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SECURITY LEVELS

Contingency Communications

Incident and Contingency Communications Programs (I & CC)
USCG ELEVENTH District, CGAUX D11North & CGAUX D11South


INTRODUCTION. Most members in the Auxiliary think about communications only in terms of the traditional watch standing, “keeping the guard”, or the common techniques of patrol comms, but there is actually a lot more to comms activities than just that. It’s true, as a former commanding officer of mine used to say, "without comms, there is no mission", and the more complex the mission, the more true that is.

Because we live in a world where technology is just taken for granted, it’s easy to forget that the most sophisticated comms tools take a tremendous amount of planning, forethought, knowledge, and skills to implement the minimum in the first place and then make them work well for extended periods.

The overall comms program in the two AUX districts here i nthe11th District does a fine job of using traditional functions and skills to support the traditional requirements of operational comms. But there is also a new, exciting and challenging aspect of comms in the 11th, and that is what we call the Incident and Contingency Communications (ICC). One of the objectives of the I&CC program is training communications personnel for ALL aspects of the AUX missions here in D11,with specific attention being paid to contingency comms and comms operations when an activity or event is managed by ICS (the Incident Communications System) and NIMS the (National Incident Management System).

HISTORY OFCOMMS IN D11. A little bit of history: about 2006 or so under the leadership of the 11th AUX Southern Region, the spectrum management division in CG Headquarters assigned to the AUX nationally, a set of 41 high frequency (“over-the-horizon” or HF) channels for contingency use. For years afterwards regular on-the-air nets were run every week. Frequently those on-air activities included active duty units such as CAMSPAC (the then Communications Area Master Station Pacific) CAMSLANT (same but for Atlantic), Sector New Orleans, Sector San Francisco and so forth. In about 2010 over-the-air text messaging was implemented as a part of the nets, and a major step was taken on 2017 with AUX HF capability as a key element of a Sector San Diego full scale COOP exercise.

In late 2019 the then Dt (C5I telecommunications chief for CGD11) approached the AUX with a request to know if we could provide “over-the horizon” comms using HF radio to support “contingency” (that is post disaster) communications linking the District 11 HQ Command Center in Alameda with the four sectors and 2 air stations in D11. That request started the ball rolling on a major cooperative effort between the active duty and the CGAUX in both regions of D11. Extending into mid-2022, the results of that have been two major full scale exercises and the creation of the“I&CC”program and a supporting joint Auxiliary and active duty team (the CG D11 Telecommunications Team).

WHY “INCIDENT” AS WELL AS “CONTINGENCY”. The inclusion of “Incident” in the name of the program is not to be seen as moving an element of the Emergency Management program in the CGAUX to the comms program. Rather, the intention is that while the Emergency Management and Disaster Response program is recognized as the lead organization within the AUX for that mission, the Communications program is the primary source of knowledge, skills, and expertise in that specific element of all mission related programs.

Additionally, operations under the Incident Command System (ICS) and the National Incident Management System (NIMS) make particular and somewhat unique demands on communications systems and styles. Consequently, it is logical that the center of excellence for incident comms should be the same as the center of excellence for comms in general in the AUX.

The three OPERATIONAL ELEMENTS of the I&CC program are:

  • The D11CCNET (i.e, Eleventh District Command Center Contingency Net) is a set of resources (equipment and people) focused on deployed and fixed land CGAUX HF and VHF radio facilities designed to support the D11 HQ Command Center in its ability to maintain strategic comms with the Sectors and AirSTAs (and their subordinate units) in times of stressed and dysfunctional traditional comms tools.It is the most recently created of the three parts having its start in late 2019.

  • The WESTNET, also known as the West Coast Regional HF Net,is created and overseen by the national Branch Chief for Contingency Communications (BC-RTC). It is intended to serve districts11, 13, 14, 17, and part of 8, but for almost all of its existence it has primarily served CG D11 and the AUX D11 North and D11 South districts. Its operational purpose is to provide general contingency comms services for active duty and Auxiliary units and to provide an on-air training venue. Its initial implementation dates from about 2008.

  • SHARES is an on-air HF (and some small VHF) program of DHS CISA that links US federal government departments and entities, some state, local, and tribal emergency operations centers,critical infrastructure private entities such as energy and telecommunications companies, and volunteer organizations such as the Army and Air Force MARS programs. The I&CC program in CGD11 is the link between the CG’s PAC AREA and SHARES. Nationally SHARES interfaces with the CG through the COMMCOM (Communications Command) in Virginia.

The remainder of this section of the D11North website consists of a subsection dedicated to each of these three operational elements and contains both more detail with regard to the focus, purpose and activities of each; and also will be the location for reports, training materials, recruiting material and related information.