SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --- Members of the 513th Military Intelligence Brigade at Fort Gordon, Georgia, partnered with the United States Military Academy at West Point to meet the ever-growing demand for data literacy in their organization.
Capt. Orlando Nieves III, an all-source intelligence officer with the 513th MI Brigade, serves as the command’s chief innovation officer responsible for meeting this demand. As a result of his team’s work, the brigade established the “Data Literacy Task Force.”
Nieves is now working to expand this initiative beyond his own brigade.
“The Data Literacy Task Force provides Soldiers the opportunity to take ownership of the Brigade’s data literacy initiatives,” said Nieves. “It will continue to improve data literacy throughout the 513th. It plants technical expertise at every echelon so Soldiers can overcome data-based issues and spread knowledge throughout the command.”
Data literacy is the ability to understand data and efficiently apply the gained information to decision making. Nieves believes this is a key part of preparing to support any future, large scale contingency operation.
One of the primary ways the task force increased literacy was by facilitating attendance at the sixteen-hour data literacy course called Data Literacy 101, or DL101, through USMA. The course was created by Col. Nicholas Clark, program director of applied statistics and data science at USMA, to address what he called a “literacy gap.”
“During recent operations, some data taken off mission objectives was such poor quality that it wasn’t usable," said Clark. "Everybody is expected to undergo training for marksmanship, combat lifesaver, and basic communication equipment operations. But what about a combat lifesaver equivalent for data literacy?”
More than 450 Soldiers and Department of the Army Civilians from the 513th MI Brigade have completed the course with increased data literacy allowing them to better support their higher headquarters. To create this reach, members of the Data Literacy Task Force, such as 1st Lt. John Boyer, worked to tailor the course to specific department requirements for a distance or remote learning format.
“While the original DL101 curriculum was a great starting point, one of the consistent pieces of feedback we received was to make the examples more applicable to Army intelligence,” said Boyer. “Intelligence units have very unique requirements and a specific mission. We noticed that, the more we tailored the courses, the greater the impact in the 513th and in adjacent organizations.”
Col. Molly Solsbury, the 513th MI Brigade commander, believes this is important to her organization’s future as it supports U.S. Army Central and U.S. Central Command.
"Our leaders are focused on meeting operational demands using innovative solutions," said Solsbury. "Increasing data literacy is an accelerant to readiness. It enables the 513th Military Intelligence Brigade to better accomplish multiple real-world missions and maintain an advantage over our potential adversaries. Innovation throughout every command, starting at the most junior levels with our Soldiers who are closest to the problem, will help us maintain our edge and, if required, win our nation's wars. Through the Data Literacy Task Force, the 513th is ready."
ARCENT is the Army Service Component Command for United States Central Command and is responsible to the Secretary of the Army for the support and administration of more than 12,000 Soldiers, including those assigned to joint task forces and embassies, across the 21 countries in the CENTCOM Area of Responsibility.
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