Photo By Kimberly Hackbarth | John Volkmer (center), a tactical communications integration team instructor with the...... read more read more
FORT HOOD, Texas – Approximately 30 Soldiers from 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade participated in the brigade’s first fiber optic and tactical fiber optic cable installer course taught at the Fort Hood Signal University, here, July 27-31 and Aug. 3-6.
While Chief Warrant Officer 3 Anthony Harding, the brigade missile maintenance officer for 69th ADA Brigade, attended a course at the Signal University in April, he discovered the fiber optic course and asked the commandant, Jeffery Foraker, if it would be possible to give a class specifically for the brigade.
Foraker gave a positive response.
“This is the first time they requested a dedicated class, (and) we were more than happy to facilitate that,” Foraker explained. “We’d do that for any of the units on post, all they have to do is come and ask for the class and make the arrangement.”
The fiber optic course is relevant in the air defense artillery since the Patriot launchers used by 69th ADA Brigade, use fiber optic cables to connect from the launchers to the engagement control stations, said Harding.
In the course, which is taught approximately once a month, Soldiers learn fiber optic safety, how to identify cables and connectors, how to splice fiber optic cable and other aspects of fiber optic cables.
“(The purpose of the course is) to train the Soldiers how to maintain and repair and splice cables, so that we don’t have to buy a new cable when one breaks,” explained Foraker. “So we don’t have to pay a vendor to go and do what our own Soldiers could do.”
Sgt. 1st Class Justin Route, a Patriot missile maintenance noncommissioned officer with 1st Battalion, 44th ADA Regiment, 69th ADA Brigade, has seen firsthand how the fiber optic cable training saves both military and taxpayer dollars.
Another unit on post contacted Route’s unit and requested assistance with a fiber optic cable that had been run over by a mower, he said.
“They said the normal procedure ... was to turn the cable in and buy a new one instead of repairing it,” he explained. “So we saved them not only time ... it also saved $30,000.”
Though Route had prior experience with fiber optic cables, the course was still a good refresher for him, he said.
“It was the same techniques with newer equipment,” he said “It’s a lot easier to splice these days.”
One of the students, Spc. Jason McCarty, a computer/detection systems repairer with 1st Battalion, 62nd ADA Regiment, 69th ADA Brigade, said he signed up for the course because he wanted to learn something new.
“I always wanted to learn how to use fiber (optic cables) and how to actually make fiber cables,” he said.
McCarty works alongside the sections that use the Patriot launchers and said taking the course would make him an even more valuable asset.
“If they would need help with the cables, I could step up and actually help them so they could accomplish the mission,” he said.
McCarty’s unit is slated to deploy this fall and with the hands-on training he learned in the course, he said he is confident he would be able to use his skills on the deployment, if necessary.
“There’s going to be a lot of Patriot equipment over there, so I can assist with the fiber cable, whether it be just laying it out, hooking it up or actually fixing the cable,” he explained.
Having an entire class of mainly 69th ADA Brigade Soldiers helps ensure that there are more Soldiers in the brigade qualified to deal with fiber optic cables, McCarty said.
Harding shared a similar view on the 69th ADA Brigade-dominant course.
“It just makes the brigade that much better,” he said. “We’ve got a better standard (and) ... you know everybody has the same certifications.”
Harding said he hopes to make the fiber optic course a requirement for all of the Soldiers in the electronic/missile maintenance field.
“We get the industry standard brought to our shops and not just the Army standard, it’s the industry standard globally,” said Harding.
Upon completion of the course, students receive two certifications, said Foraker.
One certification is from the Electronics Technicians Association and the other is from 3M, which is a “global innovation company,” that has 46 technology platforms, according to its website.
| Date Taken: | 08.06.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 08.08.2015 10:03 |
| Story ID: | 172565 |
| Location: | FORT HOOD, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 383 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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