Grissom Marines participate in group wide exercise

Photo By Dakota S Bergl | Lance Cpl. Noah Hannon-Childers and Lance Cpl. Kyle Fisher, Detachment 1, Communications Company, 4th Marine Logistics Group cyber network operators, break away from their squad before a simulated patrol at Grissom Air Reserve Base, Ind. on March 9, 2017. The Marines ran the patrol as part of a weeklong training exercise. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Dakota Bergl)  

GRISSOM AIR FORCE BASE, INDIANA, UNITED STATES

03.17.2017

Story by Dakota S Bergl 

434th Air Refueling Wing

GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind. -- Grissom turned into a landing zone for a group of marines earlier this month and the communications started flowing.

During the exercise Marines from Detachment 1, Communications Company, 4th Marine Logistics Group set up a command post inside the Marine Corps Reserve Center and a forward operating base outside to practice installing and using their mobile communication tools.

Their primary mission is to establish communications for the other units in a deployed environment said Capt. Reynaldo Hinojosa, Detachment 1 commander.

“We set up the backbone communication services that other units need,” said Hinojosa. “That means we can set up email, radio and web access so that other units can communicate effectively. Our MOS [military occupational specialty] is constantly evolving over time as new technology becomes available.”

Also, during the exercise, several Marines participated in simulated patrols during which they made their way around Grissom stopping at various checkpoints before setting up a mobile communications system. The patrols are good practice for what they might be required to do while on a deployment, said Hinojosa.

“This gives me a good opportunity to see how my Marines would handle a patrol, making sure they are covering their fire zones and keeping good communication with each other,” he said.

The Marines are expected to be able to think on their feet and improvise in order to set up their communications systems. This can range from finding the best place to set up a mobile satellite receiver to building a radio transmitter using cables, sticks and a plastic spoon.

“Anyone with any radio transmission background could probably improvise some kind of transmitter,” added Hinojosa. “They made this one using whatever we had sitting around, if you look you can see they used the spoon from an MRE to act as an insulator. They need to be able to set up communications no matter what their situation is and they know a lot of ways to go about it.”

Lance Cpl. Kyle Fisher, Detachment 1 cyber network operator, said he thought the training would aid the Marines in the future.

“The practice we got during this exercise will be very beneficial during future execises and deployments,” said Fisher. “We got to work with some new gear and implement our training.”

Lance Cpl. Nick Swintz, Detachment 1 cyber network operator, agreed with his fellow Marine and was proud of the work they accomplished during the training.

“This was good training for our new gear,” said Swintz. “We had the chance to show our higher command that we could take new equipment and run with it. With just 12 Marines we did what other units who participated couldn’t do with more.”

Sgt. Daniel Dilego, Detachment 1 field wireman, said it was hard work with only a handful of Marines but the unit did very well.

“We pulled long days and long nights but we kept our services running,” said Dilego. “Our joint unit had 40 Marines, and I think we out shone them. We performed very well.”

Opened in 2003, the Marine Corps Reserve Center at Grissom is the home station for 80 Marines

Grissom is home to not only the 434th Air Refueling Wing, the largest KC-135R Stratotanker unit in the Air Force Reserve Command, but also three Army Reserve units and a Marine Corps communications detachment. Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors and Marines routinely deploy from Grissom in support of the Department of Defense missions and U.S. strategic objectives.

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• Date Taken: 03.17.2017
• Date Posted: 01.30.2018 08:55
• Story ID: 263797
• Location: GRISSOM AIR FORCE BASE, INDIANA, US