Signal students head underground for experience at Fort Gordon

FORT GORDON, Georgia (August 15, 2014) - Soldiers of the 369th Signal Battalion spent some time underground Aug. 8 at the Ponderosa training site on Fort Gordon.

The future cable systems installer-maintainers trained for a day in a classroom setting learning the fundamentals of working underground in a manhole through PowerPoint. The second day, Aug. 8, allowed some hands on training, a rescue exercise, and a final exam, which is also a part of the Army's Learning Model.

"The Manhole Training Facility, located at the Ponderosa area on Fort Gordon, not too far from the Pole Orchard training site, offers relevant and engaging learning experiences for Soldiers," said Dale Brooks, branch chief for the cable systems installer maintainer course. "Soldiers get to experience some of the hazards and communication problems associated with performing their job during manhole training. In the afternoon they are tested on what they learned during the two days of training and what they practiced that morning."

In this phase of their training, students learn manhole entry procedures, to include testing air quality before entry, ventilation procedures, ladder training, deploying warning signs and guardrails, installing lighting, entering the manhole, rescue and cable installation procedures.

The above ground support team, known as the reel team, will deploy fiber optic and copper cable to manhole teams to install in conduit system.

"The manholes are 6-feet high by 10-feet wide by 10-feet long," Brooks explained. "They are oversized by normal standards, but it works well for training."

"Normally these manholes would not be so close together," he said. "In the real world manholes are not used only for fiber optic cables. In a lot of cities there would also be electric power, water and natural gas in the manholes."

During the morning exercise, the Soldiers formed up in teams of four wearing designated colored hard hats, safety glasses and harnesses. Red warning flags and "Utility Work Ahead" signs stand near each manhole. Instructors and student safeties wear yellow colored hard hats; Soldiers wearing red colored hard hats go down into the manholes along with an instructor and run the cable. The instructor is there to observe, answer questions, and to ensure overall safety in the manholes.

A floor supervisor walks around above ground and monitors every team in the manholes to ensure the team members are working together to accomplish the training and tasks set before them in the allotted time allowed.

Prior to entering the manhole the oxygen level is tested. "We use a Honeywell Gas Alert II gas detector and the oxygen is tested at three levels," said Sgt. 1st Class Garry Biggs, the noncommissioned officers in charge at Ponderosa. "Then we ventilate the (man) hole for 25 minutes and check the oxygen levels again. We use forced ventilation, which pushes fresh air in the manhole and forces the bad or stagnant air out. We do this as long as the manholes are being used."

"We have a cable system that's already pre-installed in the manhole," Brooks explained. "There's a splice in a cable that is protected in a case so the students can see what a correct splice should look like. It's a teaching aide."

A Soldier, acting as an attendee, wears a blue colored hard hat, remains above ground stationed at each manhole entrance to ensure everything in the manhole runs smoothly during the exercise for the team. One of the attendee is a member of the reel team, which feeds the cable down a manhole. The students in the next manhole will grab it and push it onto the next manhole.

"It looks like a zig zag pattern as the cable is run from one manhole to another," Brooks explained. In each manhole the team of Soldiers will make three safety loops before climbing out of the manhole. (A safety loop is a big circle with three loops).

"They make safety loops in case they have to work on the cable at a later date in a real world situation," Brooks explained. "In the future they might have to cut out a piece of the cable. During this training the cable doesn't have to stay in the manhole, but in real world operations the cable would remain."

While in the manhole teams practiced rescue procedures before the students form up into a large group above ground with their instructors to discuss the positives and negatives of the morning training and exercise. Staff Sgt. Lutrell Chavis, a cable systems installer maintainer instructor, reminds the students that you can't force a mishap to the next manhole. "Communication is very important when you are working underground," Chavis explained. "That's why we assign you to different positions."

"In your actual job you might serve in a different role each day and assuming different responsibilities," he added. "That's why everyone gets the same training and everyone can perform all the jobs."

National Guard members, Pfc. Breyanna Allen from Spartanburg, South Carolina, and Pfc. Jonathan Serrano, from Philadelphia, who are completing the course, commented on how much they enjoyed the hands on training. "You don't have to view PowerPoint training all day in the classroom," Allen said. "And I like the fact, the instructors give you opportunity to retest. They spend time with you so you know what you are doing. It makes me love this job."

"I enjoyed the fiber cords hands on training," Serrano said. "Learning to use the fusion splicer was fun and easy."

As new technology develops, the Signal Corps training and job requirements will change. "Already the cable systems installer maintainer military occupational specialist course is evolving with current telecommunications technologies and trends in order to provide the best training possible to the cyber warfighter," stated Robert Payne, instructional systems specialist for the academic training office for the 15th Regimental Signal Brigade.

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U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence

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