RADIO MODERNIZATION IN ANY LANGUAGE
COMMUNICATION STRATEGY
Capt. Lashaunte Trotter, center, joins members of the Operational Sustainment- Information Communications Technology section of CSTC-A radio program in March, 2020. Trotter deployed to Afghanistan early this year to help the Afghan National Defense Forces establish its radio modernization strategy program. (Photo by 1st Lt. Arianny Acosta, U.S. Marine Corps)
BAILEY: What did you encounter upon arriving in country for this assignment?
TROTTER: I was assigned to the Operational Sustainment – Information Communications Technology section of CSTC-A. Tis organization was respon- sible for radios, network infrastructure, spectrum management and cybersecurity. Upon arrival, I quickly learned I was join- ing a team of highly talented individuals, some who had been working in Afghani- stan for 11-plus years supporting MOD or MOI. For an officer rotating in, this strong knowledge base was critical to the success of our mission.
BAILEY: How did you go about deriving requirements in a war-torn country?
TROTTER: If you think it’s challenging to derive requirements, procure radios and manage their life cycle in the United States, you can only imagine the chal- lenges we faced in Afghanistan.
At the time, we had approximately 169,000 radios nearing their end of life; meaning, these radios were either obsolete, in need of significant repair or in need of modern- ization. To tackle requirements gathering,
we met with senior Afghan leaders and their respective IT departments in the Ministry of Interior Affairs and Ministry of Defense to identify the needed capabil- ity and discuss viable options.
A part of the discussion involved assess- ing the radios currently in their possession to ensure interoperability with future radios. Trough this process, I determined ANDSF maintained an extensive list of radios maintained by many companies; it had no centralized radio procurement strategy. Another challenge with assess- ing the current inventory of radios was the effort to catalog equipment and compo- nent parts. Cataloging varied between the ministries of Interior Affairs and Defense, and as a result I spent a few weeks doing the necessary research to understand the radio systems in Afghanistan. Tis research yielded my ability to identify a baseline to procure new radios and sustain legacy systems. I then consulted with our team to execute a plan to meet the identi- fied capability need expressed by ANDSF leadership.
As we looked at the organization as a whole during the requirements assess- ment, we focused on the makeup of
their personnel, the daily functions they executed and the radio assets necessary to perform their duties. Tat meant we were looking for radios to support very different mission sets that—for their mili- tary organizations—ranged from police patrols, to soldier checkpoints to special forces missions. Some organizations only required small handheld radios, while others required a more robust capacity and functionality.
BAILEY: What other challenges did you face working in Afghanistan?
TROTTER: A critical component to the mission was to train, advise and assist. While deployed, I learned there were differences in the execution of soldier task and supportability. Te Afghan army power grid was less than optimal, so it was not uncommon for radio communication equipment to be unplugged in order to use electricity for personal reasons while on duty. Tis was not the norm, but some- thing I had not encountered previously.
Another critical deterrent to our train- ing efforts was illiteracy. We found the educated soldiers were often pulled from radio operating roles to serve in higher
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Army AL&T Magazine
Fall 2020
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