Base operators, invisible connectors

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman David Owsianka
  • 374th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan --  You will never see their faces unless you step into their office. They are the voices that help personnel connect to various agencies throughout the base and around the world.

Telephone operators with the 374th Communications Squadron work behind the scenes to provide Yokota members with accurate, speedy and responsive information to successfully complete our mission.

"We are here to support everyone who works on this base, whether they are stationed here or are only going to be at Yokota for a short time," said Yoko Suganuma, 374 CS telephone operations chief. "We have a vast amount of telephone numbers on base and numbers for many other bases. We assist with official calls that office phones can't dial directly."

The operators assist with a variety of phone calls from on and off base to all over the world.

There are two different types of phone call requests: on net and off net. On-net calls are when personnel make calls from a Defense Switch Network line to another DSN line. Off-net calls are made with personal phones (cell or home phones) to base numbers.

According to Suganuma, there are various agencies throughout the base who are asked to connect personnel to other units.

"Even though some agencies have global access on their phone and can transfer calls to other bases, that is not their primary job, it is ours," Suganuma added.

For each commercial, transatlantic, priority or higher precedence official phone call, base personnel need to obtain a control number from their telephone control officer.
"Our office provides uninterrupted voice service and data communication in support of base personnel," said Hideko Onodera, 374 CS telephone operator. "We help people work and operate as smoothly and conveniently as possible."

The base operators provides 24-hour base support throughout the year. To contact the base operator office by commercial dial 011-81-042-552-2510, then 5-1110 when prompted to do so; by DSN dial (315) 225-1110.