Airman jumps in as NCO in charge of joint unit

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Andrew Lee
  • 9th Air and Space Expeditionary Task Force-Iraq Public Affairs
MOSUL, Iraq --  Most men and women in their early 20s are either working a nine to five job or in school and not much aware of what's going on in the Middle East. An Airman deployed from Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D., is in the middle of it all, ensuring cyber security and making his mark on history.

Tasked to the 151st Expeditionary Signals Battalion at Contingency Operating Site Diamondback, Iraq, Senior Airman Joseph Kerner, system administration shop NCO in charge, was thrown into a role completely unfamiliar to him, yet he took charge as if everything was normal.

On his first deployment, the 21-year-old Airman spent the last three months doing a job he knew he had to be done. He has taken complete control of the job at hand, one usually specified for non-commissioned officers.

"We needed someone to manage the team, and the NCOIC position needed to be filled," Airman Kerner said. "It was something that just needed to be done so work could progress. I just had to pick up the pieces and go with it, because there was no time for growing pains."

He continuously climbs over the obstacles of the different structures, rules and regulations from working jointly. Working alongside his fellow Airmen and Soldiers of the same rank and lower in the unit, Airman Kerner supervises a team that manage more than 3,300 network users.

"This position has its challenges as it is, then you add more tests by being in a joint environment," said the Knoxville, Iowa, native. "It is all different for me, but it is nice"
Leading as if it was a natural talent, his team has successfully completed more than 500 trouble tickets ranging from simple password changes to complex problems with series of total computer failures.

While more and more redeploy as the U.S. Forces transition control back to the Iraqi forces, Airman Kerner still keeps everything running smooth and constantly ensures the proper security patches are distributed throughout the network and computers are working efficiently.

"Fewer users doesn't really mean less work," Airman Kerner said. "The operations tempo is still high and the proper security is critical for the daily missions at Mosul. If we didn't keep the networks up to date, communication could fail and our security could be penetrated."

When work flow allows for a break, the Grand Forks AFB senior airman makes due with what he has and does it with a simple smile on his face, knowing not everyone gets the opportunity he has of being an NCOIC and being in Iraq at the unique time of Operation New Dawn.

"It is what you make of it," Airman Kerner said. "Knowing that I'm here in this point of history is nice, it's definitely something I'll talk about."