Importance Of XComm
by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Madeline Herzog
August 26, 2024

The 52nd Combat Communications Squadron (CBCS) and the 51st CBCS, stationed at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, recently supported exercises Bamboo Eagle 24-3 and Agile Flag 24-3 over a three-week period during July and August in the Western United States.

Prior to the exercises starting, they deployed over 60 personnel to numerous locations across the west coast to set up communications equipment with a multitude of requirements, and they stayed until after the exercises wrapped up.

Combat readiness is a common theme when discussing Air Force training exercises. ‘Get the aircraft to a location’, ‘send maintenance Airmen to the forward operating base’ and ‘bring along support personnel as needed,' are themes heard in preparation.

However, one of the most important, and frequently forgotten, career fields that enables exercises, and real-world scenarios, to succeed in any environment is warfighting communications, also known as expeditionary communications or XComm.

It’s not a flashy job, but it is one of the most necessary and impactful combat support functions when talking about mission generation success and the future fight.

“When we get tasked, we become an expeditionary counterpart to the communications squadron for the [deployable combat wing],” said Staff Sgt. Chad Humphries, 52nd CBCS network systems operations supervisor. “We get into ‘country’ as fast as possible, set up the backbone and then once the battlespace is good to go, the lead wing will come in and keep the
communications running.”

The 52nd CBCS, part of the 5th Combat Communications Group (CCG), is only one of three Regular Air Force units that supply expeditionary comms to the entire Department of the Air Force. CBCS personnel deploy to various locations around the world, often in remote and hostile environments. They establish and maintain communication networks and infrastructure,
allowing joint forces to communicate effectively.

“The biggest part of this exercise is command and control, and being able to communicate, regardless of the situation,” said Senior Airman Nicholas Anderson, 9th Reconnaissance Wing Communications Squadron data operations technician and exercise participant. “We’re only a base comm unit, we [usually] don’t do expeditionary comms, they [the CBCS] are enabling us to do our job to the best of our ability.”

Three separate guard units supported the 52nd CBCS during the three-week tenure, to include units from the Alabama Air National Guard, Maine ANG and Florida ANG.

Total Force Integration is a strategic approach to enhance operational effectiveness by integrating active duty Air Force Airmen with the ANG and Air Force Reserve counterparts.

When the 5th CCG was tasked to accomplish the mission for both exercises, they needed to ensure they had the right personnel for the job.

“We are one of three active duty XComm units in the entire Air Force, so we do rely on our guard and reserve combat communicators to help with these exercises,” said 1st Lieutenant Roland Yoder, 52nd CBCS officer in charge of mission support. “Having their expertise and capabilities out here with us, is extremely helpful.”

The goal of integrating active, national guard and reserve Airmen is to optimize resources, maximize capabilities, and ensure seamless cooperation among these components to meet mission requirements.

Combat communicators will continue to be force multipliers, and operate and defend warfighter communications, whenever and wherever, across the full spectrum of operations for Air Combat Command and the Air Force.

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