Depot provides training for prototype program

By Public Affairs OfficeJuly 26, 2011

Depot provides training for prototype program
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

TOBYHANNA ARMY DEPOT, Pa. " Pfc. John Sullivan, left, reviews and verifies technical manual procedures for the Harbormaster Trailer Sensor Platform with Gouldsboro resident Robert Baker, an equipment specialist in the Production Engineering Directorate’s Technical Publications Branch. Tobyhanna Army Depot partnered with the Harbormaster Command and Control Center (HCCC) Program to create a training piece and technical manuals.

The program provides asset tracking for Army watercraft and an enhanced interface with other military forces and civilian operations. Since its inception, after the USS Cole bombing in 2000, the Harbormaster Office has maintained constant control of movement and berthing of watercraft while enforcing safety, security and environmental regulations.

The depot is working to provide mobile command posts to support those operations.

“Considering what our global mission is, if this becomes a program of record it could be huge,” said Hanover Township resident Charles Middleton, training administrator in the Business Management Directorate’s New Equipment Training Division. “The potential is there. It’s not just about looking for the next black box to fix. This is looking toward the future.”

The depot has been involved in the program for about a year and a half. During this time, a team of about 20 employees has put together a prototype of the mobile command post that will be used to train warfighters in the field in over-the-shore operations. The depot also produces student guides and lesson plans to train field service representatives. The first training unit will be sent to Fort Eustis, Va.

Tobyhanna Army Depot is the Defense Department’s largest center for the repair, overhaul and fabrication of a wide variety of electronics systems and components, from tactical field radios to the ground terminals for the defense satellite communications network. Tobyhanna’s missions support all branches of the Armed Forces.

About 5,600 personnel are employed at Tobyhanna, which is located in the Pocono Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania.

Tobyhanna Army Depot is part of the U.S. Army CECOM Life Cycle Management Command. Headquartered at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., the command’s mission is to research, develop, acquire, field and sustain communications, command, control computer, intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors capabilities for the Armed Forces.