MILLINGTON, Tenn. - A new mobile communications system debuted during an emergency exercise here that will allow individuals and agencies to keep talking even during the direst circumstances.
The 230th Signal Company, a Nashville-based Tennessee Army National Guard unit, set up the Joint Incident Site Communication Capability (JISCC) system to support operations connected with Operation Vigilant Guard 08.
"We are on our first trial and everything has gone well so far," said Sgt. Anthony Henry, a computer systems analyst from Milton. "We haven't had any problems with it so far."
Vigilant Guard 08 is an exercise testing the state and local agency's response to a simulated earthquake along the famed New Madrid fault line. The 230th fielded the $600,000 system just two weeks after adding it to the unit inventory.
The system has an array of computer and communications equipment and comes with its own tent. However, the system can also be set up inside a standing structure and be up and running in an hour's time.
"It takes less time if we get a hard building," Henry said.
The system can be deployed by truck or by using a C-130 aircraft said Henry, who has been in the National Guard for seven years and currently works at Nissan in Smyrna. It was set up this particular day in support of the exercise's Joint Information Center at the Mid-South Naval Support Center.
The focal point of the system is a 33-foot antenna. It gives the system capabilities to communicate over high frequency, ultra high frequency, very high frequency and 800 megahertz channels.
"We can enable fire and police departments to talk to each other even if they have different systems," Henry said. "We can bring together radio systems, cell phones and landlines."
This capability is vital in the aftermath of a disaster. Often communications systems are totally knocked out in the aftermath of a fire or an earthquake.
That's where the JISCC team comes into play. Headed by 2nd Lt. Douglas Long, the 10-member team is available on a two-hour notice and is designed to respond on the scene within six hours of a serious incident.
Besides the 10 team members, there are also six alternate members, Long said. These members would be called in case primary team members are unavailable when an emergency arises.
The team members and their alternates were both involved in 24-hour operations supporting the exercise that simulates a 7.6-scale earthquake that levels Memphis and the surrounding areas.
Another of the team members is 31-year Guard veteran Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Cogdill. A Hohenwald resident, Cogdill is also a longtime employee of Tennessee Gas.
Holding up an FM radio, Cogdill said the JISCC system gave him the capability to call any cellular telephone or home telephone number. It can bring divergent communication systems so they can cross talk.
"If we do have an event like this ever happen, we can make sure everybody keeps talking," Cogdill said.