Oregon National Guard heads to Puerto Rico for disaster help
Members of the Oregon Air National Guard’s 142nd Fighter Wing Communications Flight deployed Friday night from Portland Air National Guard Base to provide communications support for Hurricane Maria relief in Puerto Rico.
Eight Oregon Air National Guardsmen boarded a C-17 aircraft from Orange County, New York, at around 7:30 p.m., headed to San Juan. In Puerto Rico, the airmen will establish radio and Internet communications, officials said.
The airmen are part of a Joint Incident Site Communications Capability (JISCC) package. The JISCC provides voice (VoIP phone), data, and radio communications capability to an incident commander.
The JISCC was developed from lessons learned during 9/11 and has been refined based on experience during incidents such as Hurricane Katrina.
One of the key features of the JISCC is it provides access to both military and commercial networks as well as providing interconnectivity between military, first responders, and other local radio systems.
About the 142nd Fighter Wing
The Portland Air National Guard Base employs 1,500 Airmen who provide an economic impact of nearly $500 million to the region. The 142nd Fighter Wing defends our homeland with F-15 Eagle fighter jets, guarding the Pacific Northwest skies from northern California to the Canadian border, on 24-hour Aerospace Control Alert as part of Air Combat Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Their mission is to provide unequalled, mission-ready units to sustain combat aerospace superiority and peacetime tasking any time, any place in service to our nation, state and community.
