Hammer ACE team ready for hurricanes, more

Published Sept. 25, 2006
By Master Sgt. Mark Haviland
Air Combat Command Public Affairs

LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. (AFPN) -- Hurricanes, aircraft accidents, terrorist attacks and civil support -- for Air Combat Command's Hammer Adaptive Communications Element team, life is all about responding to contingencies.

"That's all we do," said Senior Master Sgt. Dale Gibbons, the team's superintendent.

The team at Langley has the capability to be on the move within three hours from the initial request for support, to deploy anywhere in the world. They can establish a variety of communications services within 30 minutes of their arrival at the affected site.

Last year, members of the team did just that, arriving at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., less than 24 hours before Hurricane Katrina ravaged the area. Minutes after the storm passed, the team had communications support operational.

"It was an unbelievable experience," said Staff Sgt. Penny Faulkner, a Hammer ACE technician who rode out the storm at Keesler. "All communications were lost but as soon as we were allowed to open the door to the outside we had satellite phones up and running. We adapt to the situation and go from there."

In the post-Katrina world, not much has changed for members of Hammer ACE, according to Sergeant Gibbons, however, they have been showcasing their skills for other Defense Department and federal agencies.

"We've gone through a year of exercises aimed at improving everyone's interoperability," Sergeant Gibbons said.

Team members tested equipment capabilities and honed skills during events such as Ardent Sentry '06, a bi-national, multi-agency exercise involving military and civilian agencies in Canada and the United States. It tested both countries' abilities to respond to a variety of challenges, including a simulated chemical and radiological terrorist attack on Detroit.

"We are better known (among those agencies), and I think they now know our full capabilities and that we are a great asset for a (civil support) type of event," said Tech. Sgt. Ronald Blackburn, Hammer ACE team chief.

Topping the list of team's coveted qualifications is the capability to establish communications across a variety of networks. For example, at the scene of a natural disaster, Hammer ACE can link cell phones, land mobile radios, traditional phone lines and satellite radios into a single, integrated system.

The capabilities don't stop there. Whether deployed to a hurricane-ravaged Air Force base or a mountaintop in the Rockies, the team also has the ability to establish facsimile, e-mail and video teleconference services -- and, if necessary, can power those systems with portable generators, batteries and solar panels.

Those services are often critical to -- but in short supply for -- first responders, incident commanders and public safety officials, Sergeant Gibbons said.

"Our mission is to stay on the leading edge of communications and to continue to lean forward," Sergeant Gibbons said. "I expect my Hammer ACE technicians to establish a wide range of communications better and faster than any other agency worldwide."

Not surprisingly, the Hammer ACE motto is "Anywhere, Anytime."

(Courtesy Air Combat Command News Service)

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