Photo: Oregon National Guard
Members of the 142nd Fighter Wing Communications Flight deployed from Portland Air National Guard Base to provide communications support for Hurricane Maria relief in Puerto Rico.
Eight Oregon Air National Guardsmen boarded a C-17 aircraft from Orange County, New York, at around 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 29, headed to San Juan, Puerto Rico. In Puerto Rico, the Airmen will establish radio and Internet communications.
These Airmen are part of a Joint Incident Site Communications Capability (JISCC) package. The JISCC provides voice (VoIP phone), data, and radio communications capability to an incident commander. The JISCC was developed from lessons learned during 9/11 and has been refined based on experience during incidents such as Hurricane Katrina. One of the key features of the JISCC is it provides access to both military and commercial networks as well as providing interconnectivity between military, first responders, and other local radio systems.