Setting up communications at 30,000 feet

Published March 7, 2009
By Senior Airman Brok McCarthy
379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- Getting access to a phone, the internet and e-mail can sometimes be a difficult feat while traveling, but getting access to it at 30,000 feet in the air is a whole other animal - a viper to be exact.

The 379th Expeditionary Communications Squadron Viper Team is responsible for setting up non-secure internet, and secure internet and phones on C-17 Globemaster IIIs and C-130 Hercules when top government officials visit the area of responsibility.

"When [distinguished visitors] come over in their commercial [planes], they normally aren't defensively equipped with chaff and flares so they need to change aircraft," said Tech. Sgt. Paul Bethancourt, 379th ECS communications system operator, deployed from Charleston Air Force Base, S.C. "They can't just transfer [communication] equipment off their planes because it's built in, so we are here to make sure they can stay in contact with people on the ground."

The six-person team is able to set up what is known as the Air Force Central Command Mobile Viper System in as little as 30 minutes from when they walk out of their building. All of the equipment needed to provide the communications is stored in eight large, black cases, weighing approximately 850 pounds.

"The lowest ranking people we will roll out for are Gen. [David] Petraeus and his deputy," said Sergeant Bethancourt, who is originally from New Orleans. "We had 30 [distinguished visitors] come through last year including the secretary of state, secretary of defense, director of homeland security and the deputy director of the CIA."

Once the equipment is set up, two of the Viper Team members stay aboard the aircraft to ensure the equipment maintains constant contact with satellites so the distinguished visitors can work uninterrupted.

"When you are talking about an antenna on the ground talking to a satellite, you won't have a problem with your signal or anything because that sucker doesn't move," said Staff Sgt. Matthew Henderson, 379th ECS communications system operator, deployed from Ramstein Air Base, Germany. "But on an airplane it's different when you start to roll, you can lose satellite connectivity for a few seconds.

"When you're flying around, there are points where we will actually have to change from satellite to satellite," the Long Beach native said. "So that's what we're on the aircraft for, not just to fix something if it goes down, but to make sure we always have a good signal. Our job is to make the change before the [distinguished visitors] can come to us and let us know there is a problem."

Because the operators stay with the equipment, they will be away from base for as much as two weeks at a time.

"We have a saying around here," said Master Sgt. Derek Greene, the team NCO in charge, who is deployed from McDill Air Force Base, Fla. "'It's either feast or famine,' we either don't have anyone coming in or we are constantly on the go."

The 379th ECS Viper Team is the only one of its kind in the AOR. The only other team in the world like it is stationed at Andrews Air Force Base, M.D. Their responsibility is to provide communication abilities for distinguished visitors flying from there to here.

The team itself is made up of Airmen from various communications Air Force specialties who are stationed here on 365-day deployments.

"The best part of getting to do this job is we basically went from sitting behind a desk to flying around in aircraft, and we went through [Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape] school. That's an experience a lot of [communications] guys will never get," said Staff Sgt. Timothy Everetts, 379 ECS communications system operator, who is deployed from Robins Air Force Base, Ga. "This job is just awesome, the flying world is just a little bit better than the [communications] world."

The Chicora, Pa. native said, while team members are stationed here, their duties have very little, if anything, to do with their normal home station jobs because of the unique equipment here.

"This type of system allows us to go anywhere in the world," said Sergeant Greene, who is from Waterford, Mich. "We can provide [command and control] for contingency operations. That's basically what technology can do these days with just a few tactical cases of equipment."