Renovations enhance warfighter training

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Christopher Diaz
  • 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AFNS) --  Members of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe Warrior Preparation Center here have performed renovations that are estimated to save the Air Force $250,000 and 12,000 man hours annually.

The WPC is a training compound for U.S. and coalition forces, providing live, virtual and constructive environments seen down range. With accurate representations of air, space and cyber forces, the WPC essentially provides a giant video game to leaders who will operate in similar conditions while deployed.

While the WPC consistently provides this vital training environment, reorganization in recent years has taken their staff of more than 100 people down to about 30.

The decrease in staff amplifies the challenges the WPC faces setting up approximately 75 training events every year.

One of those challenges involves setting up three different networks -- secure Internet, nonsecure Internet and a separate network for coalition forces -- for various WPC exercises.

The team was losing valuable time and effort with the processes in place, said Ron Caprio, the WPC director of support communications.

"The customer would come in, and the room would be set up for (secure Internet)," Mr. Caprio said. "Then, the customer for the next event would need (nonsecure Internet), and want the tables rearranged in a new configuration ... the next would need cabling to support coalition participation and then mixed for the next. My guys were constantly moving furniture, moving computers, pulling out cable and putting in new cable ... that's one thing I wanted to stop."

TAll of that reconfiguring meant long hours were needed to get the mission done.

"We were working 12 to 16 hour shifts, six days a week," said Tech. Sgt. William Branham, a network infrastructure technician. "For big events, it would take us two to three months just to set up. We were constantly rolling into the next event -- build it, fix it, tear it down, do it again. That's what it was like for two years."

After arriving to the WPC last summer, Mr. Caprio gathered the team to solve three problems affecting both the mission and morale. On top of having to re-arrange and reconfigure their set up for every event, the WPC was lacking a strong accountability system for equipment and a solid network to operate from.

"My plan was, No.1 -- we had to control our assets and establish an (automated data processing equipment) program," Mr. Caprio said. "Second, let's build static rooms ... at least a 90-percent solution for our customer. Finally, our cabling and network baseline project."

The WPC has established total accountability of equipment by means of a scanning system with radio frequency ID tagging. After proposing it to their customers, the team started the static room builds, avoiding the constant rearrangement of 800 computers and various cells across four buildings on the compound.

Lastly, they are working on replacing 40 miles of cabling throughout the entire compound, allowing all networks to be accessed with a simple jumper cable -- all while still supporting on-going training events.

"It's amazing what these guys have done," Mr. Caprio said. "They're a small shop with no infrastructure installation experience. They bought plywood, found reusable panduit, removed all the old wire and rebuilt it all from scratch. This whole time we've still been supporting our customers."

Looking back at the beginning of the infrastructure facelift, Master Sgt. Donald Anthony, the NCO in charge of communications support, said the team has come a long way.

"We were constantly battling our own network," he said. "We were completely reactionary and really lacked the ability to get ahead of the game. I can't begin to imagine how many man hours we've saved ourselves."

Contractor overtime has been reduced by 75 percent and outside event augmentation by 50 percent. As the team expects these numbers to grow, they've already seen the intangible effects of their work.

"When I first got here, the pride in the WPC was not as great as it is now," said Tech. Sgt. Jesse White, the NCO in charge of network infrastructure. "Now, with all of the blood, sweat and tears we've put into this, they have a lot of pride in what they're doing. It's a pretty neat environment when you have general officers come out for events and you know that the communications you set up is what they're working with."

Col. Franz Plescha, the WPC commander, said he finds it equally important to communicate his gratitude toward the team for their dedication to success.

"We have been fortunate, solely due to the extensive man hours and can-do attitude of the people who work here," Colonel Plescha said. "As a commander, I am simply lucky to be able to work with the (communications) team we currently have. They take an extreme amount of pride in their work and I am equally proud to work alongside them."

Although the team has made great strides already, they said they realize the job is not done and look forward to finishing the project they started in November 2010.

"Our progress has been phenomenal, but we still have a long way to go," the colonel said. "We work with a great attitude and look forward to happy customers. If it is for the warfighter, we will make it happen."