Defence communications never sleep, and the Defence Communications Area Master Station Australia ensures they do not.
Known as DEFCAMSAUS, it has maintained a 24/7 watch since the 1940s, ready to assist personnel.
Provision, assure and defend the cyber terrain is its mission.
The joint communications watch team provides a help-desk function that manages incidents and outages. It maintains communications and network services for Defence personnel, coordinates information and prioritises and escalates issues to the commanding officer.
Services are restored based on what are determined to be the most important incidents affecting the networks.
Three hundred triservice personnel, APS staff and contractors across five states work in four sub-units under DEFCAMSAUS, managing communications from satellite links and radio frequencies, to internet access and secure messaging.
They are the hub overseeing connectivity for deployed forces, naval vessels and land-based personnel, and facilitate allied information sharing. They are the backbone of the Defence Terrestrial Communications Network (DTCN), the third largest network in Australia - behind Optus and Telstra.
Operations warrant officer for the air domain, Warrant Officer Phillip Bond, said most people were not aware of what happened behind the scenes.
"Network maintenance tasks go on in the background. Any one of those can go unexpectedly wrong and cause an outage that we're not expecting," he said.
"Everybody goes to work and logs onto their systems - whatever ones they use - and just expect that they're going to work."
Multiple help desks exist for different areas of Defence's networks. Every time a Defence employee raises a ticket with ICT, information is used to determine the network's overall health.
'Everybody goes to work and logs onto their systems - whatever ones they use - and just expect that they're going to work.'
While DEFCAMSAUS handles a large volume of issues, its focus is on high-impact, high-priority incidents. Many lower-priority issues are handled at unit level.
Over the past 18 months, DEFCAMSAUS has emerged from being a directorate in Chief Information Officer Group to a joint unit in Joint Capabilities Group.
In early February, it held its first transfer of command ceremony in more than 20 years.
Outgoing Commanding Officer Commander Adam Shortis said his proudest achievement was halving the separation rate of the soldiers, sailors and aviators in the communications community.
"The comms workforce is in a fairly hazardous state," Commander Shortis said.
"From the most junior sailor, soldier or aviator through to myself put [our efforts] into making it a place where people wanted to come.
"That's what I'm most proud of - the real improvements in how we look after our people."
Incoming Commanding Officer Commander Stephanie Foulkes said DEFCAMSAUS would continue ensuring the best support for users.
"It's a privilege to have been selected," Commander Foulkes said.
"I'm lucky that I'm supported by a team of very competent and knowledgeable people.
"[DEFCAMSAUS] offers great opportunities for workforce development and continuing progression for people throughout all stages of their careers."
