31st Combat Communications Squadron [31st CBCS]
[Note: Combat Communications Squadrons[CBCS] are sometimes incorrectly referred to using the acronym CCS]
An operational squadron in the 3rd Combat Communications Group, a direct reporting unit of Air Combat Command's 12th Air Force, the 31st CBCS provides combat-ready forces for worldwide deployment of communications, computer and weather systems to support wartime and contingency taskings. The tactical communications equipment deployed by the men and women of the 31st CBCS include telephone switching centers, message traffic centers, network systems control facilities, wideband radio systems, satellite terminals and weather systems. In addition to equipment, the 31st CBCS maintains the support assets, including vehicles, tents, power generators and environmental control units necessary to support 200 deployed personnel and equipment in an austere environment for extended periods of time.
The men and women of the 31st CBCS and its predecessor organizations distinguished themselves in many of the military conflicts and operations other than war that the United States has been involved in since the 1950s. In the last 10 years, they have deployed across the world to provide communications support to numerous military activities including Operation Urgent Fury (Grenada), Operation Eagle Look (Southwest Asia), Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm (Southwest Asia), Operation Southern Watch (Southwest Asia), Operation Desert Calm (Southwest Asia), Operation Desert Focus/Strike (Southwest Asia), Operation Provide Comfort/Northern Watch (Turkey), Operation Restore Hope (Somalia), Operation Uphold Democracy (Haiti), Operation Provide Promise/Deny Flight (Italy, Croatia) and Operation Joint Endeavor/Guard (Bosnia, Italy, Croatia).
The 31st CBCS deployed to Haiti in September of 1994 as part of Joint Task Force 190 in support of Operation Uphold Democracy. The squadron was the backbone of the operation, sending 66 people and 11 systems to provide initial air traffic services and communications to employing forces. They established and maintained command and control voice, data and messaging circuits with superb reliability, and interfaced their tactical equipment with commercial satellite communications links enabling connectivity with National Command Authorities in the U.S.
The 31st CBCS also provides communications and weather systems in support of major Department of Defense exercises. In 1997, the squadron was the lead Air Force communications element for Exercise Roving Sands, the largest exercise in the continental United States; and Exercise Bright Star, the largest multinational exercise in Southwest Asia. The squadron deployed 89 people and seven major systems to Egypt to provide all base-level communications support at Cairo West Air Base, the aerial port of debarkation for 7,000 exercise participants and the primary airfield for coalition air operations.
In 1996, the squadron added the weather support flight, one of two units in the Air Force tasked to provide weather systems support to Army and Air Force units worldwide.
The unit deploys in support of many efforts which are not directly combat related. In April 1995, the 31st CBCS was tasked to support the Federal Emergency Management Agency in extricating victims from the bombed Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The squadron provided manpower and life support equipment for around-the-clock recovery efforts.
During the 1996 Quality Air Force Assessment conducted by the Air Combat Command Inspector General, the squadron received an "Outstanding" rating and attained the highest numerical score of any like communications squadron to date. The squadron's quality environment garnered one of two ACC nominations for the 1997 Presidential Quality Award.
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