Joint base, EC Airmen combine efforts to repair storm-damaged comms

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Zachary Wilson
  • U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center
JOINT BASE McGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --  Airmen from the 87th Communications Squadron teamed up with U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center technicians here Wednesday to bring phone services back online after an electrical surge during Hurricane Sandy destroyed the center's phone switch.

The surge caused more than $1.5 million in damage and rendered nearly 300 phone lines inoperable.

The EC is the Air Force's Center of Excellence for advanced mobility and expeditionary combat support training and education. The center also has direct oversight of 6 wings and 2 groups operating en route and installation support, contingency response and partner capacity building mission sets within the global mobility enterprise.

The impact of losing phones on the organization's mission was significant, especially given the unique leadership role the center plays in regard to units directly supporting Hurricane Sandy relief efforts.

"The telecom switch and wires were exposed to current when a power line near the EC fell on our telecommunications line that runs into Building 5656," said Lt. Col. Chris Jette, EC Commandant's Staff director. "This caused the current to ride through our phone lines and ground into the building and ultimately completely destroying the switch and all our telecom wires and back-up generator power wires to the facility. The Expeditionary Center Communications Operations Support staff with support from the 87th CS, 42nd Combat Communication Squadron and the 21st Air Mobility Operations Squadron worked as a team to restore full Numbered Air Force equivalent command and control capability within 24 hours of power being restored to the facility."

Once the switch went out, leaders and technicians alike within the EC scrambled to find solutions to bring phone service back as quickly as possible.

"I'm an Air Force Reservist with the 42nd CCS, out of the 514th Air Mobility Wing here," said Eroll Senior, an infrastructure technician at the center. "I knew of an old Basic Access Module normally used for deployment phone switches that we had at my unit. We were preparing to (liquidate.) I brought this idea up to leadership here at the EC and my chief at the 42nd. We had the unit here on Monday."

The 42nd ironically used the BAMS unit previously for Exercise Eagle Flag, a bi-annual exercise the Expeditionary Center conducts to verify mobility units' ability to deploy and operate in contingencies.

"This unit is not going to bring back all of the capabilities we lost," Senior said. "We won't have the same phone line capacity we lost and we lose some of the fancy services like voicemail and (voice over internet protocol.) But it will do the trick until we can get a new system installed."

Airmen from the 87th CS were called in to provide expertise, as Senior serves in a one-deep position at the center and had to restore the entire EC phone network.

"I trained Senior on this system six years ago while he was working with the 42nd," said Tech. Sgt. Timothy Majernick, 87th CS. "We are currently using version six of this equipment but this unit (being installed) is version three. Going back is not an easy step and we needed to collaborate."

Tech. Sgt. Gary Ennis, also of the 87th CS, lifted blackened and charred circuit boards stacked in the corner to demonstrate the severity of the surge. He also pointed to the ceiling tiles blackened by smoke that billowed from the wall panels.

"The surge just fried the switch," he said. "It's going to take a lot of work to get this all back to the way it was."

The 87th CS and EC team estimated they would complete the installation and set-up of the temporary phone switch this week. A long-term replacement is most likely three to six months away, Senior said.

Visit the USAF Expeditionary Center facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/pages/US-Air-Force-Expeditionary-Center, for more information on Hurricane Sandy recovery operations.