An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Home : News : Article View
NEWS | April 22, 2008

JISCC Team

By Sgt. Lee Elder 118th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

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.

 

 

Related Articles
U.S. Soldiers with the Army National Guard speak with D.C. locals while patrolling Metro Center Aug 26, 2025. About 2,000 National Guard members are supporting the D.C. Safe and Beautiful mission providing critical support to the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department in ensuring the safety of all who live, work, and visit the District.
Guard Members From Six States, D.C. on Duty in Washington in Support of Local, Fed Authorities
By Sgt. 1st Class Jon Soucy, | Aug. 29, 2025
WASHINGTON – More than 2,000 National Guard Soldiers and Airmen from six states and the District of Columbia are on duty in Washington as part of Joint Task Force – District of Columbia in support of local and federal...

Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, Maj. Gen. Russel Honore, Task Force Katrina commander, and Brig. Gen. John Basilica, 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team commander, talk to news media during the aftermath of Hurricane Rita on Sep. 29, 2005. Basilica was appointed commander of Task Force Pelican, responsible for coordinating National Guard hurricane response efforts across the State. The task force included tens of thousands of National Guard Soldiers from Louisiana and other states.
Louisiana Guard’s Tiger Brigade Marks 20th Anniversary of Redeployment and Hurricane Response
By Rhett Breerwood, | Aug. 29, 2025
NEW ORLEANS – This fall, the Louisiana National Guard’s 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, known as the Tiger Brigade, commemorates the 20th anniversary of its redeployment from Iraq in September 2005, coinciding with the...

Alaska Air National Guard HH-60G Pave Hawk aviators and Guardian Angels, assigned to the 210th and 212th Rescue Squadrons, respectively, conduct a hoist rescue demonstration while participating in a multi-agency hoist symposium at Bryant Army Airfield on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, July 22, 2025. The symposium, hosted by Alaska Army National Guard aviators assigned to Golf Company, 2-211th General Support Aviation Battalion, included U.S. Coast Guard crews assigned to Sector Western Alaska and U.S. Arctic out of Air Stations Kodiak and Sitka, Alaska Air National Guardsmen with the 176th Wing rescue squadrons, U.S. Army aviators from Fort Wainwright’s 1-52nd General Support Aviation Battalion, Alaska State Troopers, and civilian search and rescue professional volunteers from the Alaska Mountain Rescue Group. The collaborative training drew on the participants’ varied backgrounds, experiences, and practices, to enhance hoist proficiency and collective readiness when conducting life-saving search and rescue missions in Alaska’s vast and austere terrain. (Alaska Army National Guard photo by Alejandro Peña)
Alaska Air Guard Conducts Multiple Hoist Rescues of Stranded Rafters on Kichatna River
By Staff Sgt. Seth LaCount, | Aug. 29, 2025
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska — Alaska Air National Guard members with the 176th Wing rescued three rafters Aug. 28 after their raft flipped over on the Kichatna River.The Alaska Rescue Coordination Center opened...