18th Communications Squadron essential for Pacific network

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Maeson L. Elleman
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  Each organization on Kadena Air Base comes together to form a body with global reach.

While leaders form the "brain" of the 18th Wing, directing Airmen and units to meet the needs of the Air Force, Airmen from the 18th Communications Squadron form the "nervous system," with an intricately-networked system of computers and phones across the base to facilitate every command.

"There's not a mission on base not affected by these guys," said Master Sgt. Stephen Griffieth, 18th CS maintenance superintendent.

The 18th CS network section contains a tiered system of proficient technicians that keep computers, office and mobile phones around the base, a total of approximately 10,000 machines for 12,000 users, running from the first time they're plugged in to maintaining them down the road.

The system begins at the base help desk known as the Comm Focal Point where users can call with any computer problems. If the technicians can't walk the user through a troubleshooting process, the problem is disseminated through the chain to the different specialized back shops ranging from system configuration to software patches.

"Without these guys, you wouldn't have an e-mail account, you wouldn't have a user account, your computer wouldn't be on the domain," said Griffieth.

In a series of centuries-long leaps and bounds, communication has evolved from simple grunts to complex languages, codes, symbols and now, digital signals which are used more and more to counter insurgents in the War on Terror.

Because Okinawa boasts the largest fighter wing in the Pacific as well as a multitude of U.S. Marine Corps, Navy and Army forces, the 18th CS Airmen carry a slightly heavier burden by carrying data to several of the other bases and protecting it from unfriendly sources through network security.

It's this protection that the network-based Airmen work diligently to ensure -- the best way being with frequent software patches pushed out to all the computers operating on the network.

Despite being the "best" option, Staff Sgt. Keith Gayden, 18th CS network applications technician, said this process can still be one of the most complicated and troublesome tasks.

"It's very difficult, tedious and time consuming," said Gayden. "Locating [thousands of] machines, trying to patch them, run them down and track them [isn't easy], but it's well worth it."

So whether it's fixing an e-mail account or installing hundreds of computer systems, printers and phones, the 18th CS quickly becomes the "nerve center" to support Kadena's Pacific presence.