Photo By Staff Sgt. Kelly Carlton | Signal equipment and transport vehicles stand ready for the next mission at the motor...... read more read more
FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. -- Communications and the internet play a key role in keeping today’s Army rolling. Whether the mission is accomplishing training exercises at the unit’s home station or while deployed, the Army’s Signal Corps makes communication possible.
Signal soldiers are trained on the inner workings of setting up, connecting and maintaining unsecured and secured internet and intranets.
Staff Sgt. Joseph Scalies, first platoon sergeant for 94th Signal Company, 193rd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, is expertly skilled in Army signal systems and communications capabilities. He spends a great deal of time ensuring his signal soldiers are cross trained to maximize unit readiness.
Scalies, a native of Wallingford, Pa., has additionally formulated and implemented ‘Signal Stakes.’ The program is a two week competitive training course designed to cultivate invaluable cross training between the five signal military occupational specialties he supervises. The training gives his soldiers the opportunity to learn new skills from their peers that relate to their current military occupation specialty. Scalies coordinated and implemented the training while serving as non-commissioned officer in charge of the signal section and acting platoon leader; a position slotted for a first lieutenant.
“Today I’ve got a 25Bravo, a 25Quebec and a 25Uniform all training in 25Sierra skills,” Scalies said.
The signal corps is identified by the MOS number 25 and the corresponding letter represents the soldier’s specific areas of expertise, i.e., 25B, 25Q, 25S and 25U.
The effort Scalies has put forth paid off this past April while he and his platoon were participating in their unit’s field exercise Vibrant Response 11.1 training exercise. The Joint Task Force-Civil Support mission required Scalies’ team to set up, operate and support a temporary network for 100 voice and 120 data accounts. The network spanned across four forward operating bases and allowed the brigade commander to communicate with the entire brigade.
“We provide communications for the brigade, phone or internet, secure or nonsecure, anywhere in the world,” Scalies said.
The seamless operation Scalies supervised resulted in two of his soldiers receiving impact awards for their individual contributions. An impact award is presented to soldiers who performed beyond the call of duty during a specific task or operation.
Sgt. Cameron Castleberry was awarded an impact Army Commendation Medal, and Pfc. Comonek Lavender, received an impact Army Achievement Award.
Scalies said he takes great pride in the proficiency of his soldiers. He actively participates in their classes and is onsite for questions or clarifications with equipment or procedures.
Having an outstanding signal support operation means setting up systems quickly and properly maintaining equipment, he said.
| Date Taken: | 08.17.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 08.25.2011 14:52 |
| Story ID: | 75925 |
| Location: | FORT LEONARD WOOD, MISSOURI, US |
| Web Views: | 129 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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