ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- Airmen with the 51st Combat Communications Squadron trained with a number of air expeditionary wings during a total force network integrated exercise at Robins Air Force Base.
“The intent of the exercise is to emphasis the modernization of our efforts so we can scale up or down based on mission requirements,” said Maj. Christopher Dauer, 51st Combat Communications Squadron commander.
“The setup of the exercise is the support of multiple air expeditionary wings,” he said. “It’s important for us so we can see an entire squadron’s capability at once. That’s important to give me, as a commander, an idea of where we are in terms of readiness.”
“Things pop up in the world all the time,” Capt. Joshua Larson, 51st Combat Communications Squadron director of operations, added. “When they pop up in a place where we don’t have an established site, somebody needs to be ready to go there to provide basic communications command and control wherever it’s needed.
“We’re going through a robust pace plan, so if one of our communications capabilities is not available, we have other means of connecting,” Larson added. “We’re testing out a whole new set of skills, and it makes us more resilient and flexible in our ability to support customers.
“We have many ways of accomplishing our mission,” Larson added. “We want to be able to provide communications command and control under even the most restrictive conditions.”
Dauer emphasized the importance of the squadron’s mission.
“Our line of effort from the 24th Air Force commander is to extend the network. So how well we extend that network is our bread and butter, it’s making sure we can extend that network any time, any place.”