TOBYHANNA ARMY DEPOT, Pa. -- Tobyhanna Army Depot employees were recognized for boosting educational opportunities for Soldiers and civilians who maintain Army vehicle-mounted weapon systems.
A Teamwork Award was presented to the 11-member team for developing a training course and teaching personnel how to perform field maintenance on the Common Remotely Operated Weapons Station, known as CROWS.
Members of the C4ISR Directorate's Readiness Training Branch worked alongside PEO Soldier's Product Manager Crew Served Weapons and TACOM Life Cycle Management Command officials to fill a void in the CROWS training program.
Tobyhanna's training instructors started augmenting TACOM's operational new equipment training and train-the-trainer events in 2011. Over the next two years their involvement progressed from assistants to primary instructors and training leads at many events. As a result, the program has received $2.35 million to fund eight dedicated CROWS trainers.
"The success of the training events prompted TACOM to ask if we could develop and conduct a CROWS maintenance course," said Thomas Holmes, branch chief. "The course has since become the standard for CROWS maintenance training and was even adopted into the Combined Arms Support Command's curriculum at Fort Lee, Virginia."
Shortly after the instructors started teaching the course, the PM noticed a reduction in equipment downtime, according to Mark Williams, branch training specialist. He explained that the systems tend to perform better because of the preventative maintenance Soldiers can now perform.
Team Tobyhanna travels with four CROWS teaching aids that are used to train eight students during the weeklong course. Instructors teach an overview of the system and field-level maintenance tasks, which include troubleshooting, how to break down components, make repairs, and reassemble. They also learn how to inspect and test the system to guarantee it's fully operational.
The CROWS provide crews the ability to locate, identify and engage targets with better accuracy and improved range, while keeping the gunner inside, protected by the vehicle's up-armor. The Army has fielded thousands of CROWS systems in support of Soldiers across the theater of operations on vehicle platforms such as mine resistant ambush protected (MRAP) military vehicles, humvees, route clearance vehicles, or military all-terrain vehicles, and others.
"Training is a necessity," Williams said. "The CROWS saves lives. It's rewarding to know we're teaching operators and mechanics how to use the system safely and how to maintain it."
Tobyhanna Army Depot is a recognized leader in providing world-class logistics support for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) Systems across the Department of Defense. Tobyhanna's Corporate Philosophy, dedicated work force and electronics expertise ensure the depot is the Joint C4ISR provider of choice for all branches of the Armed Forces and industry partners.
About 3,100 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 Communications-Electronics 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.
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