A Legacy of Conversions, Deployments, and the Forward March of Progress

Always constant

By Maj. Connlann Myers and Capt. Davyd Hamrick 51st Expeditionary Signal Battalion-Enhanced

Article published on: April 1, 2024 in the Army Communicator Spring 2024 Edition

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The 51st Expeditionary Signal Battalion-Enhanced (ESB-E) is no stranger to transitions and changes in signal technology. As one of the oldest signal battalions in the Army, the 51st has gone from laying telegraph cable across the fields of France and the frozen reservoirs of Korea to reaching satellites with assemblages the size of a suitcase. As the Army once more moves towards a more streamlined, expeditionary force structure, the 51st shifts in kind.

The battalion’s first test was in 1918, as the 55th Telegraph Battalion while participating in the St. Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne Offensives, laying telegraph cables, and running passenger pigeon roosts to ensure command and control for both American and French forces. After the war, the 55th was redesignated as the 51st Signal Battalion. The battalion would see the rise and use of radio systems during the interwar period and would be the testbed for those systems dur- ing peacetime exercises in San Antonio, Texas, sup- porting Gen. John Pershing’s test of the Triangular Di- vision concept in 1937. The next test would be in Eu- rope once again; this time in the Italian campaign in 1943, where the battalion would establish telegraph lines across Sicily and the Italian mainland. After World War II, the 51st Signal Battalion participated in the Korean War supporting the I Corps headquarters, where radio wave technology was further expanded and refined in the frozen mountains.

After the war, the 51st would remain in South Ko- rea until 1981, when it would relocate to Ludwigsburg in West Germany in support of VII Corps. In 1990, 51st Signal Battalion was mobilized for deployment to Saudi Arabia in support of the Gulf War as part of the 93rd Signal Brigade, utilizing the Mobile Subscriber Equipment (MSE) system and existing terrestrial satellite systems.

The following two decades were a period of rapid change and adjustment for the battalion. The 51st would relocate to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in 1993 as 51st Signal Battalion (Airborne) under 35th Signal Brigade, and adopt the Warfighter Information Net- work-Tactical (WIN-T) in 2004. The battalion would then relocate to Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), Washington, in 2007, and utilize WIN-T systems during the surge in Iraq.

On Nov. 16, 2021, 51st ESB was realigned under the newly reconstituted 22nd Corps Signal Brigade (CSB) at JBLM, shifting the battalion’s focus to sup- porting missions in the Pacific theater.

In recent years, the battalion has been tested all around the globe. The battalion participated in United States Africa Command missions in Somalia, support- ed corps-level warfighter exercises in the continental U.S., training throughout the Pacific Northwest, and more recently, exercises in Alaska, Australia, Hawaii, Guam, Japan, Philippines, and Thailand, in support of the United States Indo-Pacific Command theater.

In 2023, 51st ESB converted into an ESB-E, forming the basis of signal support around 48 Scalable Network Node (SNN) systems, which allows for quicker and lighter delivery of signal capabilities, along with a reduction in personnel and rolling stock requirements.

Additionally, the battalion is participating in a Department of the Army pilot program using several high-throughput/low-latency (HT/LL) transport systems, which will inform future decisions on how the Signal Corps provides data transport to the joint force.

Lt. Col. Nicolas Beck, the current 51st ESB-E commander, explains, “It is an exciting time to be a part of 51st, and we look forward to the opportunity to provide the Army feedback on the HT/LL systems as well as how to best to operationally employ an ESB-E for large scale combat operations.”

The 51st ESB-E is postured to deploy to the United States Central Command area of operations (AoR) in 2024 as the first full ESB-E, taking over a mission that has previously been filled from ESBs and providing new capabilities to the area of responsibility. The mission will provide the Army the opportunity to im- prove the tactical network supporting U.S. forces in the AoR with the newest equipment and prove out the ability of the ESB-E concept to fully replace existing ESBs.

The 51^st ESB-E continues to live up to the history and heritage of the Army Signal Corps in innovation, adaptation, and implementation of new technology.