It's a HICS of a system

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Abbigayle Williams
  • 90th Missile Wing Public Affairs

The Airmen at the 90th Missile Maintenance Squadron Hardened Intersite Cable System shop are among the most important at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., because they are responsible for the primary communication system used in the missile field.

The HICS network connects launch control centers to launch facilities to provide the primary communication for the missile command lines.

The HICS shop is divided into two subsections; the cables affairs team and HICS maintenance.

“We have a cable affairs team and it is their responsibility to check the database daily to see if anything need repair,” said Master Sgt. Megan Dunlevy, 90th MMXS HICS NCO in charge. “Within cable affairs, if anything requires attention the team has 72-hours to respond. Additionally, our HICS maintenance team responds to the field to check various components of the cable such as pressure. They are also responsible for routine inspections.”

The cable affairs team works on the cable right-of-way inspections and maintains a relationship with more than 3,000 landowners or farmers.

“When a section is due for a right-of-way inspection we have 90-days to complete the requirements,” said Dunlevy. “Depending on how a task was performed during the previous inspection, it can either be done by helicopter or four-wheelers. To get a section done by air takes around four hours and to be done on quads takes about two or three days.”

Due to a high turnaround rate within the job, the 90th MMXS HICS team could not verify previous inspection procedures and records. Therefore in the summer of 2018, the team completed 100 percent of the right-of-way inspections for the F.E. Warren Missile Field Complex.

The completed inspections and documentation allows for the next HICS team to be set up for success.

Additionally, to ensure every process runs smoothly, Dunlevy has created several new procedures, allowing the Airmen within the shop to receive credit for all work.

“I’ve created in shop work orders to show work is being done that is not traditionally tracked through already established systems,” said Dunlevy. “Also Staff Sgt. Bush has been a huge catalyst for ensuring every guy gets credit for the work being done by verifying all work in the proper system.”

Now that the 90th MMXS HICS has gotten into a good battle rhythm and has been able to show the value of the work being done, a strong team has formed.

“We have a good group of guys here that care about the work and we have a fun job,” said Dunlevy. “There will always be the traditional office work and regular inspections, but one day I flew in a helicopter doing ground inspections and the next day I was doing the same work but on quads.”

Together the cables affairs team and the HICS maintenance team keep the mission operational.