ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. - A delegation of new military legislative assistants (MLA) from the U.S. House of Representatives got an up-close look at Army technology and innovation during a visit to Aberdeen Proving Ground Jan. 31.
The delegation made stops at the C4ISR Center of Excellence Campus as well as the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command's Army Research Laboratory and Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC).
At the C4ISR campus, delegation members were greeted by Gary Martin, deputy to the commander of the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) and APG Garrison Commander Col. Gregory McClinton who gave the group an overview of the installation.
Organizational overviews also were delivered by Jill Smith, CERDEC director; Doug Tamilio of Program Executive Office Command Control Communications-Tactical (PEO C3T); Dr. Rich Wittstruck, acting deputy program executive officer, Program Executive Office Intelligence Electronic Warfare & Sensors (PEO IEW&S); Steve Bryant deputy director of the Army Contracting Command-APG; and Paul Mehney, director of communications for the System of Systems Engineering & Integration (SOSE&I) Directorate of the Assistant Secretary of the Army's office for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology.
The delegation consisted of 12 Congressional staff members and three officers from the Office of the Chief Legislative Liaison (OCLL).
"It is tremendously important to keep staff members like these informed of the many innovations and accomplishments coming out of APG in support of the joint warfighter," said Robert DiMichele, public affairs officer for CECOM. "They are often the eyes and ears of the members of Congress when it comes to issues."
Most members of Congress and the Senate have multiple legislative assistants who are tasked to handle one or more areas in which the assistant has particular expertise. Often the assignments will be connected to the committee assignments of the member. Generally, they monitor pending legislation, conduct research, draft legislation and offer advice, counsel and recommendations.
Maj. Ben Ferguson, Congressional liaison officer with OCLL, said the purpose of the visit to APG was for the MLAs to learn about the installation's organizations, facilities and capabilities. Delegation members were from several different representatives' offices including those of Maryland Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, who recently was named co-chair of the House Army Caucus for the 113th Congressional Session. The Caucus includes more than 100 members from both parties and works to educate fellow House members on Army needs, and advocate for those needs in the legislative process. Ruppersberger is the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee and is a former member of the House Armed Services Committee.
"Each delegate will be a chief advisor for their representatives," Ferguson said.
"Their duties will include advising on upcoming legislations. Generally a young staffer starts out as either an intern or a legislative correspondent which includes responding to correspondence from constituents, and often times will move up to become legislative aides," he added.
An Armor officer with two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, Ferguson added that his job includes telling the Army story to members of the House. "My job is to answer questions about the Army," he said.
While at the C4ISR campus, delegation members received a briefing on the Distributed Common Ground System-Army (DCGS-A) from Col. Charles Wells, DCGS-A project manager.
The DCGS-A is the Army's primary system for posting of data, processing of information and disseminating intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance information about the threat, weather and terrain to all components and echelons. It provides commanders the ability to task battle-space sensors and receive intelligence information from multiple sources and facilitates "seeing" and "knowing" on the battlefield.
"We're very excited about it," Wells said.
Other tour sites included the PEO IEW&S Joint Technical Integration Facility; the PM WIN-T CSDC Lab; CERDEC's Communications Systems Integration Lab (CSIL) and Prototype Integration Facility.
The tour closed with an RDECOM overview by acting deputy director Eric Edwards at ARL's Rodman Building, where the MLAs learned about basic research and collaboration with other RDECOM elements; helmet research as it relates to Soldier protection and 5.56mm round redesign. Briefings were offered by Drs. Jeff Zabinski and Shawn Walsh and Tyler Ehlers of RDECOM/ARL.
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