new to the board. I have been a part of the ANG for 3yrs in a Red Horse Squadron in the utilities field. I'm looking to join a Combat Comm sq. as 3C0X1. My civilian career is in IT sys admin(unix)and network admin and I have many years of experience. I joined the RHS because it was close to where I live, but now I'm just tired of utilities. Just came off a deployment ,and while there I had to fill in for our only comm guy because of his family emergency.
But, is there anyone here who is in a combat comm sq who can fill me in on what I will be getting into? Is it like Red Horse (combat engineer, self sufficient in deployed environments,etc)?
Irbomani, I have been in Combat Comm in the Alabama ANG for 23 years. Combat Comm is pretty much self-sufficient. Once things are setup and running you are pretty much just waiting on something to break. It is really busy while you are getting services setup. You will be setting up servers, firewalls, email accounts, etc...
thanks marks971. I don't know how familiar you are with Red Horse, but we have a reputation of deploying alot and being in "dangerous" situations (bare base buildup). Opposite of us are Prime Beef which maintain the bases we build. Is combat comm more like Red Horse or prime Beef?
From a comm perspective, yes. It's common for one of the combat comm squadrons to setup the communications infrastructure of the said bare bases above. Not all deployments are like that though just like RH and PB. You could end up just going on an AEF rotation to Qatar or some other established base.
As a 3C0 you'll be dealing with NCC heavy and possibly lite. With your experience you'll do great.
Combat Comm = not doing your job unless you are deployed. So expect to deploy a lot. Not like SPECOPS or anything, but if you aren't deployed, you are training and preparing to deploy.
I love it.
I was Combat Comm at Tinker (3d CCG) for 6 1/2 years and you don't really appreciate it until you've been out for a while. I went to teach and am currently at an Air Control Sq unit...and I miss Combat Comm. Good for me - I'm going to a Combat Comm unit in Guam right after Thanksgiving.
Basically, you go into a bare base and set up initial Comm for the airfield and all supporting agencies on the base. We wire the base up w/ voice and data comm. You train for a tactical unsecured environment - meaning supporting own security, digging/manning DFPs, Base Recovery After Attack procedures, grid sweeps, and the whole bit. On Tinker, we use to call ourselves the AF's ARMY (before 9/11). We were the ones on base that were running around the woods shooting each other (along w/ the base SF personnel) and driving Big Green Trucks through the mud practicing convoy ambush procedures (prior to 9/11).
If you like that kind of thing - then you'll like it - I loved it.
Now, when we deployed for Southern Watch, it was always to PSAB or Al Jaber and the bases were set up and we were there maintaining the comm. Combat Comm is suppose to be temporary comm until permanent fixtures could come in...that was all out the window during Southern Watch - our vans were there for over a decade. When the war kicked off, we had people in Afghanistan securing airfields (one in particular jumped out the back of the plane locked and loaded while the plane was still rolling on the runway...did a grid sweep and started setting up the site.)
Good stuff - better than fixed comm where you just sit in a room, mop the floor, and do a PMI every day and that's it. I'd rather pack up and go somewhere.
You will be training on the last commercial Cisco Switches, Servers and Routers. Learning about networking and building and managing firewalls and establishing accounts.
We don't have anything like that. You learn on whatever radios are at your base. The equipment you work on is VERY diverse due to our merging of AFSCs and you could work in a tactical unit like Combat Comm/ACS, or a fixed terminal, or telemtry...but in career progression, it's all the same...just an assignment.
[QUOTE]Originally posted by DHarris75: Combat Comm = not doing your job unless you are deployed. So expect to deploy a lot. Not like SPECOPS or anything, but if you aren't deployed, you are training and preparing to deploy. [QUOTE]
