Search Results for: "Soldiers In Iraq"
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US soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq offered Internet service
Relevance Score: 3.812 2010-02-07 13:11:40
Soldiers serving in Afghanistan and Iraq are being offered an Internet service primarily aimed at companies in Asia. The new service offers high-speed Internet access with out the need for phone lines, cable or dial-up modem. TS2 Satellite Technologies company is using satellites to power their Internet service. For soldiers deployed to the war zones this service can allow for communications back home. Many of the soldiers arrive in Afghanistan and Iraq with their own lap top hoping to stay in contact with loved ones. The troops can connect with the service when they are in their barracks. Not everyone though in the service is just using the Internet to stay close with family some are using it to blog and stay in touch with their business associates in the US. Having that connect with family and those at home have upped the morale of the troops.
Set up and maintain a robust satellite hub at the Qatar base
Relevance Score: 2.697 2009-12-28 17:10:42
Sgt. Jeffrey Yauch, from Plover, Wis., adheres to the old Army conviction: leave it better than you found it. During a one-year deployment, the 1st Cavalry Division soldier wrote detailed technical standard operation procedures for tactical satellite hubs employing the military's latest communications technology. Yauch's painstaking labors led to an unprecedented 99-percent satellite reliability rate, according to signal reports at Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar. Tactical environment uptimes typically range between 90 and 95 percent, according to Chief Warrant Officer Scott Gray, 1st Cavalry Division Special Troops Battalion network technician chief. "Our team set a new standard for maintaining a tactical satellite hub," said Gray, who then commended the entire unit for supporting communication requirements for over 230,000 combat patrols in Iraq this year. The 1st Cavalry Division, a rapidly deployable armored division based at Fort Hood, Texas, assumed duties as the Multi-National Division - Baghdad headquarters in January. While the main body moved into Iraq, Yauch and 18 other Soldiers formed a tactical satellite hub at Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar, located on the eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. The team of Soldiers inherited a critical mission: set up and maintain a robust satellite hub at the Qatar base. Warfighters throughout Iraq would depend on their signal integrity for a variety of audiovisual services, such as telecommunications, video teleconferences and network access. Unfortunately, specific instructions about fielding the Army's most recent equipment didn't exist. Yauch resolved to fix that discrepancy, as the Soldiers went to work. The tactical satellite document has been disseminated throughout Iraq and Afghanistan.
SatComms for Soldiers
Relevance Score: 2.586 2009-07-26 20:37:18
Have been out with British forces in the area of Sangin in northern Helmand Province. This area appears to be turning into the main effort of the current fight in Afghanistan, but this is unclear to me at the moment. I do know that air assets are heavy. During our mission yesterday, a B-1 could be seen overhead, though it was miles high. On the ground, this place is loaded with IEDs and there were many firefights during yesterday’s mission. My section of eight soldiers did not fire a single round; we did not come into direct contact, though bullets sometimes zipped overhead. Nearly all missions are conducted on foot and the soldiers like it that way. I am with the British battalion called 2 Rifles. The last mission I did with 2 Rifles was in Iraq, and they killed maybe 26-27 JAM members during that fight. Yesterday they only killed two Taliban (Predator actually made the shot), but the mission was well run, and morale here is very high. Everybody is ready to roll again and missions are near continuous. I’ll