Ready for the Cut: ARTRANS Battle Staff Hardens PACE Plan Across 1,200-Mile Gulf Corridor

597th Transportation Brigade integrates operations, security, and veteran civilian signal experts to maintain command and control when primary networks go dark

FORT EUSTIS, Va. — In modern multi-domain warfare, the question facing military logistics is never if communications will be severed, but how fast a battle staff responds when the cut comes. To ensure that answer is measured in seconds rather than hours, the 597th Transportation Brigade, U.S. Army Transportation Command (ARTRANS), completed a comprehensive command-and-control communications exercise here Sept. 29, validating real-time operational connectivity across a 1,200-mile corridor with the 842nd Transportation Battalion in Beaumont, Texas.

The exercise, known as COMMEX, evaluated the brigade’s Primary, Alternate, Contingency, and Emergency (PACE) communications architecture. Operating out of the brigade's staging area— a warehouse at Fort Eustis configured with rugged transit cases and a deployable satellite terminal—the drill tested the battle staff’s ability to coordinate large-scale surface deployment operations during simulated commercial infrastructure blackouts and electronic warfare disruptions.

The exercise operationalizes core warfighting concepts developed right next door at Fort Eustis by the U.S. Army Futures and Concepts Command (FCC), a subordinate organization of Army Futures Command. AFC doctrine makes one reality clear: in a conflict with a peer adversary, the American homeland and its strategic seaports will no longer be uncontested sanctuaries. Disruption will begin at domestic railheads, highways, and commercial docks through coordinated cyberattacks and electronic jamming.

FCC doctrine (Pamphlet 71-20-9, "Concept for Command and Control") establishes that true decision dominance rests upon four interrelated pillars: people, processes, networks, and agile command posts.

Turning that theoretical doctrine into practical capability is an institutional focus across the Fort Eustis installation.

“Any table that organizes people and equipment on paper has to be turned into a reality,” said Lt. Gen. Michael C. McCurry, commanding general of the Futures and Concepts Command, during his inaugural remarks here. “We take into account technology, threat, evolving character of war, and we [must] be focused on what's next. That translates into the requirements for our soldiers and what we need to give them to be successful.” When high-tech systems operate in Denied, Disrupted, Intermittent, and Limited bandwidth (DDIL) environments, that reality hinges on the first pillar—the people—determining whether command and control collapses or holds the line.

For the 597th, that reality was forged inside the warehouse staging area, where Maj. Cathy Reyes Goines, brigade operations officer, and Sgt. 1st Class Epps, operations noncommissioned officer and former instructor at the U.S. Army Transportation School at Fort Eustis, managed operations and synchronized tracking alongside communications and intelligence specialists.

“Communication exercises are important because it’s all about readiness,” said Reyes Goines, who served as officer in charge for her fourth COMMEX. “It tests our communications systems and identifies issues. This quarterly COMMEX allows the 597th to maintain command and control of its transportation battalions, ensuring we can communicate through NIPR and SIPR across our different platforms of connectivity.”

“I have a great team in Chris Peters and Ron Taylor. Both are experts in their fields who have longstanding professional relationships with the battalion S6 personnel, ARTRANS, the NEC at JBLE, and the Network Operations Center at Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois, which makes all our jobs easier,” said Reyes-Goines. “The 597th S6 team is very knowledgeable in what they do.”

That technical network ensures that when primary connections go dark, the operations staff avoids hesitation or downtime.

Working shoulder-to-shoulder with veteran signal and security specialists on the warehouse floor eliminates operational guesswork, ensuring movement orders and asset tracking stay completely synchronized without missing a beat.

Executing the technical transitions behind that operational tempo was the brigade’s Department of the Army civilian signal and security cadre—an all-veteran team representing more than 50 years of combined prior military service.

Chris Peters, IT team lead and deployable communications specialist with 24 years of prior service spanning light infantry and signal battalions, oversaw tactical network routing and satellite system failovers. Working in close coordination with Peters was Ronald Taylor, an S6 IT specialist bringing 20 years of active military signal service and 13 years under the ARTRANS banner, who managed data connectivity to preserve real-time command and control.

A critical dimension of being ready for the cut was the active integration of the brigade’s Intelligence and Security Directorate (S2), led on the warehouse floor by security specialist and veteran Jesse Jantz.

When the team shifted communications across satellite feeds, commercial broadband, or cellular links, Jantz enforced strict Operations Security (OPSEC) and Communications Security (COMSEC) protocols to prevent adversary interception of sensitive troop movements and vessel manifests. Operating along the Gulf Coast, the 842nd Transportation Battalion orchestrates military cargo through strategic commercial seaports of embarkation. In real-world contingencies, communications delays translate directly to vessel and rail gridlock.

“It’s absolutely imperative to strengthen the resilience of our communications against any threat, whether it be cyber, electromagnetic, natural disaster, or digital,” said Col. Edward K. Woo, Rapid Support Commander. “[These] lead to contested ports—which generate congested ports.”

And that congestion can slow the delivery of force and sustainment to waiting troops and allies overseas.

By deliberately severing their own connections to test emergency pathways, the 597th Transportation Brigade proved that when the cut comes—whether from an adversary’s cyber strike or a Gulf Coast hurricane—the lines of communication remain open, command and control stays decisive, the ports stay fluid, and the force moves on schedule.

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