Experience and capabilities
Technical operations grounded in practical execution.
My background combines military communications, production network support, independent infrastructure, websites, community operations, and early-stage business development. Across those environments, the consistent responsibility has been to understand what a system is supposed to accomplish, keep it operating, document what matters, and make responsible decisions when conditions change.
Military communications in practice
My Army experience combined technical responsibility with teamwork in environments where communications had to be deployable, understandable, and dependable. These photographs represent the people and service behind the network-operations experience described below.
Chris Kalkowski during his service in the United States Army.
Advanced Individual Training (AIT) class after completing our final tests, shortly before graduation.
Professional experience
Network Specialist — Tango Alpha 3, Malmstrom Air Force Base
March 2022 – September 2022
I handled day-to-day network operations supporting medical clinics and approximately 500 users. The role included connectivity troubleshooting, VoIP support, workstation issues, equipment tracking, network documentation, and identifying problems before they became wider service interruptions. Because the users supported clinical operations, reliable communication and clear escalation mattered more than simply closing a ticket quickly.
Home test lab I built and used in Montana for hands-on networking, server, hardware, and troubleshooting projects.Home lab — Montana
Outside work, I built and maintained a home test lab in Montana so I could continue developing technical skills through direct experimentation. I used the rack-mounted network and server equipment to practice configuration, troubleshoot connectivity and hardware problems, test changes before applying them elsewhere, and support personal projects. Building the lab reinforced a habit I have carried into later work: learn a system by operating it, break problems into manageable parts, document what matters, and improve the setup over time.
Nodal Network Systems Operator — United States Army, Fort Stewart and Germany
April 2019 – April 2022
I built, operated, and maintained tactical communications networks in field conditions where equipment limitations, time pressure, and changing requirements were normal. My responsibilities included user access, VoIP, system performance, troubleshooting, equipment accountability, and training soldiers to operate and maintain the environment. The objective was to leave the team capable of sustaining the system rather than making one technician the single point of failure.
While assigned to 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, I supported field communications work in Germany. I became the first Soldier in 2ABCT to learn the Transportable Tactical Command Communications (T2C2) system—commonly called the GATR or “Gator Ball”—bring it to an operational state, and then teach a class so other Soldiers could operate it. The system provides rapidly deployable satellite voice and data connectivity without depending on permanent infrastructure, making correct setup and knowledge transfer important in field conditions.
That initiative was recognized with a company challenge coin. It also contributed to my promotion to Specialist (E-4) at the earliest point allowed by my time in service, making me the fastest Soldier in my company to reach that rank. More importantly, the work demonstrated a pattern I have carried forward: learn unfamiliar technology quickly, make it useful under real operating conditions, document what matters, and teach the team so the capability survives beyond one person.
Recognition: first 2ABCT Soldier to learn and teach T2C2 operation · Company challenge coin · Promoted to E-4 at the earliest time-in-service eligibility
Satellite Transportable Terminal (STT) used during field communications operations in Germany. The STT is separate from the T2C2 system recognized by the accompanying challenge coin.
Challenge coin recognizing T2C2 GATR Ball operation and instruction with 2ABCT, 3ID.
Independent operations and business development
Since 2022, I have worked across dedicated servers, automation, websites, online communities, technical support, marketing, and small business experiments. The work has required learning unfamiliar tools quickly, coordinating several moving parts, protecting live data, and deciding when to continue investing effort or when changing conditions made a project unreasonable to pursue.
A significant part of this experience has been outreach. I have built relationships and initiated conversations with executives, investors, operators, distributors, and industry participants who are often difficult for an early-stage project to reach. Those conversations have produced market intelligence, conditional interest, and a more realistic understanding of what financing, compliance, partnerships, and execution would require. I treat access as the beginning of diligence, not as proof that a transaction or commitment exists.
I also pursue projects because learning the underlying system may create value later even when the immediate concept does not launch. Researching government procurement, land and development requirements, regulated products, decentralized technology, community operations, or monetization expands the set of problems I can approach in the future. The result is a growing body of practical knowledge rather than a collection of disconnected ideas.
Training and credentials
I completed the 27-week military communications MOS qualification course at Signal School, Fort Gordon, from June 2019 through January 2020. My hands-on equipment experience includes Cisco routers and switches, Cisco Call Manager, Redcom Sigma, Promina, Brocade, and mixed tactical communications systems. I earned CompTIA Security+ in November 2020; the certification expired in 2023 and is listed here with that status rather than represented as current.