ask British commanders to let me stay, though that might not be necessary because there are so few helicopters. More likely I am stuck here. FOB Jackson is probably going to be my Hotel California, but that’s all good because these are great soldiers, in the thick of it, and I want to stay. More broadly speaking, our forces are spread to the high winds across desolate stretches of Afghanistan, sometimes in tiny “bases” with as few as a half-dozen soldiers. Last December, I spent some time with a group of such soldiers in Zabul Province, but hardly wrote a word about them, yet. They were deep in wild country and it took two days for us to drive out to a paved road. Those soldiers had no access to Internet, and said that on one occasion they didn’t even get mail for three months. Until December, I used a satellite antenna called a “Regional BGAN” (R-BGAN) HNS-9101 to transmit dispatches from remote areas. These small, portable systems are expensive; during a fifteen-day period last year, I spent almost exactly $5,000. (Prices based on bandwidth usage.) During late 2008, when I saw the group of a half-dozen American soldiers, out there in the boondocks, two days from a road and once going three months without mail, I told Mrs. Frankie Mayo, who runs Operation AC. Frankie and Operation AC had sent loads of gear to Iraq, including air conditioners and generators. When I told Frankie about the isolated soldiers, she got to work with Hughes to send R-BGANs to Afghanistan. Lucky for me, with the old R-BGAN no longer usable, Hughes, through Frankie, shipped a newer model, the Hughes 9201 BGAN Inmarsat Terminal. Many of this year’s dispatches will come through the 9201. Without such a terminal, large numbers of Soldiers, Marines, Airmen and Sailors will be without regular communications for much or most of their time in Afghanistan. The infrastructure is Spartan to non-existent. Life here is tougher than it was in Iraq, and the fighting will be tougher still. Yes, there are the gigantic bases-as in Iraq-where everything is available, but little of the war is being fought from the larger bases. Extended battlefield journalism from Afghanistan is relatively non-existent. Broadly speaking, folks at home will not know how their loved ones are doing unless they can communicate directly. To learn more about the effort to send satellite communications gear to troops downrange, please see Operation AC.
Satellite Broadband Internet in Iraq and Afghanistan for U.S. Troops
Relevance Score: 2.559 2009-06-28 22:04:20
WARSAW, Poland, Jan. 22 /Reuters/ -- TS2 Satellite Technologies' network in Iraq and Afghanistan has over 15,000 military users of local broadband satellite connections. "We were among the first telecommunications operators in the satellite technology in the territory of Iraq and Afghanistan, and as such we have enjoyed a successful cooperation with the U.S. Army for several years now," says Marcin Frackiewicz, CEO of the TS2 Satellite Technologies. TS2 Satellite Technologies offers two-way high-speed Internet access with no phone lines, no cable and no dial-up modem. It's always on, available virtually anywhere, and affordable. The laptop or Wi-Fi network can receive Internet signal through a special satellite VSAT modem, which was usually set up in a building or tent when deployed. The one VSAT access point provides the following services for soldiers: -- Broadband access to the Internet (WWW, E-mail, FTP etc.) -- Data transfer to many other users simultaneously -- Telephone connections including VoIP, IP phone -- Video-conference connections Advantages of the system: -- Short set-up time -- Fast and easy upgrades -- Possibility of guaranteed CIR -- Transmission in almost all weather conditions The communication among the bases is possible thanks to the simultaneous lease of bands on the Intelsat 10-02, Intelsat 901 and Eutelsat W6 satellites whose coverage enables configuration of connections between any place in Europe, Middle East and Southwest Asia. TS2's satellite military networks are located in Al Taqaddum Air Base, Bahgram AF, Balad