It’s a SNAP: National guardsmen deployed to remote bases keep communication open

Photo By Frank O'Brien | Sgt. David J. Uptigrow, of Norfolk, Va., with the Virginia Army National Guard, 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team assembles a communications dish at the remote Forward Operating Base Shamulzai, Afghanistan, Sept. 14. The Staunton-based 116th “Stonewall Brigade” is deployed to Zabul province as a command and control headquarters conducting counter-insurgency operations.  

ZABUL PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN

09.14.2011

Story by Sgt. Frank O'Brien 

116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team

ZABUL PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Soldiers from the Virginia Army National Guard 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team set up high-tech military communications equipment at an isolated forward operating base Sept. 14 as part of the counterinsurgency effort in Zabul province.

The equipment is easy to install and enables the 116th brigade headquarters at Forward Operating Base Lagman to remain in contact with Romanian and Afghan National Army troops at remote FOBs throughout Zabul province. Communications towers and physical lines are vulnerable to attack by anti-coalition forces. Afghanistan’s mountainous terrain also interferes with line of sight signals to make communication difficult. The satellite dishes and portable terminals currently deployed by U.S. troops allow headquarters units such as the 116th to remain in constant contact with troops deployed to remote FOBs.

The 116th is deployed to Zabul province as a command and control headquarters in charge of NATO and ANA soldiers such as those at FOB Shamulzai.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Nelson N. Connor of Richmond, Va., Pfc. Roy E. Garner of Danville, Va., and Sgt. David J. Uptigrow of Norfolk, Va., completed setting up a SNAP VSAT system Sept. 14 during a visit to FOB Shamulzai by Col. Blake C. Ortner, 116th commander, who was presiding over a change of command ceremony for Romanian troops. Both Garner and Uptigrow will remain behind – the only U.S. troops at a base filled with coalition forces and Afghan National Army soldiers– as SNAP terminal operators until the unit goes home.

“Life in Shamulzai is okay,” said Pfc. Garner. “We don't have the necessities available to soldiers in other places, but we make do. We’ve encountered a few problems here and there, but the support we receive from netops [network operations] helps a lot.”

SNAP VSAT is the acronym for SIPR/NIPR Access Point and Very Small Aperture Terminals.

SIPR and NIPR are military acronyms referring to different classifications of military communications traffic: secret vs. nonsensitive Internet Protocol routers. The equipment provides cheap, efficient broadband services including access to encrypted voice, video and imagery data.

“If everything goes according to plan, we really have nothing to do,” said Spc. Cody S. Gray of Staunton, Va., a multichannel transmissions operator and maintainer stationed at the equally isolated FOB Athgar, also in Zabul province. “The equipment is reliable, so we only have to troubleshoot once or twice a day at most. The main event that usually causes the terminals to go down is someone forgetting to put gas in the generator.”

While life on an isolated FOB can be challenging, possibly even disheartening, the soldiers of the 116th have tackled the challenge with gusto.

I have a lot of added responsibility now as the Information Management Officer, said Sgt. Uptigrow, but I have only myself to rely on because of the isolation and the distance from everyone else. This challenge allows me to step up to the plate to handle things and make important decisions. It helps my analytical and decision-making skills as a non-commissioned officer. Many might say this FOB is the worst thing that could have happened, but I see it differently -- I feel as if I have grown into a better Soldier, NCO, and person while being here, he added.

In addition to their duties as communications professionals, the 116th SNAP terminal operators are soldiers first. Uptigrow assists with FOB Shamulzai’s QRF – quick reaction force, and Spc. Darrell R. McCatty recently repelled a Taliban attack on FOB Athgar almost single-handedly.

“It was a coordinated attack on our second or third day here,” said McCatty. “I was accompanying a major when we took small arms fire from directly in front of us followed by a coordinated rocket attack from the northeast and southeast. I was fighting by myself for about five minutes before the ANA were able to respond.”

Although the 116th SNAP terminal operators are isolated from the main body of the 116th, their sacrifices have not gone unnoticed or unappreciated.

“I’m so proud of all my guys,” said Maj. Lesley E. Kipling, lead information systems officer. “They’re the best.”

• Date Taken: 09.14.2011
• Date Posted: 09.30.2011 06:13
• Story ID: 77810
• Location: ZABUL PROVINCE, AF