FORT SILL, Okla., -- The Long Range Precision Fires Cross Functional Team had to make new plans when their three-day team week, Feb. 4-6, faced inclement weather, preventing the bulk of their event from occurring.
More than 40 people from across the country flew in to attend the team week which was designed to be an opportunity for the team, normally separated by states and time zones, to meet face-to-face and make decisions on the efforts they are working on.
"When you have a VTC, at the end of the day it's very point-to-point and doesn't allow for the sidebar conversations and the informal knowledge sharing," said Col. David Lee, Long Range Precision Fires chief of staff. "Look around the room and you'll see people who aren't on the same base or post getting together to have a continued discussion on one of the topics."
After a day of meetings Tuesday inside Snow Hall's Reimer Conference Room, Oklahoma was hit with "winter weather" - freezing temperatures and heavy snow. As a result, Fort Sill made the decision to close post for the following day forcing the cross functional team to adjust their plans. The operations officers in LRPF organized ways for the team to make the most of the snow day.
Instead of face-to-face meetings, the team reverted to what they knew and filled in some of the spaces with teleconferences, said Lee. While Fort Sill shut down under a blanket of snow Wednesday, the Long Range Precision Fires Team continued to make advancements.
"It was unfortunate that team week was disrupted by inclement weather but, we maximized the time by using technology through teleconferences to achieve the shared understanding required for us to forward our signature moderation efforts," said Col. Doug Thomas, chief operations officer for the LRPF CFT.
The plan was to continue to work and resume their conference the following day - Thursday. However, at 2:59 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, Fort Sill announced they would be having a delayed opening of noon Thursday for all non-emergency personnel.
Finally, at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, the Long Range Precision Fires team gathered back at Snow Hall to tackle a few of the remaining topics, to include reorganization, future events, and how to find solutions for common challenges. The meeting included Brig. Gen. John Rafferty, director of the LRPF CFT.
"It was good to share (Rafferty's) vision, to make sure industry and government are tracking what the strategy is," said Jason Foultz, chief engineer for Program Manager Cannon Ammunition Systems. "It would have been good if we could have continued that momentum with the other contractors, but weather happens."
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