Comm Airmen strive to keep base populace informed

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Tabitha M. Lee
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  An Airman from the 100th Communication Squadron Radio Frequency Transmission Systems shop re-assembles a land mobile radio. The Airman meticulously fits the pieces together to ensure the radio will work properly.

This is just one part of Airman 1st Class Nicholas Resley's job as a 100th CS/RF Transmission Systems apprentice. Whenever an LMR malfunctions, it is the responsibility of the RF Transmission Systems shop to get it operating correctly again so base personnel can continue to complete their mission.

"Without LMRs, runners would be needed to relay important messages when land lines are not available," said Tech. Sgt. Diego Matos, 100th CS/RF Transmission Systems Supervisor.

LMRs aren't the only equipment this shop is responsible for.

"Our career field is relatively broad and covers a great deal of systems," said Tech. Sgt. Shannon Smith, 100th CS/RF Transmission Systems Supervisor. "We directly affect base operations every day as we maintain nearly every handheld, vehicle and aircraft radio that is used on this base for communication."

The 100th CS/RF Transmission System section is responsible for maintaining a large portion of RAF Mildenhall's communication equipment. Some of this includes the mass alert system, air to ground and land mobile radios, public address systems and pager/cell phone support. They do this through preventive maintenance inspections and fulfilling work orders when problems arise.

One important aspect of their job is maintaining the mass alert system, also known as the "giant voice."

"Without the giant voice, urgent time-sensitive information would be harder to distribute quickly enough for the base populace to take action," said Staff Sgt. Andrew Lee, 100th CS/RF Transmission Systems Supervisor.

Annual and bi-annual PMIs are done on 19 nodes and three control consoles that allow the giant voice to relay base wide messages. This system permits the command post to keep base personnel up to date on the force protection conditions and weather emergency alerts.

They are also responsible for maintaining, setting up, signing out and training individuals on public address systems. These systems are used at commander's calls, military ceremonies and base events to ensure music or the voice of a speaker can be heard.

Because many base organizations rely on these communication devices to perform everyday missions, 100th CS/RF Transmission System maintainers must ensure the quality of their work.

"We have a small number of dedicated people who are very technically proficient," said Sergeant Smith.

PMIs are done on the equipment to ensure its integrity, but whenever a problem does occur it's important that the 100th CS/RF Transmission System section attends to it promptly. They rotate an on-call duty in order to ensure emergency situations are taken care of even after normal business hours.

"When there are problems with systems such as the LMR trunking network or the base giant voice system, we have to return the systems to working order as soon as we can," said Sergeant Smith. "At the same time we have to make sure the backups are getting the job done."

The 100th CS/RF Transmission Systems shop takes pride in their work because of the importance of their mission.

"By accomplishing our mission, we ensure the giant voice and mobile communication assets are working properly to keep people informed and connected," said Sergeant Lee.