When the U.S. Army announced activation of the V Corps headquarters at Fort Knox in February 2020, an advanced facility that could meet Soldiers’ technological needs was quickly required.
U.S. Army Forces Command tapped the U.S. Army Information Systems Engineering Command to provide engineering and information technology support to the newly activated V Corps and its deployed warfighters.
USAISEC is a subordinate command of the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command that focuses on securely replacing legacy systems and modernizing the IT infrastructure on posts, camps and stations. While these are typical components of the USAISEC mission, completing these services during a global pandemic was a very new challenge.
“In keeping with COVID-19 guidelines, we’ve had to get creative,” said Rene Gomez, USAISEC project lead for the V Corps effort. “During normal circumstances it’s challenging, but now it’s definitely tenfold.”
V Corps’ critical mission
After receiving the request in April 2020, during a peak of the pandemic, the team quickly got to work coming up with IT engineering solutions, plans and concepts for the new V Corps headquarters. The Corps needed to be able to communicate with partners not only co-located at Fort Knox, but also deployed to its command post in Poznan, Poland.
V Corps headquarters’ primary mission will be to conduct operational planning, mission command and oversight of rotational forces in Europe. Approximately 635 soldiers, of which about 200 will be positioned at the forward command post in Poland on a rotational basis, will conduct training operations and work with allies. The intent is to deter Russian aggression in the region.
“ISEC’s support to the warfighter will give them the ability to communicate effectively, especially with their forward deployed troops,” Gomez said. “We’re going to provide them with the latest in audiovisual solutions for their conference rooms along with a centralized control room to facilitate operations and maintenance.”
The team is taking a phased approach to give V Corps the best IT solutions, while keeping to budgetary and time restrictions. Currently in the planning phase to map out the AV over Internet Protocol engineering concepts and requirements, the team will move on to create centrally controlled conference rooms to ensure ease of communications throughout the V Corps.
Tobyhanna Army Depot, another subordinate organization of CECOM, will be the installation arm of the audiovisual system for this next phase. The project is expected to be complete by the end of 2021.
Adapting and innovating for COVID-19
Mapping out the technical standards for a new corps was already a daunting task. However, keeping to physical security requirements, establishing secure connections and developing the structure within a renovated facility, all while COVID-19 restrictions prevented the team from being physically on site, made the challenge even greater.
The team heavily relied upon eyes and ears located at Fort Knox, including the local Network Enterprise Center and V Corps operations Soldiers, to relay needed information to them while they worked remotely.
The USAISEC team continues to work to give V Corps Soldiers the IT that will allow them to successfully communicate and work together, both near and far. “Our support to V Corps will give them information dominance in our every-changing environment,” Gomez said.
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