As an aviation officer and former Black Hawk pilot, Lt. Col. Deborah Chen knows firsthand the importance of teamwork.
In the aviation community, “everybody counts on everybody else with their life,” she explained.
Whether conducting operations in the field or engaging in training exercises, “you really work together as a team,” she said.
“Everybody’s voice counts, and everybody has something important to share.”
Chen devoted roughly half of her 20-year career in the Army to aviation before pivoting to operations, training and policy-related roles. She currently serves as the policy and engagements branch chief at the Futures and Concepts Center (FCC), an Army Futures Command (AFC) organization that develops concepts and requirements and conducts experimentation as part of an integrated effort to increase lethality and overmatch.
Her responsibilities as a branch chief include developing and supporting policy actions; assisting with senior leader engagements; aiding in the work of the AFC International Programs team, including by executing information exchanges with Training and Doctrine Command foreign liaison officers; and facilitating the support relationship between the Combined Arms Center and FCC.
Chen’s role provides a platform “to share with others how FCC as an organization contributes to Army transformation efforts as a whole” while also offering opportunities for “understanding and refining organizational processes and relationships” across multiple equities.
“I think FCC’s work, as an organization, it’s really the heartbeat of future Army concept-driven transformation,” she said.
According to Chen, FCC’s three core competencies – concept development, requirements determination and development, and experimentation – are indispensable when it comes to readying the Army for the challenges of 2030, 2040 and beyond.
“It’s not always the most tangible or most visible part of future Army transformation, but it’s super important to get right,” she said.
“FCC’s work articulates the capabilities that the future Army needs, so the Army can be set on a path to invest the right resources in the right solutions at the right time.”
Chen also sees how a mix of military, civilian and contractor insights helps to ensure that FCC’s complex endeavors are met with dynamic and dedicated support.
“It really is a visual representation of how much Army transformation is a team sport here at FCC,” she said, noting that the center’s diverse personnel bring recent operational experience, expertise in the “craft of capability development” and specialty knowledge in key subject areas.
Chen’s own experiences with supporting Army endeavors began in college. Even though her father, two uncles and grandfather had served previously, Chen wasn’t anticipating a career in the military until she received an ROTC scholarship, which eventually launched her career as an aviation officer. Upon graduation, she went on to train and serve in locations across the United States, including in Alabama, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, also completing two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.
Now nearing retirement from military service, Chen is spending more time thinking about how her career – and the careers of other women – can serve as an example of possibilities for the next generation, including her 18-month-old daughter.
“It made me see how important representation is in life, in the workforce,” Chen said of recently becoming a mother and thinking about her daughter’s future.
“What she sees and who she sees doing it gives her an idea of what’s possible for what she can do or will be.”
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To learn more about the work of FCC, visit: https://www.army.mil/futuresandconceptscenter.
To learn more about the contributions of women serving in the U.S. military, visit: https://www.defense.gov/Spotlights/womens-history-month/.
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