SMDC general visits Soldiers

Published Jan. 20, 2016
By Dottie K. White
SMDC/ARSTRAT

LANDSTUHL, Germany -- Lt. Gen. David L. Mann, commanding general, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command, visited Company C, 53rd Signal Battalion, 1st Space Brigade, Jan. 14 in Landstuhl.

During his visit, Mann received an update from Capt. Jessica Yahn, Company C commander, and her team on the current status of the company and their mission.

Company C is responsible for one of five Wideband Satellite Communications Operations Centers, or WSOCs. The others are: Wahiawa, Hawaii; Fort Detrick, Maryland; Fort Meade, Maryland; and Okinawa, Japan.

"We support a wide range of customers, from government agencies, to ground troops, to (unmanned aerial vehicles), to Navy submarines," said Yahn. "Any mission that achieves communications over a wideband military satellite passes through one of the operations centers of the 53rd Signal Battalion. The Soldiers in this battalion are charged with great responsibility, not only to ensure reliable, consistent communications, but to manage the health and welfare of the satellites we control.

"C Co. is unique because we have the ability to see, through our antennas, nearly the entire globe, which means we can support any combatant command. The criticality of our links is huge," Yahn continued. "C Co. is also unique because we are equipped to perform an additional mission set, and that is in support of U.S. Strategic Command's efforts to defend commercial satellite transmission paths of interest."

Mann then visited the Soldiers on the operations floor of the WSOC to see them in action, address their concerns, and to thank them for what they do day in and day out.

He asked the Soldiers about quality of life concerns they had for themselves and their families. He also asked the Soldiers what he could do for them, or what they needed.

Yahn said she appreciated Mann's visit and words of encouragement to the Soldiers.

"The Soldiers hear enough from me that what they do is important," she said. "However, it goes a long way when they have their commanding general standing before them reiterating the significance of their work. Lt. Gen. Mann addressed them and told them, 'If you don't think what you're doing is important, go home and look in the mirror -- know that you are impacting the Warfighter every day. Thank you.'"