FORT SILL, Okla. (Sept. 30, 2022) – Fort Sill is equipping Soldiers with a new system that allows for real-time location tracking in the field.
"Preventing injuries from becoming casualties is the primary purpose of the [Soldier Monitoring System Version 2]," said Lt. Col. John Weissenborn a product manager from the U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI).
The SMS2 is worn by each Soldier and if they are in distress they can press the SOS button sending an instant alert that they need help. An alert is also generated if the device shows a lack of motion for 10 minutes, however, this setting can be adjusted by the cadre to meet mission requirements.
"It could change our training entirely."–Staff Sgt. Matthew Anderson.
Weissenborn said the SMS2 system is crucial to how the Army operates.
“Land navigation has always been considered a staple part of military training,” said Weissenborn.
He said a major part of the art of fieldcraft is being able to move from one point to another without getting lost.
Drill Sgt. (Staff Sgt.) Matthew Anderson, 1st Battalion, 78th Field Artillery, believes the SMS2 system will cut down a lot of the risk associated with the land navigation course.
Anderson said the Land Navigation Course is a team event, but was not intended to be.
Weissenborn agreed stating that due to risk assessments the Army implemented the “buddy-team” training concept.
“The Soldier Monitoring System is a risk mitigator.”–Weissenborn
On Fort Sill, these teams are comprised of three students so if something happens to one of them the other two are available to render aid and get help.
“Over the last few years, the Chief of Staff and Army leadership has decided that that is not acceptable, that the individual nature of the training is an important part of the training,” said Weissenborn.
He added that SMS2 allows for individual training in this core competency while reducing the risks involved.
John Lindsey with PEO STRI offered some history on the program.
“SMS 1 was fielded in 2012 as a result of the death of a Special Forces Soldier that was going through training,” said Lindsey.
Lindsey is referring to Pfc. Norman M. Murburg who died while going through the Individual Land Navigation portion of Special Forces selection training in 2008 at Fort Bragg. It took searchers nearly 21 hours to find Murburg's body. The cause of death was determined to be multiple bites from a venomous snake.
The primary difference between the first iteration and version 2 is that the first generation used line of sight VHF radio communication, whereas the latest model uses GPS and communicates via cellular service, Bluetooth, and radio frequency which gives it a much greater range and reliability.
A major benefit according to Tomas Garcia a Training Instructor with the Regional Training Support Center, or RTSC, is that SMS2 is a cloud-based system. This means that once a unit sets up a username and password, members can log into the system from personal devices such as smartphones or tablets and view the same location information as on the Monitoring Station and the Mobile Monitoring Device.
This reduces the number of monitoring devices RTSC needs to maintain and sign out in order for all cadre members to see a Soldier's location in case of an emergency.
Garcia went on to explain another great feature of SMS2 is cadre or the unit commander can designate the area used for the current mission as well as any exclusion areas. The system will immediately send an alert if a Soldier crosses that set boundary.
Lindsey said Fort Sill is the fifth Army installation to receive SMS2. Fort Benning, West Point, Fort Rucker, and Yuma Proving Ground have already embedded SMS2 into their training. More installations will be receiving SMS2 soon.
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