WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. - Staff Sgt. Darreyl Walker, 217th Engineering Installation Squadron cable systems technician, climbs down into a maintenance tunnel, Sept. 24. Air National Guard members from both the 271st and the 241st spent more than two months at Whiteman replacing copper transmission cable with more efficient fiber optic cable. The fiber optic cable will provide 50 percent more capability and expansion to utilize a greater number of networked products. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Carlin Leslie)

WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. - Staff Sgt. Darreyl Walker, 217th Engineering Installation Squadron cable systems technician, guides fiber optic cable through plastic piping, Sept. 24. Sergeant Walker is running 300 feet of cabling and then will splice the ends together to make one complete cable. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Carlin Leslie)

WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. - U.S. Air National Guardsmen Staff Sgt. Darry Walker (left) and Master Sgt. Mike Leddy, both 217th Engineering Installation Squadron, Springfield, Ill., separate colored stands of fiber optic cable to determine which stands need to be spliced Sept. 24. Air National Guard members from the 271st and the 241st spent more than two months at Whiteman replacing copper transmission cable with more efficient fiber optic cable. The fiber optic cable will provide 50 percent more capability and expansion to utilize a greater number of networked products. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Kenny Holston)

WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. - U.S. Air National Guardsmen Staff Sgt. Darry Walker (left), Staff Sgt. Dustin Sims and Master Sgt. Mike Leddy, 217th Engineering Installation Squadron, Springfield, Ill., work together to loosen a fiber optic cable housing to gain better access to the cable prior to separating the several colored stands of fiber optic cable Sept. 24. Air National Guard members from the 271st and the 241st spent more than two months at Whiteman replacing copper transmission cable with more efficient fiber optic cable. The fiber optic cable will provide 50 percent more capability and expansion to utilize a greater number of networked products. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Kenny Holston)

WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. - U.S. Air National Guardsmen Staff Sgt. Darry Walker (left) and Master Sgt. Mike Leddy, 217th Engineering Installation Squadron, Springfield, Ill., separate colored stands of fiber optic cable to determine which stands need to be spliced Sept. 24. Air National Guard members from the 271st and the 241st spent more than two months at Whiteman replacing copper transmission cable with more efficient fiber optic cable. The fiber optic cable will provide 50 percent more capability and expansion to utilize a greater number of networked products. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Kenny Holston)

WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. - U.S. Air National Guardsmen Staff Sgt. Darry Walker (left), Staff Sgt. Dustin Sims and Master Sgt. Mike Leddy, all 217th Engineering Installation Squadron, Springfield, Ill., unravel and inspect fiber optic cable prior to splicing it to fuse together with a different set of fiber optic cable, Sept. 24. Air National Guard members from the 271st and the 241st have spent more than two months at Whiteman replacing copper transmission cable with more efficient fiber optic cable. The fiber optic cable will provide 50 percent more capability and expansion to utilize a greater number of networked products. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Kenny Holston)

WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. - U.S. Air National Guardsmen Staff Sgt. Darry Walker (left), 217th Engineering Installation Squadron, Springfield, Ill., and Tech Sgt. Gary Farmer, 241st Engineering Installation Squadron, Chattanooga, Tenn., work together to fuse a strand of fiber optic cable, Sept. 24. Air National Guard members from both the 271st and the 241st spent more than two months at Whiteman replacing copper transmission cable with more efficient fiber optic cable. The fiber optic cable will provide 50 percent more capability and expansion to utilize a greater number of networked products. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Kenny Holston)