Laughlin Airmen receive C3 award

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Daniel Brand
  • 47th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Two Airmen were recently recognized for promoting an idea that conserved an estimated $30,000. Senior Airman Brenden Wright and Tech. Sgt Daniel Jacobson, 47th Communications Squadron, recently received a certificate from Col. Tom Murphy, 47th Flying Training Wing Commander, commending them for their efforts.

Their idea arose from a new Air Force requirement mandating that all base command posts have a UHF radio to communicate with aircraft flying their area of responsibility. The original plan was to meet this requirement by installing a new multi-band radio, antenna, and 300 feet of cable, which would have cost $30,000.

That's when Jacobson considered the possibility of reconfiguring existing equipment in order to satisfy the requirement. The airfield at Laughlin already employed a transmitter that met the requirements for the command post, so Jacobson proposed running a telephone cable to the transmitter rather than purchasing an all-new transmitter. The aircraft communications frequency, he discovered, could be shared between both the airfield and the command post.

"Once we decided to go with a 'remoting' concept, we got the ball rolling in the right direction," said Jacobson. "I worked to acquire the assets for Airman Wright and provide guidance if needed during the installation for both Wright and the command post personnel."

"By doing this we were able to forgo the cost of purchasing a new transmitter and receiver system, and we also saved a monthly charge of $300 by utilizing the existing frequency," Wright said.

As budgets continue to tighten, all Airmen are heavily encouraged to find similar savings within their own departments. Savings such as those produced by Wright and Jacobson will go a long way to ensuring that defense dollars continue to provide the most bang for the buck.