Laying down lines of communication Published Sept. 15, 2011 By Senior Airman William A. O'Brien 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey -- Few directly see what provides the base with the connectivity to maintain superiority in the cyberspace domain. As one section in the 39th Communications Squadron that primarily works beyond the office setting, the 39th CS Cable Maintenance Office repairs copper and fiber optic cables for many purposes including internet, phone, alarm systems and base loud speakers. Without them, most people wouldn't be able to operate the way they do now. "We're the backbone of the comm squadron," said Staff Sgt. Robert Hernandez, 39th CS cable and antenna system maintenance craftsman. "We go out and get dirty. Without us, the rest of the squadron couldn't even do their job." The job of cable maintenance is to repair and maintain more than 600 miles of various types of cables throughout the base. "We're primarily a maintenance shop," said Tech. Sgt. Christopher Norris, 39th CS cable and antenna system maintenance craftsman, "so our job is to maintain cables that have been previously installed. As the cables age, it is up to us to ensure it keeps running." Because of the humidity here, cables generally breakdown faster. To avoid that, the cable maintenance office regularly checks cables so they can conduct repairs before an outage occurs. "Knowing that on average cables will need to be fixed every two to three years, to prevent problems we check splices to ensure they haven't began to erode and inspect the cables for corrosion or any signs that it may begin to stop working properly," said Airman 1st Class Kendall Armand, 39th CS cable and antenna system maintenance journeyman. This is done "so that we can fix it before it becomes a problem for somebody." If an outage does occur, the 39th CS help desk will notify cable maintenance who inspects the cables to see if the problem has been caused by corrosion. If they can't find any corrosion, they perform troubleshooting on the cable to see what is going wrong and fix it. "As cables degrade, we go out and we rebuild splices or replace cables, depending on what is needed," said Staff Sgt. Scott Gingrich, 39th CS cable and antenna system maintenance craftsman. "Here, we are responsible for the outside cables for the telephones in base housing and just about all of the outside cables for the operational side." The job of cable maintenance varies depending on the assignment. Because cable maintainers here don't get to apply all they've learned through training, it is important to keep the skills they've learned in technical school sharp so when Airmen move to their next base, they are ready for the tasks put in front of them. "Here we work almost exclusively with cables, but we do other things and our training and (career development course training programs) prepare us for that by throwing all kinds of different scenarios we may encounter at us and keeping us ready for all the different responsibilities we may have in this field," explained Airman 1st Class Jordan Summers, 39th CS cable and antenna system maintenance apprentice. For this team, remaining low on other peoples' radar is a good thing because the alternative usually means something has gone wrong. "I like this job because it's low profile," said Armand. "As long as we do what we're supposed to do...."