Fort deploys units to support Haitian relief effort
“The secretary of defense has said that there is no higher priority right now than humanitarian relief operations in Haiti, and because of the importance of this mission and the scope of the humanitarian disaster, various organizations at Fort Monmouth are working hard to support these operations,” explained Tim Ryder, spokesman for Fort Monmouth.
As part of its mission, Fort Monmouth’s Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) is responsible for providing essential equipment and support for the Army’s communications systems.
“What you have here is a headquarters element that manages all of the personnel who are deployed with these sustainment battalions,” Ryder explained. “These are battalions that are equipped and trained not to fight but to maintain [communications] equipment.
“And when this operation happened, they started to communicate, figure out, identify the personnel who are going to go in support of the equipment. Some of them are already embedded in with the units that were designated to go,” Ryder added.
While Army personnel are included in the mission, private contractors and other civilians who work with CECOM are also being sent to the island nation to provide support for the equipment.
“Fort Monmouth organizations have arranged for personnel who have deployed or who are in the process of deploying,” Ryder explained. “Other personnel are on standby to deploy, should their services be required.
“These personnel are specialists who support such capabilities as satellite and radio communications and power generation as well as sensors that assist in meeting security needs,” he added.
Items such as satellite phones, Ryder explained, could be used to supplant the nation’s downed telephone lines or cellular phone towers.
A similar method of restoring communications was used in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, he added.
In addition to basic communications equipment, Ryder said Fort Monmouth has also arranged for communications “reachback” capability.
“Reachback supports communications connectivity between units, first responders and other organizations within the U.S.,” he explained.
“It’s fairly complex. We have to fit in with a complex structure of movement of personnel and equipment transportation. This is a national-level undertaking.”
In addition to CECOM personnel, Ryder said the fort’s Program Executive Office for Command Control Communications Tactical (PEO C3T) would also be involved in the relief effort.
PEO C3T designs, acquires, fields and supports fully integrated command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance solutions for soldiers.
“They are providing contractor support personnel, giving them the authority to go and deploy in support of,” Ryder explained.
“They are designating personnel, and they are starting to get things in place so they can support the mission.
“PEO C3T will be utilized to communicate with the U.S. Army and the Forces Command Structure … so that [CECOM personnel] can get in [to Haiti], they can associate with military transport and do whatever it takes,” Ryder added.
Like the fort’s CECOM personnel, members of the Army’s Communication- Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC) are also being deployed to assist the relief effort, Fort Monmouth spokesperson Kasha Simmons explained in a press release issued last week.
“CERDEC’s Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate’s Cerberus system, along with a support engineer, is standing by to deploy with the 82nd Airborne Division,” Simmons stated. “Cerberus is a system of integrated sensors that provides perimeter surveillance.
“It contains a thermal imager, day camera, radar, batteries and generator mounted on a lightweight trailer or tripod for ease of mobility,” he explained. “While Cerberus’ official function in Haiti is still unknown, the system has the ability to provide security to areas such as airports that house relief supplies.”
According to Simmons, the Research Development and Engineering Command has surveyed all of its centers and labs to assemble a list of relevant capabilities that could be of service in relief and recovery efforts, with CERDEC’s Cerberus system being the first to be deployed.
Like many of those the relief effort is expected to assist, several CERDEC employees lost family members in the Haitian earthquake.
“CERDEC employees have reported more than 10 deaths of family members in Haiti and, like many others affected by this tragedy, are awaiting word from relatives and friends they’ve lost contact with in Haiti,” Simmons said.
Despite the urgency of supporting those on the ground in Haiti, Simmons said the extensive damage to the country’s infrastructure has made the relief efforts more difficult.
“Airlift and mission priorities dictate deployment timelines,” Simmons said. “Fort Bragg officials are making every effort to ensure soldiers and equipment arrive as quickly as possible to start performing their mission.
“The extensive damage to Haiti’s vital infrastructure has hampered the speed of deployment ability to arrive as quickly as the 82nd Airborne Division otherwise could,” he explained.
