231st Combat Communications Squadron

The 231st Combat Communications Squadron is a tenant unit of the 113th Wing based at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, USA.

The squadron uses traditional military communications systems such as the Defense Switch Network (DSN), the Automated Digital Network (AUTODIN), and Defense Messaging System (DMS), as well as off-the-shelf commercial communications systems. Commanders who are deployed into hostile areas are able to communicate using interoperable voice switching systems and point-to-point or AUTODIN/DMS teletype and LAN/WAN connectivity. The squadron also provides HF radios for engineering or larger C2 nets. [ [http://www.dcandr.ang.af.mil/units/231CBCS/ Units :: 231 Combat Communications Squadron ] ]

Unit history

The was activated on February 1, 1952, as the 8205th Air Base Squadron. The unit's mission was to receive, maintain and store equipment, as well as provide trained personnel for the soon-to-be formed 231st Airways and Air Communications Squadron (Mobile) (which was to be stationed at Camp Simms, Washington, DC).

However, the unit was inactivated on August 26, 1952, when it merged with the 231st AACS (Mobile) upon its activation.

Vietnam era

By July 1961, the 231st AACS (Mobile) underwent the first of many re-organizations when it was re-named the 231st Communications Squadron (Mobile). The unit kept this name until 1966, when in an effort to delineate air traffic control functions, the unit became the 231st Mobile Communications Squadron (Bare Base) - with a separate 231st Flight Facilities Flight (FFF) that assumed all air traffic control functions.

In 1968, the word "Bare Base" was removed from the Squadron designation, and the unit mobilized for the Pueblo Crisis. Activated for two weeks, the 231st was de-mobilized on 17 April of that year.

In 1969, the 231st saw its first change of command when now Lt Col Tuckerman retired and was replaced by Major Charles Milton. Tuckerman had guided the Squadron from its formative years into the beginning of the Total Force era. Leading the Squadron for 17 years, his tenure was the longest by any Commander in the history of the 231st.

By 1971, the 231st was playing a full scale role in the Guard's dual mission of both federal and state support with its participation in the DC National Guard's Task Force Blue. This mission, for which the DC National Guard was the only Guard unit to receive federal funding, enabled the 231st to provide civil support to the District during times of civil disturbance or to augment the Metropolitan Police Department by being deputized for other events. Participation by Task Force 231 included the 1961 Kruschev visit to the United States, the 1963 Civil Rights March, the 1968 civil riots, and the 1970 May Day Demonstration.

In 1972, the personnel of the Flight Facilities Flight merged into the 231st. The FFF itself transferred to Louisiana, and on December 8, 1972 the unit was de-activated and returned to the National Guard Bureau. The unit was re-named the 231st Mobile Communications Squadron (Tactical Air Base) to reflect its stand alone capability.

Cold War era

By 1976, the word "Mobile" had been deleted from the Squadron's official designation.

That year saw another major change to the Squadron's operations as it began to move from its 25 acre home at Camp Simms to Andrews Air Force Base. The current buildings occupied by the 231st had started construction in July 1976, and they were completed in August 1978.

The Air Traffic Control element started operations at Martinsburg West Virginia in 1979, which now gave that function the ability to have a training environment in which to vector inbound aircraft.

The unit accomplished its first ever overseas deployment in 1981 when members of the squadron participated at Exercise Flintlock 81 in England. Also in 1981, the DCANG's first Senior Enlisted Advisor (now called the State Command Chief) was filled by Senior Master Sergeant Ronald Perkins. A traditional guardsman who had spent his entire career with the 231st, Perkins was promoted to Chief Master Sergeant in this new assignment (his legacy was highlighted by the State Headquarters dedicating its Conference Center in his name in 1999).

The 231st provided the Air National Guard's first radar approach control operations in 1983 at Martinsburg, and it also pioneered the Air Guard's first air space surveillance support to Camp David beginning in 1983. In 1985 the unit was re-named the 231st Combat Information Systems Squadron, and in October 1986 it received its current designation, the 231st Combat Communications Squadron.

At the end of the Cold War the unit began a new era of operations with the advent of Operations Desert Shield and Storm. As the Air Force implemented the Aerospace Expeditionary Force (AEF) deployment concept, the 231st evolved into a rapid combat force ready to deploy in support of national interests.

During Operational Display Determination in 1991, the unit deployed 20 members to Turkey to support humanitarian assistance to the Kurds in Northern Iraq. In 1999 the unit again responded when the squadron received a Presidential Selective Reserve Call-Up (PSRC) for operations in the Bosnia and Kosovo Campaigns.

Present

During the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the full time cadre were active participants in implementing a static ground communications system to support the 113th Wing's airfield operations in establishing combat air patrols over the nation's capital.

In January 2003 the unit was called directly by 1st Air Force to provide communications command and control in support of the Integrated Air Defense (IAD) of the National Capital Region during the 2003 Presidential State of the Union Address. Within 72 hours of the notification of this tasking, the squadron pulled together 30 volunteers, packed over 78.6 short tons of equipment, convoyed to the deployed location, built the site, and provided critical communication services to the mission. Upon completion of this support, the Squadron was called in again to support the IAD for the National Capital Region. Within 48 hours, the 231st deployed with the same capabilities while sustaining operations under field conditions for 40 consecutive days.

Twenty additional personnel volunteered to pack up another 60 short tons of tasked mobilized equipment to support Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Three members of the Squadron deployed into Combat Theatre during Operation Iraqi Freedom, while another 12 personnel worked at the Air National Guard's Crisis Action Team from 2001 to 2004 in support of Operation Noble Eagle.

In 2004 the unit began to receive the new Theatre Deployable Communications gear, a state of the art infrastructure designed to transmit and receive communications anywhere in the world for military contingencies. The system is designed to drastically reduce the deployment communication problems normally associated with airlift and manpower.

At the same time, the squadron underwent another change in its mission by providing communications to the new Joint Force Headquarters concept. It met its first mission under this new tasking during Hurricane Isabel in October 2003 by providing equipment to the 911 Emergency Response Center in Baltimore. This was the first time that the DC Air National Guard had provided equipment support outside of the District to another State.

In 2007, the 231st Combat Communications Squadron was designated for mission completion, effective March 2008.

ee also

*113th Wing
*Andrews Air Force Base
*District of Columbia Air National Guard

References

* [http://www.dcandr.ang.af.mil/units/231CBCS/ 231st Combat Communications Squadron] . Accessed April 29, 2007.
* [http://www.dcandr.ang.af.mil/units/231CBCS/history.htm 231st Combat Communications Squadron history] . Accessed April 29, 2007.