MIHAIL KOGALNICEANU AIR BASE, Romania -- The staff officer arrives at the new facility, fresh from the airfield, draped with bags and still donning travel gear, but already searching frantically for Enterprise E-mail, Internet and Defense Switched Network capability.
Staring skeptically at the computer atop the makeshift work station, he retrieves his Common Access Card from his wallet just to make sure. To his surprise, a blinking light suggests activity as he inserts the CAC into the reader. His surprise elevates to amazement as the screen welcomes him by name and loads his settings onto the system. A smile spreads across his face for the first time all day when his inbox appears, complete with saved messages, calendars and personal folders.
The unsung heroes charged with creating an information infrastructure at MK Air Base capable of connecting users across units, echelons, services, nations and, indeed, the world typically work away from the limelight in obscure rooms and corners and speak a virtually unintelligible dialect of acronyms, network names and mechanical nomenclature. Yet the viability of the passenger transit mission at MK and perhaps even the contemporary concept of military operations hinges on the efforts of quiet professionals who establish electronic infrastructure and the "geek squads" that react to steady state connectivity crises.
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Michael J. Harvey, a leading 21st Theater Sustainment Command information technology luminary, headed the effort to establish electronic communication infrastructure at the new passenger transit center at MK Air Base, leading a "team of cyber teams" through an intense but highly successful three-week connectivity campaign in January. Harvey blended assets from United States Army Europe Headquarters, the 44th Expeditionary Signal Battalion, 7th Tactical Theater Signal Brigade, Sustainment Task Force 16 -- composed of elements from the 21st TSC's 16th Sustainment Brigade and attachments -- and the Black Sea Area Support Team into a crack geek squad capable of surmounting the most daunting of communication obstacles.
"We provide both secure and non-secure communication solutions, allowing our users the ability to access all required resources," the Lansing, Mich., native said. But frenetic activity and close-run triumphs underlay the bureaucratic description of the technicians' efforts. The IT personnel performed the full spectrum of signal tasks, physically installing lines as needed, connecting systems to each other and the outside world, and successfully navigating a bewildering array of systems and networks to establish functional automation for leaders, planners and individual members of all services as well as civilians.
A team of "installers" from USAREUR's 5th Signal Command headed the effort to emplace new wiring in new buildings and replace decayed lines in others -- no easy feat since freshly arriving personnel established work areas in a number of buildings without previous connectivity even as engineers created entirely original structures requiring their labors and older buildings demanded new wiring.
No less challenging tasks followed the establishment of physical power and connectivity. "Our people provided the hardware and the software," Harvey said. "They were building infrastructure, base-lining machines, providing 'comms' to brand new buildings and beefing up existing infrastructure to accommodate new missions -- all with the added complexity of operating in a joint environment."
The geek squad worked with U.S. Marines, Romanian partners, German and American contractors, and fellow Soldiers of multiple units, every possible echelon and all components, as well as Air Force officers. They interfaced not only with partners on the ground in Romania, but parent organizations, higher headquarters, coordinating agencies, and technical advisors across nations, continents and even oceans.
The sheer scale of the effort posed challenges. "When we got here the first thing we did was 'image' 150 computers in around 72 hours -- which is unheard of -- and install everything they needed," said Sgt. Gabriel Resto, a system administrator with the 44th ESB. "We basically set up everything that's here," the Fairfax, Va., native added. "We've touched just about every computer and phone in use."
The wide variety of systems, programs, networks and signal devices also posed challenges.
"We had a lot of network issues trying to get our communication systems up," said Sgt. James Curtis, a computer information technology specialist with STF 16 and a native of Pasadena, Md. "We had to work around the usual ways we'd accomplish things. We had to improvise quite a bit and stay flexible. Sometimes the building would have some infrastructure but we'd still need to install a specific program."
Inevitably, administrative and procedural issues also developed into significant challenges. IT specialists must overcome daunting levels of bureaucracy, electronic and physical paperwork, and privilege and permission issues as well as computer and software challenges in order to make mission. They also overcame procedural obstacles.
"We have a trouble ticket system based on order and priority, and that wasn't in place when we arrived," said Sgt. Jason Dutton, a computer information technology specialist with STF 16 and native of South Padre Island, Texas. "So we've tried to incorporate that and establish a good solid help desk operation. It reminded me of the move to Baumholder (the organization's home base in Germany) -- we had to start from scratch."
The pressure to establish functional work stations across a sprawling complex in a matter of mere weeks imposed tough demands on the technicians. Harvey and other leaders routinely devoted upwards of 12 hours per day to the effort. Harvey himself adheres to a unique regimen that dates to his days as an instructor at the Signal schoolhouse at Fort Gordon, Ga., rising at or before 4 a.m. for a few hours of preliminary checks and reviews of situational reports before morning meetings and the beginning of a fresh round of IT tasks.
The grueling pace reflects partly the natural peaks of IT activity toward the start and close of a mission and partly the extraordinary demands of the very unique MK mission.
"It's early mornings and late nights," Harvey said. "That's the life of an IT guy. If everyone's happy and we're not getting calls we're successful. The rhythm is very heavy at the beginning of a mission and the end when we're doing setup and tear-down. In between, when you reach a steady state and have a more even keel, it's not so bad."
The MK mission taxed the ingenuity even of veterans of multiple deployments and a wide array of theaters such as Harvey. "This was tough," he said frankly. "This is probably the toughest mission I've had yet" -- a significant statement from a man who accomplished significant signal missions in the Middle East, Asia Minor and Afghanistan as well as Europe and the United States.
The weather also turned abruptly from ally to adversary in late January, assaulting technicians with frigid gusts of wind and sophisticated equipment with damaging cold, moisture and power fluctuations. Body and mind-numbing cold and power losses interrupted work flows, retarded progress, damaged sensitive systems and lines, and sapped even the most resolute spirits. "The power outages didn't help," Dutton said. "You can only work for so long on battery power," he noted, adding that cold temperatures, ice and moisture can also damage equipment and machinery.
The geek squad emerged from the mission more resilient, more confident and even more competent, if a bit fatigued, tired and cold.
"It was an enormous challenge because some of the units had established requirements and others did not, so we had to adjust constantly and do a lot of things on the fly," said Sgt. Anthony De Quinzio, a systems administrator with the 44th ESB and native of Palmyra, Pa. "So it's been challenging, but this is the best possible on-the-job experience. The experience has been second to none. It doesn't get any better than this."
Senior leaders likewise recognized the value and quality of the team's IT effort.
"The signal guys performed amazing work," said Col. Michael C. Snyder, deputy commanding officer of the 21st TSC and officer-in-charge of the Regional Support Element. "They built a team of teams to lay the communication groundwork for this facility, and on balance, they harmonized their efforts extraordinarily well. They executed the signal mission extraordinarily well.
"These operations require elaborate communication infrastructure," added the Dallas, Ore., native. "They created that infrastructure, and they worked continuously to identify and solve problems before they became acute. Their work made this mission possible."
"Without IT there's no mission," Harvey said bluntly. "There's nothing. The Army can't talk. The Air Force can't talk. No one can command, because he has no voice.
"That's the signal role," he continued. "What is command if not effective communication, and how do you command if your personnel are dispersed and you can't communicate with them?"
"If it wasn't important," he added with a smile, "they wouldn't be yelling for us all the time."
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