There are three standards that Brig. Gen. Bill Cole uses to measure his Army assignments -- the opportunity to learn something new, the ability to make a difference for Soldiers, and the potential to enjoy the mission.
By those measurements, Cole has struck success in his most recent assignment as the deputy program executive officer for the Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space at Redstone Arsenal, Ala.
"Throughout my career, the Army has kept putting me in jobs that provided opportunities for learning, for being able to contribute and have an impact, and for having some fun," Cole said. "Those opportunities are influenced by your leadership and I've been fortunate to have phenomenal leaders who influenced my decisions to make the Army my career."
These days, Cole is making contributions on the most technically advanced missile systems that the Army has to offer its warfighters.
"The PEO-Missiles and Space offers a really interesting portfolio with a lot of high technology that affects the ground war," he said. "It's a very diverse portfolio. Some of the technology I am familiar with from previous assignments. But I am also learning about even newer technologies in this assignment."
Cole came to the PEO-Missiles and Space in January, taking over as the deputy PEO when the organization's previous deputy -- senior executive service member Barry Pike -- was promoted to PEO upon the re-assignment of then PEO Maj. Gen. Neil Thurgood, who has moved on to work in the Pentagon in the office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology. Cole comes to his new assignment from serving simultaneously as both the deputy commanding general of the Research, Development and Engineering Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, and senior commander of the Natick Soldier Systems Center, Natick, Mass.
In his new role, Cole provides leadership focused on managing the progress of four major programs through development milestones -- the Integrated Battle Command System, the Long Range Precision Fires system, Indirect Fire Protection Capability and a major upgrade to the Patriot radar.
"Redstone Arsenal has had a lasting impact on the Army by developing systems that Soldiers have used and relied on for decades," Cole said, referring to the Army Ballistic Missile Agency at Redstone in the 1950s that led to the development of such well-known missile systems as Patriot, MLRS and TOW.
"Today, we are modernizing these missile systems so they will continue to serve our warfighters on future battlefields. For instance, we have modernized the missiles, launchers, and the command and control on Patriot, and now we are working on its radar system. It's still called the Patriot, but it looks nothing like the Patriot of Operation Desert Storm."
Cole comes from a family legacy of military service. His father was a Department of the Army mechanical engineer who worked on development of Army equipment at Picatinny Arsenal and Fort Monmouth, both in New Jersey; and testing weapons and equipment at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. His grandfather served as an Army field artilleryman during World War II and the Korean War, and his great grandfather served as a field artilleryman during World War I and as a coast artilleryman before and after the war.
So, it wasn't surprising that Cole was commissioned into Field Artillery after graduating from the U.S. Military Academy in 1987, with a desire to involve himself in the research and development of new weapon systems. After serving as a fire support officer and battery fire direction officer with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., he deployed with the 82nd to Desert Shield/Storm, serving as the executive officer of Battery C, 3rd Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment.
"We trained to go to war and then we had a lot of training in the desert to get ready for war," he recalled. "Our field artillery battery had 105mm Howitzers, although we hardly fired them at all in combat because the ground war was so short. We did get to see the Multiple Launch Rocket System fired and we could hear Patriot engaging on the first Scud attacks. It was a very high tech war for its day. Twenty-five years later, we take that technology for granted."
Cole spent nine years as a Field Artillery officer before shifting to the Acquisition Corps in 1996.
"Working in Fire Support, I was able to take what I learned about different weapon systems, Soldier equipment needs, and what Soldiers need to function in different stressful environments, and then try to use that knowledge to help acquire what they need to succeed as warfighters," Cole said.
As an Acquisition officer, he worked at the Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center at Picatinny Arsenal; with the Lightweight 155mm Howitzer and with the "Excalibur" 155mm Global Positioning System-guided artillery projectile; and in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, along with other assignments. In 2012, he deployed for 11 months as the director of forward operations for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition Logistics and Technology, and for the Research, Development and Engineering Command.
"That was a very rewarding deployment because I got to coordinate new equipment fielding to the troops, and I was also involved in bringing a lot of equipment back to the states. A lot of it was new equipment that had to be properly classified before being shipped back," he said. "I was glad to have played a small part in getting the latest and greatest gear to the Soldiers on the front line. It was rewarding to work with all the great people dedicated to that mission."
The PEO-Missiles and Space is the third program executive office Cole has been associated with during his career. He has worked on guided munitions with the PEO-Ammunition, and on Soldier protection and individual equipment for PEO-Soldier.
One of the unique things about this PEO is that we are physically close to our partners," he said, referring to sharing Redstone Arsenal with the Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center, the Aviation and Missile Command, the Space and Missile Defense Command, the Missile Defense Agency and the Army Materiel Command.
"That close proximity encourages collaboration. We can better leverage each other's skill sets and strengths so that we provide the latest and greatest to warfighters. It's so nice to have an engineering laboratory -- AMRDEC -- right down the street and then our associated life cycle command -- AMCOM -- right across the street. All of our engineers are matrixed from AMRDEC and all of our logisticians are from AMCOM along with most of our foreign military sales specialists. That reduces redundancies and makes us all one team."
Cole's assignment with PEO-Missiles and Space allows him to continue his role as an Acquisition officer who supplies warfighters with new technologies.
"The equipment has changed since Desert Storm and also since 9/11," he said. "And the percentage of Soldiers who have deployed and who have combat experience continues to increase.
"The thing that hasn't changed is that we still have young men and women willing to devote their lives or at least part of their lives to serving something bigger than themselves. And, those are the Soldiers whom I want to support and impact as an Acquisition officer."
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