Grissom Marines engage in 24-hour communications exercise Published Jan. 9, 2014 By Tech. Sgt. Mark R. W. Orders-Woempner 434th ARW Public Affairs GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind. -- From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, U.S. Marines have a long-established history of tirelessly grinding through to get jobs done. While they weren't storming any beaches or planting flags this time, Marine reservists of Detachment One, Communication Company, Combat Logistics Regiment 45, 4th Marine Logistics Group, were busy overcoming some tough obstacles of their own during a communications exercise held here Dec. 7-8. During the two-day exercise, Marines worked 24-hours-a-day to establish radio and data contact with fellow Marines in Greensboro, N.C., said 2nd Lt. Lara Soto, Detachment One Headquarters Platoon commander. The all-day-and-night scenario provided the Marines with an environment close to what they would find in the real world, said Capt. Timothy Chun, Detachment One inspector instructor. "No matter what we do, wherever we go as a communications community, we don't stop working until communications are up, because if we don't get our networks up our commanders can't talk and that could potentially mean that Marines are going to be dying," explained Chun. "Our goal is always work, work, work until the job is done. "Once our communications are up and running, then we can take a little break and start the maintaining portion of the exercise," he added. While establishing communications for this exercise was no easy task, thanks in part to some equipment hiccups, the Marines didn't relent. "I think the Marines are doing really well; they're learning," said Soto just a few hours into the exercise. "We have had some obstacles with equipment, but the Marines have been able to adapt and overcome." After establishing communications, teams went on patrol around Grissom and trained on different communications scenarios they could encounter on the battlefield. "The goal was for them to practice communicating, actually passing information over the radio using standard forms we have in different situations," explained Marine Sgt. Dominic Leto, Detachment One Transmissions Platoon sergeant. "We should be able to effectively communicate with anybody, whether it's Marines, Army, Air Force, Navy, or whoever we're working with because it's a universal idea." While a lot of the training during the exercise consisted of technical aspects with various types of radios and other communications systems, Leto said the training was more focused on effective communication. "Effective communication on any system is key, so even if they don't know everything about every radio we own, still being able to effectively communicate the information is extremely valuable," he said, while adding the technical proficiency is still critical. "If you don't' have the ability to relay the information, you can't communicate, so you need to know how to use the radio, but at the same time, what good is it if when you pass that information and somebody isn't able to make sense of it." Helping make sense of that information, the Grissom Marines practiced relaying 9-line and SALUTE reports. A 9-line report is way to request medical evacuation while providing casualty information in a standard format, and a SALUTE report communicates the size, activity, location, unit, time and equipment of enemy forces. Adding realism to the training, experienced Marines like Leto, who deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2007 to 2008, provided exercise participants with non-scripted scenarios and challenges forcing them to adapt to an ever-changing environment. "A lot of times we haven't had the opportunity to present hypothetical scenarios where they have to think on their feet, and that's what this is," Leto explained about the exercise. "It's not just being able to take what's written in front of them and create it, it's being able to assesses what's happening, process that information and then communicate effectively." In the scenarios, Detachment One Marines had to relay information back to their command about unexploded ordnance, enemy forces and casualty evacuations. With this local exercise behind them, the Grissom Marines can now focus on getting ready for a much larger Marine Forces Reserve communications exercise set to take place in February. Grissom is not only home to Detachment One, but also the 434th Air Refueling Wing, the largest KC-135R Stratotanker unit in the Air Force Reserve Command, as well as three Army Reserve units. Airmen, Marines and Soldiers routinely deploy from Grissom in support of the Department of Dense mission and U.S. strategic objectives. Stay connected with Grissom on Facebook and Twitter.
