advance planning?

There's a not very interesting article at Air Force Link on satellite phone service, Battlefield calls go through MacDill

Because of the prominent use of satellite communications and the large amounts of bandwidth needed to use this type of communications, RSSC technicians carefully plan satellite phone time, said David Miller, chief of UHF cell. Exercises help the RSSC staff ensure that planning is efficient and that military commanders have the time and bandwidth they require for satellite phone calls.

Although the RSSC team members start planning six to eight months in advance of a war, they are very flexible and ready to deal with rapid changes.

We'd like to know how far ahead of time they were planning for satellite service in Iraq. How far in advance were they staging "excercises"?