FORT HUACHUCA, Ariz. -- Members of the Network Enterprise Technology Command bid farewell to Brig. Gen Frederick A. Henry, deputy commanding general, in a Retreat ceremony June 28, in front of Greely Hall on Fort Huachuca. In May, Henry was chosen to become the Chief of Staff for the Defense Information Systems Agency in Fort Meade, Md.
During the ceremony, Maj. Gen. Jennifer L. Napper, NETCOM commanding general, explained her own divide and conquer strategy and how she split up the command's responsibilities among the three senior personnel. To Daniel Bradford, senior technical director, she gave future work. To Richard Davis, chief of Operations, she gave current operations. To Henry, she gave the business operations; mostly figuring out how best to deliver critical communications to the Warfighter.
"What that translated to… is figure out a better way to deliver capabilities on every post, camp and station and to every command; and figure out a process to expedite new capabilities as required," Napper said. "No small task since the Army is often confused on whether communications is a utility or a critical mission command enabler… and therefore, no one has attacked the problem for a decade."
Henry was a key player in the recent inception of Army Baseline Information Technology Services, an evolutionary process to refine essential baseline services across the Army.
"Congratulations," Napper said. "You have established processes that, when implemented, will improve war-fighting capabilities for years to come. Now your successor just has to run with ABITS and deliver."
"A little more than a year ago, the concept of 'Good Enough IT' was alive and well," Henry said. "However, it was the many members of the NETCOM Team that shifted the debate to a strategic framework now called Army Baseline IT Services.
"What started out as a concept meeting in my office -- directly behind me -- has now transformed into a pilot that will establish the template and road map for fundamental change in the institutionally Army. I just want to publicly thank those who were on this journey in the beginning and those who have joined the team along the way -- job well done."
Henry's replacement is currently slated to be Col. Pete Gallagher, executive officer to the Army's Chief Information Officer/G-6, Lt. Gen. Susan Lawrence, former NETCOM commanding general. Gallagher's arrival date has not been set.
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