Combat communications wing, group inactivate

by 2nd Lt. Meredith Hein
24th Air Force Public Affairs

9/30/2013 - JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas -- The 689th Combat Communications Wing at Robins Air Force Base, Ga. deactivated September 30, along with the 3rd Combat Communications Group at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.

With this change, the 5th Combat Communications Group at Robins will be the only active duty combat communications group in the U.S. Air Force.

The inactivations are the result of an evaluation of the need for combat communications. As aircraft operations are reduced worldwide, the need for aircraft support operations, including combat communications, is also diminished.

Commanders worked to examine how much combat communications capability they would need in the future to support airpower, closing several guard combat communications units in the process over the past five years.

The 3rd CCG, affectionately known as the "3rd Herd," was activated in South Ruislip, England in 1957 and has participated in every major military conflict since that time, as well as a large number of humanitarian missions.

The 5th CCG, or "the 5th Mob", is nearly identical to the 3rd CCG. It is a newer group, founded in 1964, and made up of about 750 Airmen in five squadrons who train, deploy and deliver communication, air traffic control and landing systems for humanitarian relief and dominant combat operations.

Combat communications are one of the first units involved in an operation, working to set up communication equipment in deployed, "bare base" environments. Over the last decade, these groups have supplied relief to such disasters as Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, Superstorm Sandy and the Moore, Okla., tornado in May. The 5th CCG was also the last communications unit to leave Iraq during the drawdown of American forces in 2011.

Col. Richard Folks II, the vice commander of the 689th, stated that despite the inactivation, the combat communication mission will remain strong. "We will continue to supply the capabilities that were provided by the 3rd and the 5th combat communications groups to ensure the same level of airpower protection."

The 750 Airmen who made up the 3rd CCG moved on to other bases, been reassigned, or retired or separated from the Air Force. Civilians were given priority placement by the Civilian Personnel Office in order to locate jobs at Tinker.

The wing has already been dismantled for the most part, with the wing commander leaves in June.

Activated in 2009, the 689th brought the 3rd and 5th groups together into one wing under the 24th Air Force, which conducts the full range of cyber operations missions for Air Force Space Command.

Closing the wing helps improve efficiency, as the 5th CCG will become a direct reporting unit under 24th Air Force, and the Air Force will avoid the cost of sustaining a separate wing.

Folks noted that the Air Force has "more reliance on the total force," to complete the combat communications mission, using reserve and Air National Guard units.

"There is no major difference between guard, reserve and active duty combat communications units," said Maj. Barry Roche, the commander of the 5th Combat Communications Support Squadron. "We all provide the same capabilities, just in different amounts."

Combat communications units currently re-shape their employment concepts, moving to a focus on smaller operations while retaining the capability to stand up communications for Air Expeditionary Wings when called upon during future conflicts.

"We will use the innovation technology provides to reduce manpower and our equipment footprint to accomplish the operation," said Folks. "The future of combat communications is to become a lighter, leaner and more capable force. We will use technology to be more efficient and as mobile as possible."