AMCOM Urged To Become More Efficient

By Skip Vaughn, USAG RedstoneDecember 9, 2011

CHANGES AHEAD
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REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. -- AMCOM commander Maj. Gen. Jim Rogers wants you to help change this command for the better.

He emphasized the need for adapting for the future during a town hall meeting Nov. 30 in a filled 650-seat Bob Jones Auditorium. With the Army's ongoing and planned budget cuts, if we don't change on our own, others will make changes for us, according to Rogers.

"We've got to change," he said. "And if we don't change, someone will change us to what we're not going to like."

He encouraged the members of the Aviation and Missile Command to adapt, work smarter and become more efficient.

"I'm here to just emphasize the sense of urgency and hopefully influence you that you personally need to get involved," Rogers said.

Workers can submit their ideas for better ways of doing business to the following website: https://ams8.redstone.army.mil/cmcw/cmcw_change_home.

"We are at a point where we need everyone's help," Rogers said.

He used an analogy of a Rubik's cube but with "an unbelievably complex problem set."

"What we're working toward is trying to solve this Rubik's cube in the most optimal way," Rogers said. "There's not just one answer."

He asked everyone to get on board and suggest solutions to improve the command's processes.

"We are extremely effective," Rogers said. "We are horribly inefficient. And we've got to become efficient."

In fiscal 2010, the Defense Department had a budget of $698 billion. During the next 10 years, defense spending cuts must total $469 billion. And additional cuts are anticipated.

At the end of his presentation, Rogers asked the workers to stay safe during the holidays.

"Take some time out with your families and your loved ones over the holiday season because it's the right time to do it," he said.

Dan Norton, of AMCOM's Integrated Materiel Management Center, was among the workers filing out of the auditorium after the open forum.

"I liked it. It's a big job," Norton said of the general's presentation. "The CG being positive -- I mean it's something that can be done. I'm going to go back (to the office) and look at some possible improvements."