8th CS keeps Kunsan connected

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Amanda Savannah
  • 8th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
KUNSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea --  In today's age of technology, most of the world's inhabitants now rely on telephones and computers to transfer information and stay connected to each other. A common concern in many households and work centers is what to do if these lines of communication were to fail.

At Kunsan, the 8th Communications Squadron keeps the Wolf Pack connected to each other and the rest of the world.

Completing the Wolf Pack mission of Defend the Base, Accept Follow-On Forces and Take the Fight North requires communication to Col. John Dolan, "Wolf," 8th Fighter Wing commander from higher headquarters, said Maj. Nathaniel Ards, 8th CS commander.

"That all requires communication, mostly on higher-level classified systems ... moving assets, getting operations orders and deployment orders, all those things take place over those systems," Major Ards said. "It's our [8th CS] responsibility to maintain those C4 systems - command, control, communications and computer systems - and the critical infrastructure here on base that ensures those capabilities are up for the Wolf, the group commanders and squadron commanders who need to execute their mission here."

Part of maintaining the Wolf Pack's C4 systems is also to protect the network, which the squadron's communication focal point, or help desk, is responsible for.

"The help desk is the central focus point," said Staff Sgt. Omar Aguilar, 8th CS help desk technician. "Whether [the customer is] having an issue with the computers or telephones that are pre-existing equipment, they call us and we will open a trouble ticket with our back shops ... or if we can resolve it ourselves, we can try to help the customer."

The help desk is the customer's first line of defense, ensuring communications systems are up to date with the latest virus protection and that customers are trained in recognizing phishing attempts by people unauthorized to receive requested information.

"I don't think a lot of people see that," said Chief Master Sgt. Randy Hodges, 8th CS superintendent. "There are a lot of things put in place to make sure that people can't infiltrate or put malicious things on our network that would shut us down. If we shut down comm, we're not going to talk across the base or off this base, so our main role is to defend that."

Responding to the trouble tickets is then up to the squadron's client service technicians.

"They've got a pretty good system for responding," said Chief Hodges. "They came up with a system where when they get trouble tickets, they organize them by location on base, so when they go out to respond, they don't respond to just one ticket. They'll go to an area, and they may have two or three trouble tickets, and they will hit all of them in that area, so it makes it a little quicker."

The 8th CS is also responsible for the wing's new communications requests and requirements.

"Basically, the comm squadron is supposed to provide combat communications," said Master Sgt. Michael Young, 8th CS plans and programs flight. "For the plans flight, we make sure that we have those communications requirements met, current and future, in order to meet that need, so we can defend the base."

The squadron also works with the 8th Civil Engineer Squadron on military construction projects to ensure all communications requirements are met within the new facilities, Sergeant Young added.

Although the majority of communication today is electronic, our connection with the world isn't completely paperless. Bills are still mailed, cards are still sent, and packages of gifts and purchased items are still collected by post offices, which are managed by the communications squadron.

"The post office is unique here, being overseas," Chief Hodges said. "Mainly only overseas is the post office part of the comm squadron."

But managing the post office means more personnel are needed, since the duty is not a career field in itself.

"Most of [the Airmen] over there come from various walks within the Air Force, and they've volunteered to do this special duty for a year or two years," the Chief said. "So when you go over there and meet the folks in the post office they're not necessarily comm personnel. They've literally volunteered to do this duty for at least a year."

Chief Hodges also mentioned that anyone looking to volunteer on base is welcome to help the Airmen in the post office, especially with the holiday season and additional mail and packages coming soon.

The squadron even helps the "eyes" of the flying operations of the Wolf Pack, ensuring the wing's precision approach radar, or PAR; airport surveillance radar, or ASR; and next generation radar, or NEXRAD, are all operational.

"The PAR is our landing radar, making sure that in inclement weather the aircraft have a way of landing and being able to see the runway without crashing," said Tech. Sgt. Michael Metcalf, 8th CS radar technician. "The ASR sees all aircraft in the area, up to about 240 miles, to include civilian and military aircraft, so the controllers can make sure airplanes don't crash into each other and can identify potential hostile aircraft if necessary. And The NEXRAD is the weather radar for the entire southern half of Korea. Our products generated here get sent to Hickam [AFB, Hawaii,] to be part of the Pacific's ring of radars for weather forecasters, making sure we can see all the weather coming in."

"We are the eyes for the area," Sergeant Metcalf said. "If they [air traffic controllers, pilots and weather technicians] can't see what's out there, we're kind of sitting ducks. If our equipment doesn't run, then the operators have a very limited capability in what their job is. So we make sure the wing can take the fight North."

Although each office and squadron on base is responsible for maintaining the communication records within their sections, ultimately, these records are also the communication squadron's responsibility.

"At the base level, [the comm squadron has] the base records manager; then each group has one functional account resource manager, and each office has a records custodian," said Master Sgt. Melissa Hendershot, 8th CS knowledge operations management functional manager. "So we maintain anywhere from three to four hundred RCs on a daily basis."

"We have to document the history of the base, which is where each section's records are going to come from," she said. "We've been here for 60 years; we have to track what we do and why we are here, because this base is such a huge part of history. We do that by keeping up with all the things we do in our day-to-day operations. Our folks ensure that the records are filed properly, that they are taken care of properly, that we're not destroying those historical records, and then at the end of the year, they're the ones that are ... getting them ready to go to storage at the staging area or for us to ship them off to the National archives."

Sergeant Hendershot said the squadron is also responsible for the Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act programs, which actually restricts the communication of specific, private information regarding Air Force members.

Members of the 8th CS understand that they are a very important part of the wing mission and its success, and they don't take this responsibility lightly.

"Our cyber warriors, as we call ourselves, we take that very seriously in terms of the way ... we do our day-to-day operations and execute the processes that keep those systems up and running, to keep our customers in the fight, plugged in and everything else," said Major Ards. "We ... make sure ... our C4 is available and capable for the Wolf and the Wolf Pack mission."