Base, Baquba Airfield, Brassfield-Mora, Cob Adder, Cob Speicher, Camp Al Asad Airbase, Camp Bucca Basra City, Camp Buehring, Camp Charlie Basra, Camp Eggers, Camp Fallujah, Camp Grizzly, Camp Korean Village, Camp Liberty, Camp Mejid, Camp Ramadi, Camp Slayer, Camp Stryker, Camp Taji, Camp Victory, Fob Bagram, Fob Brassfield Mora, Fob Delta Al Kut, Fob Diamondback, Fob Falcon, Fob Garryowen, Fob Gardez, Fob Ghazni, Fob Kalagush, Fob Kandahar, Fob Lagman, Fob Mchenry, Fob Marez, Fob Normandy, Fob Rustamiyah, Fob Summerall, Fob Sykes, Fob Salerno, Fob Torkham, Fob Warhorse, Fob Warrior, Herat RTC, Jallahabad Air Base, Kabul Airport, Kabul Camp Eggers, Kandahar Air Base, Lsa Anaconda Balad, Q-West Base Complex and Tallil Ab Lsa Adder. Especially for U.S. Military Personnel, Contracting Officers and DoD Contractors, TS2 delivers satellite equipment to most of all military addresses in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East, within maximum of 7 days. Supported military locations in Iraq - http://www.ts2.pl/en/Internet-in-Iraq-for-US-Army-Soldiers Supported military locations in Afghanistan - http://www.ts2.pl/en/Internet-in-Afghanistan-for-US-Army-Soldiers Contact: Piotr Kubiak and Michal Skrok TS2 Satellite Technologies phone +48 22 630 70 70 fax +48 22 630 70 71 http://www.ts2.pl
Documentary highlights success of Land Warrior system
Relevance Score: 2.545 2009-06-09 22:17:32
"Keep Up the Fire," a new documentary produced by the Army's Program Executive Office Soldier, tells the story of the first infantry unit deployed to Iraq with the Land Warrior system. In 2007, the 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, deployed to Iraq to help bring peace to a region paralyzed by war. With them, the battalion brought a vital system called Land Warrior, the most advanced piece of infantry technology ever fielded. The Soldiers entered a brutal combat environment, where insurgent attacks numbered in the hundreds each week and American forces faced the mistrust of the people they had been sent to protect. Despite the difficulties they faced, the battalion was remarkably successful during its deployment. Land Warrior, an advanced navigational and network communication system worn by Soldiers was a key to that success. Land Warrior consists of a wiring system, joystick-like control unit, a computing unit, and flip-down monocular eyepiece. In its role as a navigation device, Land Warrior shows a Soldier's location on a tactical map. Similarly-equipped Soldier and vehicle positions are constantly updated within the system, greatly increasing the situational awareness of the dismounted Soldier. “Land Warrior gave me confidence as I planned to coordinate for a blind hit at night for the first time in this area,” said Capt. Brandon Kint, who used Land Warrior with the 4th Bn. As a networking device, Land Warrior enables communication among Soldiers, vehicles, and commanders through one system. Additionally, Land Warrior creates organic networks between equipped units as they move into and out of contact with one another. Digital information can be exchanged between these equipped units and throughout the networks. For instance, Soldiers can place markers on the digital maps called "digital chemlights," which will appear on the map of every other Land Warrior-equipped Soldier within seconds. Originally developed in the early 1990s, Land Warrior was canceled just before the unit was set to deploy. By special request, the system was supported for the duration of the deployment to Iraq. Before and during their deployment, the battalion worked closely with the developers of Land Warrior to make changes to the system, increasing its effectiveness and usability. The success and innovative work with Soldiers led to renewed interest in the program, so much so that a Stryker Brigade Combat Team will take an improved system to Afghanistan this year. “It’s one piece of equipment that we won’t leave the (field operating base) without anymore,” said Master Sgt. (P) Marc Griffith, who deployed with Land Warrior and the 4th Bn. to Iraq.
