ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND — U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command leadership attended the Association of the United States Army 2023 Annual Meeting & Exposition Conference in Washington, D.C. Oct. 9-11, 2023.
AUSA is a nonprofit educational and professional development association serving the Army and supporters of a strong national defense. AUSA provides a voice for the Army, supports the Soldier, and honors those who have served to advance the security of the nation.
CECOM Command Chief Warrant Officer Linc W. McCoy served as a representative of CECOM, and he shared a few takeaways from the AUSA Conference with the APG News.
What was the environment like at AUSA?
“You’re in one space that has all echelons of Department of Defense and Army leadership and stakeholders including uniformed and civilian leaders, and public and private industry partners that support the Army and provide services. [There were] a lot of conversations, a lot of learning, a lot of eye-opening engagements. As for the Army’s leadership, you get a good sense of where the Army is going [in] 2030 and beyond. It was very motivational and very inspiring to be there.”
Did you see any interesting booths?
“The booths, all of them were phenomenal. [There were] industry partners specializing in artificial intelligence and cloud services and understanding how they're helping our Software Engineering Center with adapting Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery in support of the enterprise business systems, because you may have heard Maj. Gen. [Robert L.] Edmonson [II CECOM commander] talk about Enterprise Business Services. We had good opportunities to understand how the vendors are participating and supporting us across the board.”
Can you tell me about your involvement with P-TECH students at AUSA?
“We had about 10-15 high school seniors that [attended]. I had the opportunity to not only talk to them and to express to them the importance of AUSA for [not only] the Army, but also how to them—when we use the analogy ‘the world is your oyster,’ [AUSA] is their oyster. That was their opportunity to not only be exposed to what industry and the Army are doing in conjunction, but also, they’re highlighting themselves walking around because whether it’s the DoD Army, civilian service, or contractor i.e., industry, we are all fishing in the same pool for talent. So, as they explore, they are exposing themselves to all the opportunities [available]. We are looking to see what the new talent is looking like so we have to put on our best suit to say, ‘hey, this is what you might want to do.’ So, I got a chance to interact with them and motivate them into a brand-new experience.”
Did you have any experiences or meetings unique to being a warrant officer?
“And also, as a CW5, I had a good full day of warrant officer engagements to understand where the warrant officer cohort is going [and] how we can better [retain] within the warrant officer cohort. We had the opportunity to do a leader's professional development with two different generals, Gen. [Gary M.] Brito from the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, as well as Lt. Gen. [Milford H.] Beagle from the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center. They provided us with good insight to what the general officers are looking for from the warrant officers and how we can continue to move forward. Brito gave a quote and said, ‘Our Army needs warrant officers to be not only a technical expert but also to contribute to the staff across the board for strategic leadership.’ Hearing those messages help shape the mindset of not only the warrant officers of today, but also the warrant officers of our future.”
What were your biggest takeaways from AUSA from the point of view of a CECOM leader?
“We have to echo what CECOM is for and message CECOM’s role—educate the [Army and industry] community of CECOM’s role, how we can support and help, and how we are [supporting the U.S. Army Materiel Command]. People know CECOM as an organization to provide equipment through (ISEC), but they don’t understand everything CECOM does: the things we’ve been doing in Europe; how we are plugged into the Organic Industrial Base; how we are plugged into engineering and modernizing mission command facilities through [U.S. Army] Information Systems Engineering Command; things that Tobyhanna [Army Depot] does, SEC [with their] software repository; [U.S.] Army Medical Logistics Command’s delivery of medical materiel readiness. People are [surprised] that CECOM is doing all of that and our role in everyone’s mission. That was my biggest takeaway that I will continue to echo and have conversations about.”
What do you want the CECOM workforce to know about how their work contributes to Big Army?
“Every single individual within CECOM has a vital role. It is greatly appreciated by not only the warfighter, but by the industry partners. Regardless of where you are, they have to work with each one of [our team members], helping to get parts that are reaching end of life to forecasting what we need to make sure we manage the budget to make sure we get what we need to warfighters. Every single team member within the CECOM umbrella has a vital role and is very appreciated by not only the warfighters but also the industry partners that we engage with on a daily basis.”
Social Sharing