Commander of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, Gen. Robert Cone, visited 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division at White Sands Missile Range Tuesday to observe the Army’s six-week network field exercise scheduled through mid-July.
During his visit to the units operating with the systems under test (SUTs) and systems under evaluation (SUEs), Gen. Cone noted the importance of streamlining the process of requirements determination saying there’s a need to further condense the cycle of testing, approving, and fielding technology to the soldiers.
“I sensed great impatience on the part of these Soldiers who understand the art of the possible in the application of technology,” said Gen. Cone, paying tribute to the knowledge, skills, and attributes of the 21st century soldier who was raised on computers and smart-phones.
Gen. Cone envisions integrating the network and incorporating current technology in operations as a step towards defining the Army of 2020 and recruiting technologically savvy citizens to join the ranks.
“The thing that is so impressive when you talk to these Soldiers--the first Soldier that I met, Private 1st Class Johnson, had written code for a (software) application, and you understand that this appeals to his generation. When there is a smarter, better way to do something that involves technology, they’re not afraid to go in that direction,” said Gen. Cone, “I think that appeals to them, so that we can really focus our intellectual energy on the big problems and use technology to do the lower-level tasks that are routine or redundant that don’t involve decision making to allow us to make decisions better.”
The Network Integration Evaluation (NIE) is the first of four semi-annual evaluations conducted by the Triad of Army organizations including Brigade Modernization Command, the Army Test and Evaluation Command and Program Executive Office Integration in conjunction with 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division.
“This is a tremendous organization, doing exactly what the Army needs to do to facilitate new technologies into the Army,” said Gen. Cone, “All of the Soldiers I talked to today were so impressive in their commitment to getting it right, to applying their personal experiences and thinking creatively to offer solutions to the Army’s problems.”
Gen. Cone’s first stop on the tour was Mountain Village where A Company, 1st Battalion, 35th Armored Regiment is conducting wide area security operations while incorporating various SUTs and SUEs including the Network Integration Kit (NIK), Ground Mobile Radio (GMR) and Connecting Soldiers to Digital Applications (CSDA).
The soldiers responsible for testing the systems come from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. One soldier, Pfc. Nicholas Johnson, worked as a software developer before joining the Army.
“I’m thankful for their sacrifice and their service to be out here in 100-degree temperatures working through this, because what we don’t want to do is send a piece of equipment to Iraq or Afghanistan or elsewhere in harm’s way and have a Soldier say it’s really not worth it,” said Gen. Cone, “That does a disservice to the Soldiers and it does a disservice to the taxpayer who has paid for the piece of equipment.”
Evaluating the systems as part of an integrated network rather than individually will minimize the time and effort spent integrating systems at the unit level.
Gen. Cone flew next to Charlie Troop, 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment’s area of operations where he observed the unit conducting combined arms maneuver operations and route clearing operations utilizing various SUTs and SUEs including the Puma Unmanned Aircraft System.
“I think the process of field testing this equipment with combat-experienced Soldiers can give insight into the kinds of technological applications and their success better than any other process that I am aware of,” said Gen. Cone.
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