283 Bases, 170,000 Pieces of Equipment, 140,000 Troops and an Army of Military Contractors
Relevance Score: 2.538 2009-03-31 11:41:15
With last week's announced escalation of the war in Afghanistan, including an Iraq-like "surge" replete with 4,000 more U.S. troops and a sizable increase in private contractors, President Barack Obama blew the lid off of any lingering perceptions that he somehow represents a significant change in how the U.S. conducts its foreign policy. In the meantime, more reports have emerged that bolster suspicions that Obama's Iraq policy is but a downsized version of Bush's and that a total withdrawal of U.S. forces is not on the horizon. In a dramatic understatement, the GAO notes that the U.S. "has an extensive basing footprint in Iraq. … Closing or handing over U.S. installations in Iraq will be time consuming and costly." With no fewer than 283 such installations throughout Iraq -- 51 large bases and 232 smaller bases -- the Obama administration has not said how it will approach this formidable task. This is no minor detail. "According to U.S. Army officials, experience has shown that it takes one to two months to close the smallest platoon -- or company -- size installations, which contain between 16 and 200 combat soldiers or Marines." However, the U.S. "has never closed large, complex installations -- such as Balad Air Force Base, which contains about 24,000 inhabitants and has matured over five years. U.S. Army officials estimate it could take longer than 18 months to close a base of that size." Obama should explain clearly how he intends to dismantle these bases or to what forces he is going to give control over them. It is very hard to imagine that the U.S. will simply walk away from large bases it spent years building. So, will they be turned over to Iraq? If so, to whom? What guarantee is there that they would not be used as operating bases for death squads? Will some be destroyed? What about the environmental impact? In addition to the bases, the GAO reveals that, as of of March 2008, "the United States had in place about 170,000 pieces of equipment worth about $16.5 billion that would need to be removed from Iraq." Erik Leaver, a senior analyst at the Institute for Policy Studies, says,"An example of a tough question: What to do with MRAPs [Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles]?" "The MRAPs are so heavy, transport back to the U.S., plus the rehab charges may make it cost-effective to actually destroy them," says Leaver. "Plus, if you need to move 120,000 soldiers in a rapid time frame, do you even have the space to bring them back if you take the MRAPs?" Then there are the facilities in Iraq currently being run by U.S. contractors. According to the GAO, Defense Contract Management Agency officials estimate "there is at least $3.5 billion worth of contractor-managed government-owned property in Iraq."
Killed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan.
Relevance Score: 2.524 2009-07-07 00:18:34
AFGHANISTAN: Insurgent attacks killed three British soldiers during the weekend in the southern Afghanistan region where thousands of U.S. Marines pushed forward with the American troops biggest anti-Taliban campaign since the hard-line Islamist regime was toppled. Roadside bombs killed two of the soldiers and a rocket-propelled grenade killed another one. IRAQ: Enemies attacked police patrols in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Sunday, killing a police officer with a grenade and injuring 14 people in a car bomb blast, authorities informed. Separately, bombs in Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, killed one civilian and injured 14, police said. PAKISTAN: Pakistani fighter jets targeted suspected Taliban hideouts in a tribal region near Afghanistan on Sunday, killing as many as six people, intelligence officials informed. Elsewhere in the northwest, two bomb explosions killed two people and wounded 15 more in Upper Dir district at the edge of Swat Valley where Pakistan army informes it is wrapping up a two-month-old offensive against Taliban militants.
New Satellite Services for US Military in Afghanistan and Iraq
Relevance Score: 2.506 2010-01-07 12:12:40
TS2 Satellite Technologies was among the first telecommunications operators in the satellite technology field on the territory of Iraq and Afghanistan, and as such we have enjoyed a successful cooperation with the US Department of Defense and individual soldiers from several years. iDirect is the industry leader in satellite-based broadband access solutions delivering all the benefits of high speed IP networking beyond the constraints of traditional landline networks. Developed specifically to meet the communication needs of satellite customers, iDirect powered networks deliver the speed, performance and flexibility to fulfill the most demanding requirements of today's end users - anywhere. The one iDirect Infinity system provides following services: * Broadband access to the internet (www, e-mail, ftp etc.) * Data transfer * Access to application programs * Telephone connections including VoIP, IP phone * Video-conference connections * The transfer of data, or image to many other users simultaneously Advantages of the system: * Short set-up time, (1-2 weeks for a system) * Fast and easy upgrades * Possibility of guaranteed CIR * Transmission in almost all weather conditions * Cheap and quick delivery of equipment to Iraq and Afghanistan (5-7 days) The Internet connection can be shared with other soldiers via wireless or wired network. Most soldiers deploy with a laptop in hand and a hookup to the Internet in their barracks. This is especially important for the many who are married, and have young children. The Internet access has resulted in major morale improvements. Troops no longer feel cut off from home. TS2 provides in the Middle East & North African region following services: two way internet broadband access, VSAT Private Network, broadcasting services, SCPC/SCPC, SCPC/DVB, MESH services, STAR/DAMA, VSAT Mini Hub Solution, VNO and many more...
