The Afghan National Army Communications Support Unit (CSU) recently deployed (Monday Feb 15th) one of their three companies - Tollay Bey (Bravo Company) to Helmand Province in order to support the new 3/215, ANA Commandos and other units in the Moshtarak Offensive in the Nad-e Ali and Marjah Districts. This combined effort of over 10,000 Coalition and ANA forces required great coordination and communication support. Through HF and VHF encrypted radios, VTC connection to MoD and the Afghan NMCC, and VOIP phones and laptops connecting back to MoD, the CSU can provide real time battle field updates and C4I capabilities to our ANA partners on the front line. The is the largest deployment in CSU history and shows the level of intense training and mentorship this unit has recieved.
It took almost four days for the company to safely convoy from Kabul to Camp Shorabak over treacherous terrain, and at one point a large water truck rolled over because of the impassable roads. However, they used their own crain to set it right, and were on their way. Once they arrived in Helmand, they immediately began setting up the Drash (Command Tent). In less than 24 hours, they set up 12 workstations with VOIP phones and MoD networked laptops, a PACSTAR satellite system for 384K bandwidth and one Polycomm VTC. Additionally, they stood up one Epson projector connected to a laptop to display briefings and other viable data on a larger scale. They connected long range HF radios to communicate with the battle field and back to Kabul. VHF radios were used for local convoy ops and short range communication capabilities.
Once set up, the CSU also arranged with local command Garrison elements to install permanent shore power in order to save fuel and the generator's lifecycle.
- ITCS Josh Snoke
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