Sea Dragons honored by Maj. Gen. Ashley visit

By Sgt. Kimberly MenziesOctober 14, 2015

Sea Dragons honored by Maj. Gen. Ashley visit
1 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The special assistant to the director of the Army staff, office of the chief of staff, U.S. Army; Maj. Gen. Robert P. Ashley, Jr., arrives for his visit to receive a command brief from the intelligence Soldiers with the 94th Army Air and Missile Defe... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Sea Dragons honored by Maj. Gen. Ashley visit
2 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The special assistant to the director of the Army staff, office of the chief of staff, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Robert P. Ashley Jr. receives a command brief from the intelligence Soldiers with the 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command and the 5th Bat... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Sea Dragons honored by Maj. Gen. Ashley visit
3 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The special assistant to the director of the Army staff, office of the chief of staff, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Robert P. Ashley Jr. meets with intelligence Soldiers after receiving a command brief from the the 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command an... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Sea Dragons honored by Maj. Gen. Ashley visit
4 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The special assistant to the director of the Army staff, office of the chief of staff, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Robert P. Ashley Jr. speaks with intelligence Soldiers after receiving a command brief from the the 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command ... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii - The special assistant to the director of the Army staff, office of the chief of staff, U.S. Army; Maj. Gen. Robert P. Ashley, Jr., received a command brief from the intelligence Soldiers with the 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command and the 5th Battlefield Coordination Detachment, Oct. 8, 2015, at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.

"We, as intelligence professionals in the 94th AAMDC, are trying to give Maj. Gen. Ashley a flavor of what our mission is, and how unique it is," said Col. Bruce Stephens, assistant chief of staff, intelligence directorate, 94th AAMDC. "We also are seeking support and advocacy for some of the things we are trying to accomplish in the way ahead to ensure the warfighting function that embodies the ballistic missile defense community is represented well."

Topics included the unit's unique mission set and recent intelligence accomplishments such as integrating the Distributed Common Ground System -- Army (DCGS-A) on an Air Force network.

"One of the things we discussed with Maj. Gen. Ashley, was the process we used when setting up one of our intelligence systems on the Air Force network; which was the first time this had been done in the Army," said Staff Sgt. Shiheem Kelly, an intelligence noncommissioned officer with 94th AAMDC.

The importance of having the DCGS-A capability cannot be overstated. Both the 94th AAMDC and the 5th BCD are now able to provide accurate and actionable intelligence in a timely manner to the commanders throughout the Pacific region.

"Recently United States Army Pacific (USARPAC) and Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) federated all Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) threat tracking, analysis and assessments to the 94th AAMDC G2 team as the central repository for all things that are BMD threat related. This newly assigned responsibility made bringing our DCGS-A capability into an operational status a priority for senior leaders at PACOM, USARPAC and PACAF," Stephens said.

"The significance of Maj. Gen. Ashley's visit is that the Army's future senior intelligence leader now has a perspective of the threats in the Pacific, the specific needs of the intelligence professionals that deal with ballistic missile threats, some of our challenges, and some of our successes," said Stephens. "I think after this visit we have an advocate that will go forth in the Army and set conditions that will make us successful in the future."

The opportunity to meet with Ashley was a heartfelt privilege for several Sea Dragons.

"It was definitely a privilege and honor to have Maj. Gen. Ashley come out to our unit," said Kelly. "It is not a common thing to have one of the Army's senior military intelligence officers come and visit your unit. It is not like they do that every day, it is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

"First of all let me tell you, we have senior intelligence leaders that come through Pacific Command all the time and because they are so challenged for time they do not have the luxury of visiting everyone, they usually visit the big organizations like the U.S. Army Pacific's intelligence office," said Stephens. "So for Maj. Gen. Ashley to carve out his schedule and say specifically that he wanted to come to the 94th AAMDC, is an honor and sends the message that he has an understanding that no matter where you are, what organization you are in, you provide an intelligence value to the Army and to that organization."

The 94th AAMDC provides joint and combined integrated air and missile defense support for the Pacific Command Theater.