Vietnam War Vet Killed in Iraq
Relevance Score: 2.484 2009-05-13 19:42:14
PHOENIX - A 60-year-old Vietnam War veteran killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq has become the oldest Army soldier to die in that conflict, the military said Thursday. Maj. Steven Hutchison, of Scottsdale, Ariz., served in Vietnam and wanted to re-enlist immediately after the 9/11 terror attacks, but his wife was against it, his brother said. Richard Hutchison told The Associated Press on Thursday that when she died, "a part of him died" so he signed up in July 2007 at age 59. "He was very devoted to the service and to his country," Richard Hutchison said. He described him as a great big brother and friend. "I didn't want him to go," he said through tears, adding that he loved his brother "so much." The Pentagon said Steven Hutchison was killed in Iraq on Sunday. Army spokesman Lt. Col. Nathan Banks said Thursday that Hutchison was the oldest Army soldier killed in Iraq. An Associated Press database of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan shows that Hutchison is the oldest member of any service branch killed since the wars broke out. Hutchison served in Afghanistan for a year before deploying to Iraq in October, heading a 12-soldier team that trained the Iraqi military, his brother said. Later, he was assigned to help secure Iraq's southern border. Hutchinson, who grew up in California, taught psychology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles on and off between 1988 and 1996, and lectured and taught at two other colleges, according to school records. He then worked at a health care corporation in Arizona before retiring and re-entering the service, his brother said. He was part of the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley, Kan.
Fort Campbell Soldiers Celebrated 4th July In The White House.
Relevance Score: 2.452 2009-07-10 22:20:45
A group of Fort Campbell soldiers enjoyed July 4th in an unforgettable way. They had been invited to celebrate to Independence Day at the White House. The soldiers had been invited to Washington D.C. by President Barack Obama as part of the White House salute to the military. The event honored our nation's troops, and celebrated their success. "For me, its pride - I enjoy what I'm doing," said Specialist Jason Forster with the 4th Brigade Combat Team. An American soldier does need a gratitude and never asks for a reward, but having dinner with the President on the 4th of July is tough for any soldier to turn down. "In this line of work you normally don't get to meet your boss... but you actually get to meet your boss this time," says SPC Forster. Twenty-five Fort Campbell soldiers join the president to celebrate Independence Day. "We're going to have dinner at the White House and meet the president. There's no better way to spend the 4th of July," says SPC Forster. On Saturday, the soldiers had dinner with President Obama, and they have got to watch the fireworks from the South Lawn of the White House. Each member of the 101st earned their trip to the nation's capitol through their service overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not surprisingly, before the event soldiers have been wondering what it will be like to spend dinner with the Commander in Chief. "You can't think of a more patriotic way to spend the 4th of July for someone in the military than to go to the White House to enjoy fireworks with the President of the United States," said Chief Warrant Officer Travis Higgins, with the Warrior Transition Unit. Each of the soldiers has earned their chance to meet the president. Higgins was a Blackhawk helicopter pilot in Iraq. "It's just a very unexpected perk that came with the job, I guess," he says. Specialist Greg Waters was awarded the Silver Star for his work as a medic in Afghanistan. "The reward was in the people I treated overseas - that's where my reward is. Meeting the President, obviously, is a huge honor," says SPC Waters. They may not ask for a reward, or require a thank you, but this Fourth of July, they'll get both from the President of the United States. "I've been in the army a long time and never had an opportunity like this before. All I can say is I am very lucky," says CWO Higgins. Members of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, the 101st Division Special Troops Battalion, and the Warrior Transition Team were all invited to make the trip.