RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany -- Fifty-eight Airmen assigned to the 1st Combat Communications Squadron participated in exercise Healthy Thunder from Oct. 24 to Nov. 4 at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.
The Airmen were divided into eight teams, with an additional 44 Airmen providing support as cadre, quality assurance and opposing forces.
“We put them out in a field and they had to bring communications up on their own, and that’s what the Air Force needs us to do,” said Lt. Col. Tharommony In, 1st CBCS commander. “Now they feel comfortable with what those steps are and how involved it is from establishing our grounding and power to setting up our satellite dishes. They have a sense of exactly what that takes.”
The purpose of the two-week long exercise was to prepare the Airmen of the 1st CBCS for a deployment.
“We’re out here to practice like we play,” said Senior Airman Elizabeth Arthur, 1st CBCS radio frequency transmission systems technician. “We’re here to test our capabilities and we try to make it as real as possible, so when we go out to a deployed environment we know what to expect.”
During the first stage of the exercise, the Airmen were split between two locations and set up multiple antennas and radio equipment on an empty site.
“We were building the tents and everything,” said Senior Airman Thomas Goodnoe, 1st CBCS tactical network operations technician. “I build what’s called a ‘network control center deployed.’ Anything that a control center does, we do it right here in house.”
Without squadrons like the 1st CBCS, commanders wouldn’t be able to communicate with their troops during a deployment. Training exercises such as Healthy Thunder help the Airmen work out any kinks and make real-world operations run smoothly.
“I set up antennas that communicate with satellites that are 22,000 miles away, and within minutes we can have emails, phones and everything else out of nowhere,” Arthur said. “No matter where you are, be it in a field somewhere, you can set up and have those capabilities.”
Since the Airmen were building communications from the ground up, it required many long hours and could have dampened their spirits.
“The attitude they had was second to none,” In said. “Even though they were putting in long days, they were excited to be out there. I think the morale was where it needed to be, and that was really great.”
The second stage of the exercise provided training for the Airmen to defend their base. The Airmen playing the role of opposing forces provided a variety of scenarios, such as drive-by shootings, suicide bombers and attempts to infiltrate the base.
“We went through the combat readiness course, and they reiterated all the fundamentals we learned in basic, plus went more in-depth on certain things on how to defend our area,” Goodnoe said. “They made it as simulated as possible.”
In hoped her Airmen were able to experience two things during the exercise.
“I hope they gained an understanding of what combat communications is as a whole, what we are really built and designed to do, and they developed camaraderie, knowing they can depend on one another,” she said.
The 1st CBCS provides the means for communication in a deployed location, and through exercises like Healthy Thunder, they strive to keep their skills sharp.