Larson
DJIBOUTI — The Navy warship USS Iwo Jima sits off the coast of a dusty section of jagged rock at the water's edge of Djibouti in the Horn of Africa. Although it's not what most would consider luxurious living, at sea, the Iwo Jima has all the basics covered to include conveniences of modern connectivity such as phones and internet. Ashore, at a military training site in Arta, Djibouti, Marines with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit have the basics too, although few would call the living conditions comfortable. Thanks to the 24th MEU's Joint Task Force Enabler detachment these Marines now have Internet and phones too.
Just over a dozen Marines with the JTFE launched from the USS Iwo Jima at sunrise, March 6, 2015, and came ashore in Arta with everything they needed to establish a communication suite that far surpasses your local coffee shop and even rivals a Navy ship.
The JTFE establishes the foundation for command and control, or C2, for a MEU commander, and, if necessary, the seamless transition of C2 to a JTF commander.
“We provide tactical video, data and voice traffic to facilitate command and control for the MEU in an expeditionary environment,” said 1st Lt. Abigail Sigman, the JTFE officer-in-charge. “We can roll off a ship with four Humvees and four trailers full of equipment … [and with the right satellite coverage] establish Internet, phones, satellite communications, tactical chat and video teleconferencing in six hours or less.”
Of course, these Marines aren’t ashore to email family and friends or check social media status. The JTFE is designed to facilitate the communication of secret, mission-sensitive information.
The 24th MEU uses a JTFE due to the nature of its mission, to provide a flexible force of ground, air and logistics Marines who can take part in a variety of operations ranging from full-scale combat to humanitarian assistance. MEUs have been considered America’s 9-1-1 force for decades, but remaining relevant in today’s battlespace requires flexibility from all angles, which is why a mission often hinges on command and control - what the JTFE brings to the fight.
Sigman, a Heath, Ohio, native, said there are sixteen Marines who make up her JTFE, which includes radio and satellite operators, field wiremen, a satellite technician, and a tactical control operator. There’s also a generator mechanic to make sure there’s a constant power source for all the equipment, and four cyber network operators who conduct network administration.
“We’re the Marine Corps’ version of your local electronics store’s “geek squad,” said Cpl. Kyle W. Nevill, a cyber network operator from Paoli, Indiana.
Previous MEUs have used a shore-based JTFE instead of a ship-based one, placing them in places like Sigonella, Italy, where the 24th MEU JTFE was located in 2012. This time, though, the 24th MEU commander wanted it on ship, so that it could be with the Command Operations Center when the COC goes ashore. This equates to more bandwidth and better services.
Sigman said her JTFE is scalable into large, medium and small packages—the large package able to provide Internet services for over 300 users while the small package is designed for as few as four Marines.
Of course, anything this technical is sometimes easier said than done, which is why the JTFE team has such a variety of skill sets. After the group came ashore, it took the efforts of every Marine to get “comm up,”
“My main job is to fix hardware and troubleshoot,” said Sgt. Thomas Wright, a digital wide-band repairman from Long Island, New York. Wright tries to explain what he’s doing as he stares at boxes with flashing lights and different-colored cables popping out of them. “The easiest way to explain it is that we set up in the middle of an austere place and bridge your laptop to the outside world without the benefit of an Internet Service Provider like the one you have at home.”
Wright and the other Marines are trying to link the JTFE in Arta, Djibouti with a Standard Tactical Entry Point-site in Landstuhl, Germany, to complete the process, but are experiencing minor problems.
“[Troubleshooting] is really the most interesting part of my job … it can be a mystery and there are so many little things that can be the problem,” Wright said, looking at his watch. “We have six hours to have services up and running and I’m at hour three right now. So I look at this as having three more hours to complete the puzzle.”
This is the JTFE’s first time setting up services in an expeditionary environment since the 24th MEU deployed mid-December. While aboard ship for the last 10 weeks, the JTFE supports ship-board communication efforts.
In Arta, the JTFE Marines say they have more fun.
“It’s rough out here … but I prefer it. This is the kind of thing I envisioned when I joined the Marines—roughing it in some strange, foreign place,” said Cpl. Adam Bunker, a satellite communications operator. “And I get to do my primary job out here, which I don’t get to do on ship.”
The 24th MEU is embarked on the ships of the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group and deployed to maintain regional security in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations.
| Date Taken: | 03.14.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 03.14.2015 00:55 |
| Story ID: | 157020 |
| Location: | DJ |
| Web Views: | 485 |
| Downloads: | 3 |
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