NIAGARA FALLS AIR RESERVE STATION, N.Y. -- Approximately a year and a half ago, the 914th Communications Squadron was appointed Pilot Unit for the Air Force Reserve Command Joint Incident Site Communications Capability (JISCC) deployment.
On Monday, July 11th, 2016, the JISCC began when the 914th Airlift Wing hosted Vital Connections-Niagara, a two week, multi-agency exercise between military and civilian emergency management and first Responder agencies.
The JISCC event features advanced communications systems that can rapidly deploy anywhere in the U.S. to enable vital inter-agency communications at the site of a man-made or natural disaster. Five U.S. Air Force bases including Youngstown Air Reserve Station, and Peterson, Tinker, and Travis Air Force Bases will be participating with the 914 CS during the two-week exercise.
“When we became the pilot unit, we decided that it would be a good idea to bring all of the participating units under one umbrella,” said Master Sgt. Ed Chandler, 914 CS, noncommissioned officer in charge of Radio Frequency Transmissions. “This will enable participating units an opportunity to ensure that their equipment is 100% and that they are ready to set up, operate and trouble shoot before continuing their training once they return to home station.”
Each participating unit is responsible for bringing their own equipment including, satellites, high frequency antennas, generators, and network and wireless modules. The 914 CS is scheduled to train members from the units and they will also be increasing functionality of some of their equipment.
“A lot of the units have older equipment which is due to be upgraded,” said Tech. Sgt. Josh A. Sauer, RF Transmissions Systems, 914 CS. “We can provide them with, and show them how to upgrade critical system administrative equipment so that it meets its optimum capabilities.”
This event is the first of its kind for the 914th Airlift Wing. For some of the wing’s CS members, this is the first time that they have set up a communication system.
“It is very gratifying that Air Force Reserve Command headquarters has recognized the talent in the 914th CS and given us the honor of being the lead JISCC unit,” said Lt. Col. David Jaacks, commander, 914th CS. “Our dedicated members have exceptional work ethic and problem solving skills. The next two weeks will give us a chance to put ourselves on display and validate AFRC's confidence in us being able to take on this role.”