Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii –
Ten communications specialists from the 50th Intelligence Squadron, Beale Air Force Base, Calif., completed two weeks of annual training at Distributed Ground Station 5, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, Aug. 17-31 here.
The arrival of the reserve DGS to work alongside an active duty squadron marked the culmination of several months of coordination between the 50 IS and the 792nd Intelligence Support Squadron, JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam.
"The 792 ISS currently has no Reserve or Guard associations, so the opportunity to see the Air Force's Total Force Integration concept in action is a first for many of our airmen," said Capt. Brandon Kalski, 792 ISS Operations Flight Commander. " It has been a great opportunity to leverage the experience our Reserve brethren bring to the table."
The 50 IS and 792 ISS support two of the five Distributed Ground Stations located throughout the world that make up the Distributed Common Ground System weapons system. DGSs are also located at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., and Ramstein Air Base, Germany.
Each DGS is comprised of intel analysts and communications specialists who process multiple forms of intelligence gathered from manned and unmanned reconnaissance platforms such as the U-2 Dragonlady and the RQ-4Global Hawk remotely piloted aircraft.
The task of providing the infrastructure needed to process the vast amount of intelligence gathered by these platforms falls on airmen with different backgrounds and fields of expertise.
"At DGS-2 (Beale AFB), we have full-time reservists embedded with the active duty. There are also civilian contractors at the DGS who are able to bring another perspective that the military members may not have," said Tech. Sgt. Robert Bower, 50 IS Mission Systems Supervisor.
"Finally, our traditional reservists are also able to draw upon their experience from their civilian jobs in the communications industry," he continued. "As the model for Total Force Integration, we're able to bring all three of those domains to the table when we travel to another DGS."
The priorities for the 50th on this trip were to augment their regular Air Force counterparts and prepare the 792nd for their Consolidated Unit Inspection later this year.
Master Sgt. Mark Aldrette, 50 IS Education and Training Manager and full time reservist, worked with the 792nd to evaluate each work center's training program and held classes on the roles of the trainee, trainer and supervisor.
"My job has been to standardize the training program and find products or processes that may need improvement, such as CDC tracking and upgrade training," said Aldrette. "I also examined each work center's Master Training Plan and Job Qualification Standards."
While Master Sgt. Aldrette concentrated on the tangible aspects of the training program, other members of the 50th turned their attention to scenarios and simulations with Virtual Machine Ware.
"The 792nd wanted us to focus on the training program, so we provided a virtual weapons system for supervisors to generate scenarios for the technicians to create logical connections as you would create physical connections," said Bower.
The VMware, introduced by Tech. Sgt. Toby Wenzel and Senior Airman Ryan Johnson, is a virtual device designed to behave as actual machines, allowing technicians to troubleshoot and problem solve without impacting an actual mission.
Although the 50th provided classes on training plans and virtual training space, the exchange of ideas was far from one-sided.
The 792nd has proven itself as a frontrunner when it comes to providing a forum for other DCGs to communicate, while ensuring a team of cyber airmen are on the operations floor at all times.
Staff Sergeant Andrew Greenwell, 792 ISS Mission Support Supervisor, created a chat room which will serve as a community of practice where both DGS-2 and 5 can exchange tactics, techniques, and procedures, according to Kalski.
"Feedback from the intel analysts has been overwhelmingly positive as multiple troubleshooting issues are now solved in a matter of minutes versus hours," he added.
There were also opportunities for both squadrons to interact outside of the training environment.
Senior Master Sgt. Norm Obrien brought his "brown bag approach to leadership," a professional development program, with him from Beale AFB. O'Brien held separate discussion sessions with officers, senior NCOs and junior enlisted members of the 792nd.
Both squadrons were also able to take part in unit-wide Physical Training with a Hawaiian twist.
"Our PT program is made up of a variety of exercises. We incorporated pool circuit training, canoeing in the harbor, or swimming at the beach here on base," said Kalski. "It's all part of the joy of living in Hawaii!"