Northern Edge '99

By Maj Herb Porter - Photos courtesy 256th CBCS

BGen McDevitt (r), Chief of Staff of the Washington Air Guard, and Lt Col Niel Currie (m), 252 Group Commander, discuss the role of the 256 CBCS in Northern Edge 99

Members of the 252nd Combat Communications Group (CCGP), Washington Air National Guard, recently returned from Alaska after participating in Northern Edge '99, an Alaska Command (ALCOM) Joint Task Force Exercise, involving U.S. armed forces, both active and reserve.  Over one hundred and twenty people, together with satellite communications, telephone, and networking operations equipment, deployed in two rotations during the month long peacekeeping training exercise.

The Washington State Air National Guardsmen helped coordinate all major communications systems for the ALCOM Joint Task Force Exercise, with the 256th Combat Communications Squadron (CBCS) from Cheney, WA, being the lead unit.  Members were assigned to either Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage or Eielson AFB in Fairbanks.  This was the third consecutive year that the 256th had participated in Northern Edge '99, but this was the first time that the squadron was invited to deploy as an entire unit outside of the continental United 

The OE-361 20 foot satellite antenna on a clear and cold Alaskan morning

States.  Specifically, its mission was to provide communications support to Headquarters Alaska Command and the Joint Task Force (JTF) Alaska, ensuring that the joint task force commander and each component commander at the various deployment locations throughout Alaska could communicate with each other.

"It not every day that an Air National Guard unit deploys and sets up the entire communications architecture for a joint task force," said Maj Rick Nemes, Commander of the 256th CBCS.  To make this happen, the squadron set up a satellite relay facility and command post, providing both secure and non-secure tactical data and telephone networks to the service components.

Capt Welsh explains the theater communications architecture and role of the 256 CBCS in exercise Northern Edge 99

In addition the 256th CBCS set up a tactical satellite network, facilitating rapid data and voice communications directly from the joint task force commander and the crisis response situation room.   "We made sure that the Army could talk to the Navy and the Navy could talk to the Air Force and that everyone could talk to each other," said Capt Gent Welsh, the unit’s Detachment Commander.  "We were like your local telephone company.   In theory, everything that could be done at home, we were able to do there," said Welsh.

The annual Northern Edge Exercise brings together  military units from the continental United States and throughout the Pacific Region in a joint exercise in central and Southern Alaska.

More than 10,000 airmen, soldiers, sailors, marines, and coast guard personnel, together with Reserve and National Guard forces, participated in the exercise.  In addition, Australian, Canadian, Japanese, and Russian military representatives were invited to observe the joint task exercise.  Major air and ground maneuvers were held at Eielson AFB and in training areas southeast of Fairbanks, with missions launching from Elmendorf AFB.

TSgt Debbie Nadeau reviews a cable and telephone installation plan

Seward, AL was the site of the naval harbor defense portion was held in Seward, testing the U.S. Navy’s ability to secure and defend a port, with the U.S. Marines’ one-of-a-kind Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team assisting with the harbor defense.  The flying portion consisted of precision air strikes and close air support of U.S. ground troops, with more than 1,200 sorties flown.  Ground maneuvers featured a full range of service capabilities highlighted by a night airborne jump of over 600 soldiers.

The primary mission of Northern Edge '99 was to practice joint operational techniques and procedures, enhancing interoperability among the services.  Focusing on peace enforcement, the exercise entailed aggressor forces and a joint task force responding to a simulated border dispute and invasion between two fictional countries.  Activities included participating in a United Nations designated combat exclusion safe zone and supporting a humanitarian relief operation.

In addition to the 256th CBCS lead unit, the 252nd Combat Communications Group (CCG) also sent personnel from different Washington Air Guard units to help support the operation.  This included members from the 262nd CBCS in Bellingham, the 143rd CBCS in Seattle, and the 111th Air Support Operations Center (ASOC) in Camp Murray, Tacoma, who helped robust the local and wide area satellite communications network.

In addition, members from the 111th ASOC and the 242nd CBCS in Spokane, WA participated in Exercise Cope Thunder, a U.S. Army operation which was held in conjunction with Northern Edge '99.

Personnel from the 252nd CCG received support from the Washington Air Guard’s 141st Air Refueling Wing (ARW) from Fairchild, AFB in Spokane.  It provided transport for a second rotation of personnel, flying their combat communications counterparts to Elmendorf AFB, while bringing home the first rotation group on the return trip.  Both the nationally syndicated program "Good Morning America" and the Alaska media covered Exercise Northern Edge '99. Locally, the Spokane news media covered the Washington Air National Guard’s participation as both "The Spokesman-Review" Newspaper and KREM Channel 2 TV provided outstanding news coverage of the event.