Joint Communications Support Element marks 50th anniversary with 50-mile relay run

  • Published
  • By Army Master Sgt. Mark Swart
  • Joint Public Affairs Support Element
MACDILL AIR FROCE BASE, Fla. --  Service members from the Joint Communications Support Element found themselves in a familiar situation over the past two days as they relied on teamwork in small groups to accomplish a challenging mission.

Running through the night and into the early morning, teams from each JCSE squadron completed a 50-mile relay run the morning of Dec. 9 at the fitness center track on MacDill Air Force Base.

The element, which specializes in sending small teams of communications specialists on short notice to support DoD forces in contingencies worldwide, ran in a mass formation of more than 200 service members back to headquarters where they took time to observe the significance of the day.

Rear Adm. Scott A. Stearney, commander of the Joint Enabling Capabilities Command, the higher headquarters for JCSE, spoke to the unit after the run.

"Because of the many thousands and three generations of service members who have come before you, the next 50 years is just the beginning," Stearney said. "You all carry a special place in our hearts today."

He added that leadership, especially from the noncommissioned officers, had been one of the keys to mission success for the element. He said JCSE service members are the "essence of what a joint warrior is today. You have the ability to quickly set up command and control wherever and whenever needed."

Col. Stephen Corcoran, commander of JCSE, noted that even on special occasions such as this, the mission never stops.

"Nearly one third of JCSE is deployed or in motion right now. Today we stop to reflect on the past 50 years and to think about the future," he said.

Corcoran presented three special 50th anniversary commemorative JCSE posters at the ceremony. The first print went to Command Sgt. Maj. (Ret.) David Jones, who was the command sergeant major for JCSE in the mid and late 80s.

"This is one of the most distinctive honors I've received," Jones said.
He said that in the 20 years since he has retired from the unit, the amount of gear that used to take up 11 C-141 aircraft could now fit in the back of a truck.

"I think JCSE drives the train in terms of causing the services to stay technologically astute."

Jones was one of several veterans who attended the ceremony, all of the veterans and current service members received the anniversary print at a breakfast after the ceremony.

JCSE was originally formed as the Communications Support Element in 1961 with 415 Air Force and Army members, in 1972 the Navy and Marines joined the element and it was renamed JCSE.

Some of the first missions for JCSE included deployment to the Belgian Congo in 1964 in support of Joint Task Force Leo and support during disaster relief after the Brownsville, Texas floods in 1968.

Today JCSE has the capability for mobile, initial entry, or early entry communications support for up to a 40-person Joint Task Force in permissive and non-permissive environments. It can also support a larger joint task force headquarters and two Joint Special Operations Task Force headquarters with anywhere from 40-1,500 users.

JCSE consists of more than 1,000 service members in both active and reserve component forces -- including three active duty squadrons, two Air-National Guard Squadrons, and one Army Reserve squadron.

In the past year JCSE has deployed service members in support of Operation Tomodachi, Japan, Operation Odyssey Dawn, Stuttgart, Germany, Operation Continuing Promise 2011, Central and South America, Operation New Dawn, Iraq, and Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan
The JCSE is a subordinate unit of the U.S. Transportation Command's Joint Enabling Capabilities Command, based in Norfolk, Va.