TCM-AB gains new leadership

A familiar face at Fort Rucker assumed the leadership role as director at the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Capability Manager for Aviation Brigades during a Change of Charter ceremony at the U.S. Army Aviation Museum here Sept. 12.

Col. Ryan Coyle received the charter after it was relinquished from outgoing director, Col. Mark Moser, symbolizing the transfer of authority from outgoing to incoming director.

Ceremony host Col. Tom von Eschenbach, director, Capability Development and Integration Directorate for the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence, in his remarks thanked the audience for attending the ceremony, including the leaders' family and also the members of "TCM-AB" who are "the heart and soul of the organization," he said.

"All the directorates of CDID are the engine of change in how we design, build and improve today's and tomorrow's Army," von Eschenbach said.

The driving force of those engines is to win in a complex world, in keeping with the Army Operating Concept, according to von Eschenbach.

Von Eschenbach welcomed Coyle as "no stranger to the team," with relevant experience to bring to the new role.

"I'm sure he will continue to carry the torch, along with other big rocks that he just inherited," he said.

Coyle's most recent assignment was doctrine division chief for the Directorate of Training and Doctrine here.

Commissioned in 1995, Coyle is a graduate of the US Military Academy. His previous assignments include squadron commander of 7th Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 159th Combat Aviation Brigade, Fort Campbell, Ky.; Aviation planner for the 101st Airborne Division staff; and squadron operations officer for 2nd Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii.

His deployments include Operation Joint Forge in Bosnia and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Coyle thanked his family members in the audience for their support and their presence as he took the reins at TCM-AB. He also thanked Moser and the TCM-AB team for showing him the ropes during the transition time.

"I'm humbled to join such an extraordinary team of professionals comprised of those in uniform, Department of the Army civilians, and the contractors that have made, and continue to make, such a positive impact on Army Aviation," Coyle said.

A TRADOC Capability Manager, empowered by a charter, serves as the warfighter's representative for all systems assigned under the charter.

For "TCM-AB," these areas include all user activities and capability developments of Aviation survivability, aircrew integrated systems, tactical air traffic services, Aviation sustainment, and Aviation mission command and interoperability.

In a society where instant gratification is the norm, being a driver of change in capability development can often be difficult, especially in a world that grows increasingly more complex, according to von Eschenbach.

To explain a capability manager's job more in layman's terms, von Eschenbach described the role of the TCM, not as a manager of a product line, but as a manager responsible for ensuring the products "talk to each other, that they survive a kinetic and cyber attack, they're user friendly and maintainable, and they operate in all conditions. This task also has to be accomplished while mediating the differences between the products, and breaking down stove pipes at each product line," he said.

It's a tough job Moser and his team did well, he said.

"He shouldered … this large responsibility and simultaneously juggled the hottest issues in Army Aviation without fail," von Eschenbach said.

Moser in his remarks thanked leaders and family in the audience, including his father, Paul, a veteran who served in the Navy during World War II.

Moser commended the team of employees at TCM-AB for their efforts in understanding, documenting, and developing the capability requirements for Aviation Soldiers, and for seeing it through to fruition with their acquisition teammates and industry.

"The bottom line is they want to ensure the delivery of that capability into the hands of our Soldiers," he said.

Moser plans to retire from the US Army.