Combat communications team vital in Eager Tiger success

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Travis Edwards
  • 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany --  Airmen from the 1st Combat Communications Squadron supported F-16 Fighting Falcons from Hill Air Force base, Utah, during a two-week exercise in Southwest Asia, named Eager Tiger.

From Oct. 18 through Nov. 1, the U.S. F-16s took on F-16s from Jordan and Turkey in the Annual Falcon Air Meet competition. Out of 12 events, the U.S. won six, earning them the victory for the exercise.

The 14-member team from the 1st CBCS was on hand to build and maintain communications for the Americans.

Under normal circumstances, the team is able to create and sustain communications, like internet and phone service, from the ground up in 72 hours. However, that was not the case for the 13 Airmen working under Capt. Nickolas Stewart, 1st CBCS combat support flight commander.

"Because of some extenuating circumstances, we arrived with the "main body" and not earlier as planned," said Stewart. "When we touched down, the Airmen that had been on the ground for a few days were running out of time on their pre-paid cell phones."

With time against them and seeing the other players get a communication head start, Stewart, along with Tech. Sgt. Dennis Schmidt, the lead NCO for the team, rallied their Airmen to get base communications up and running.

"We had a rather green team; some of these guys hadn't deployed before, so it was hard to gauge how they would do," said Stewart. "But in the end they pulled it off in less than 36 hours; they were amazing."

Aside from making sure the internet and phones worked, the combat communications team enabled a total of 96 sorties and 118 hours flown.

Their efforts had not gone unnoticed either as the commander of Air Force Central Command, Lt. Gen. David Goldfein, handed a challenge coin to one of the heating ventilation and air conditioning Airmen, Staff Sgt. Jose Dorado.

"This was a record for us," said Schmidt. "Full comm in 36 hours is nothing short of remarkable."

This was the first time the 1st CBCS had participated in the annual competition.