Telecoms and the Military Joining Forces

The United States military boasts 456 domestic bases, many of which are situated near the nation’s small towns. Depending on the mission, these installations need space for landing planes, running training exercises, and storing equipment, and urban settings just can’t provide the real estate to support those goals. Their locations run the gamut from the Arizona desert to frigid Alaskan towns to America’s heartland, but they all share one thing in common:

They rely on rural telecommunications companies for connection and communications.

Bases hold real technological and logistical challenges as they require tech to support everything from basic telephony and internet to secure communication lines and extremely demanding power needs. While there are local military jobs that support telecoms, it is up to local firms to construct networks and provide upgrade capabilities when needed. They also act as a vital lifeline to the service members when real world issues impact the mission and assist with any maintenance role which may fall outside of the military member’s expertise.

Some benefits of relying on local experts to deliver services:

The Elements – These companies are likely comfortable with the local environmental challenges. Working in the cold or rain? Setting up towers in 100-degree heat? Hometown guys have done it all before.

Local Know-How – Knowing just where to dig, navigating backroads to avoid traffic delays, and having a network of subject matter experts on speed-dial are all benefits to hiring local.

Historical Data – Having access to installation drawings or schematics provides a baseline view of the network and reduces the time and effort to troubleshoot issues. Risk is diminished and problems get solved quickly.  

Troubleshooting – The activities that support the operations on a base are complicated and constant, and they require focus and effort 24 hours a day. Every second spent troubleshooting a networking or connectivity issue is time not spent on mission-critical endeavors. Shopping these efforts to the local experts frees up our soldiers and airmen for the jobs that ensure our safety.

In addition to the complex networking telecom companies provide to soldiers and airmen when they’re on duty, these companies also support military families as they transition from one base to another. Picking up and moving (often across the country) can be incredibly stressful, but families don’t have to worry about staying connected when they move to new base housing. The house may be new. The neighbors may be different. But they’ll get a dial tone when they pick up the phone, they can Skype with friends back home, and Sesame Street will pop up at MacDill just like it did at Miramar.