JBER’s phone operators continue legacy of service behind the switchboard

  • Published
  • By David Bedard
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Very few people find themselves as personally attached to their work as Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson telephone operator Doug Osborne did late one night in 2005 when he connected a call between a Soldier deployed to Iraq and his wife who was in labor with the couple's child.

The emotional call was the culmination of a long series of conversations Osborne connected during the couple's extended time apart.

The Wasilla native said he couldn't help but be touched during the connection, when the thousands of miles separating the family was bridged through the circuits of his computer console.

"I connected him to her in the hospital and, as I connected them, she answered," Osborne recalled. "I could hear the baby crying in the background and it just brought tears to my eyes; it reminded me of my own kids being born."

The call was one of millions connected during the past 60 years by the Telephone Operations Section, Operations Flight, 673d Communications Squadron, based at JBER and currently serving their home base, Fort Greely and Fort Wainwright.

Maureen Hamel, chief operator, said her section has slowly assumed responsibility over the years for telephone operations from U.S. Army Alaska's installations as the command first eliminated midnight and swing shifts before entirely consolidating their operations at the former Fort Richardson.

Last October, the telephone operations contract was eliminated at the former Elmendorf Air Force Base, and responsibility of the joint base fell entirely on Hamel's section, the Providence, R.I. native said.

Because seven Department of the Air Force personnel are now doing the work recently handled by 14 operators, Air Force Capt. David Ritter, Operations Flight commander, said it's important for callers to be understanding if there are delays getting through to an operator.

"We have been inundated with calls," the Red Wing, Minn., native said. "I know there's some frustrations out there with calls, and we've asked people to be patient."

With JBER's 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, and Fort Wainwright's 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th ID deployed to Afghanistan, Ritter said Telephone Operations is handling approximately 60,000 calls every month.

He said callers can reduce wait times for directory assistance by first checking listings on JBER's website at www.jber.af.mil/phonebook.

Despite today's era of broadband Internet, smart phones and video teleconferencing, Ritter said the austere conditions at combat outposts often require the use of trusty old land lines to reach family. He said this requirement in particular helps the Telephone Operations Section to understand they are an important link between deployed units and their families as well as official contacts back in the states.

"There are a lot of demands placed on those operators," he said. "The way they handle those demands is impressive - with a smile on their face - and that can be attributed to the fact they know they're part of a bigger mission."

That tradition of supporting the mission dates back to 1949, Hamel said, when Fort Richardson telephone operators handled calls through a small arrangement similar to a contemporary field tactical switchboard used by the military in the field.

She said the older switchboard was replaced by a far more advanced model in 1951, which she used when she started work at Fort Richardson in 1973. Each operator had five panels that could service one caller each, with a spaghetti-like arrangement of extendable wires serving as manual connections between callers.

As more and more service members settled in the then small community of Eagle River, it became critical to get the fledgling suburb connected to the rest of world. Hamel said Fort Richardson established two lines to Eagle River and callers had to get on a waiting list to talk.

"That was an unusual period when you stop and think about it," she explained. "Now, you can dial loved ones with your cell phone. Then, you couldn't dial to Eagle River."

In 1991, the long-serving switchboard was finally replaced by operator consoles about the size of a suit case. Hamel said she missed the switchboard because of the character it brought to her profession.

She said, at the time, the fort's day care had regular tours of Telephone Operations, when small children would marvel at an operators' ability to deftly tame a swirling network of snaking cables in an effort to connect their customers.

Somehow, the mystique was lost when the charming board was replaced by drab, beige, yet highly efficient consoles.

"They brought the kids in twice after that, and they were bored stiff," Hamel said with a hearty laugh. "There was nothing going on."

Though computers no different than common desktops have long replaced switchboards and consoles, Hamel said the human element of telephone operators has not changed.

"I do not care if they have ever been a telephone operator before," she said in reference to potential hires. "What I look for is strong customer service skills, because that's what it takes when they're dealing with people of all different personalities."

Not that she has to hire operators that often, because her staff averages more than 12 years of service.

"When people get in here, they have a tendency to stay," she said with a nod.

For his part, Osborne said he enjoys the work because of the connections he makes everyday.

"It's pretty fulfilling being an operator, because we bring people together," he said. "And, at times, we get to share a bit of their lives."