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This was the first phrase I had to learn, when I started as an operator 14 years ago.
With basic knowledge of the military, I had to learn every organization, office symbol, and offices, and what they do to provide the best customer service and know exactly what the customer needs, before they even know it. And having one of the largest databases, which is growing and being updated daily, making learning and teaching even more difficult. As others followed behind me, I had the pleasure of teaching new operators and military augmentees before I was promoted to Chief.
Every new operator must go through this learning process, but with the high operations tempo environment that comes with supporting the Global Gateway and the people around, you make it possible to learn something new every day.
We represent the 86th Communications Squadron, King Comm, where we pride ourselves in our mission “to connect and deliver information superiority across the Global Gateway,” putting people first and always. You might be used to hearing us every day or even remember our operator numbers. Or you might be completely new to the base and hear from us the first time.
Either way, the European Consolidated Switchboard, with its 29 operators, covering 14 different bases for not only the entire theatre but also assisting all military branches and Department of Defense civilians worldwide, 24/7, 365 days a year, is here to help in any way possible. And that is a literal fact.
On average, our team processes over 900,000 calls per year. Our team is composed female and male operators with many serving for a very long time. Our longest serving switchboard operator served 43 years being an operator for the Air Force!
The ability to assist our worldwide customers in 16 different languages is unique and special, and I am proud to be leading this team. Every operator speaks at least two languages. Most of them speak three or more. With this special gift, we can give service to any caller who needs assistance.
There is a sense of pride that comes with the job. At the end of the day, a small connection probably made a big difference for somebody.
Our calls range from morale calls, previously known as a “heart to heart call,” to making connections from every deployed location worldwide and other overseas locations. We are the gateway to connecting separated families to being greeted by our day-to-day customers with “Oh, hi. It’s me again!” or “Hey operator, how are you doing today?”
Unfortunately, we must also face emergency calls, where you need to focus immediately and change from your last call full of laughter to an injured person or one in total panic. These are the down sides to the job since we often do not know how the situation may have ended once the connection with distant end is made. But we can be proud to be part of saving lives.
Being part of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe can be quite challenging on our operators. During the Operation Allies Refuge in 2021, the USAFE Consolidated Switchboard was the first point of contact for everybody involved — Airmen, evacuees, concerned family members and friends. The operators did an outstanding job handling the sudden flood of call traffic coming in from all over the world.
They calmed down parents checking if their child made it to safety, children searching for their parents since they had not heard from them, and friends of evacuees being upset because they were in panic of their loved ones. The list is long and it was a difficult time for everyone, but if you do this job, your only concern is helping as much as possible and that’s just what we do!
A great story, where we were very glad to hear the outcome, happened in July 2021. A plane spotter called us on a line from Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, reporting flames coming out of a plane taking off. Operator 33 knew exactly where to connect the caller immediately. Thanks to her and of course the plane spotter who reacted so quickly, the pilot of the plane could be alerted in time for him to land safely.
Some might think this job involves only connecting to numbers, but the best part of it is to connect with the people calling from all over the world. If you ask our operators what they love the most about their job, they will all tell you “Knowing you helped so many people in one day.”
