PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. -- Picatinny Arsenal, a U.S. Army installation in northern New Jersey, is known as the Center of Excellence for Armaments and Ammunition and plays a key role in providing technology and development for over 90 percent of the Army’s lethality.
The Arsenal’s ability to perform its mission relies on the synergy and interrelationships among several organizations. They include two Program Executive Offices under the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology; a major research and development laboratory; and two contracting organizations.
The ability to connect the dots between the various organizations and their roles can be daunting to leaders who are newly assigned to the Arsenal.
To ease that integration into Picatinny, the first Newcomers Orientation on Armaments and Ammunition (NOAA) event began on Sept. 23 and lasted four days with a total of 16 classes. An optional one-day tour of Watervliet Arsenal in New York was available on the fifth day.
During the first half of each orientation day, instructors provided in-person NOAA classes at the Armament University. The second half of the day consisted of tours of Picatinny Arsenal’s research and development and test facilities, which complemented the classes and helped reinforce student learning.
The intent of NOAA is to provide a fundamental understanding of Picatinny Arsenal’s Armaments and Ammunition mission while incorporating networking opportunities, enabling leaders to “hit the ground running” in their new leadership positions. NOAA is primarily intended for military officers and civilians in U.S. Army Acquisition leadership positions but is also open to other new senior military officers in non-acquisition leadership positions at Picatinny Arsenal.
Attendees at the first NOAA event included representatives from the Joint Program Executive Office Armaments and Ammunition, the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center, Project Manager Soldier Lethality, the U.S. Army Contract Command-New Jersey, the Defense Contract Management Agency, and Picatinny’ s Garrison command.
On hand to provide the welcome address was Maj. Gen. John T. Reim, Joint Program Executive Officer Armaments and Ammunition, who is also the Commanding General of Picatinny Arsenal.
Reim later spoke about why the new specialized orientation was particularly valuable, describing Picatinny Arsenal as a very nuanced community with interrelated efforts among the various organizations.
“You can’t leverage that expertise that is resident here, or the facilities that are resident here, if you don’t know about it,” Reim said. “It’s incredibly important to provide that foundation for our new leaders as they embark on leading teams to develop the next generation of capabilities. That matters not only for our nation but for our Warfighters.”
Reim said NOAA would not only provide a good feel for the breadth and depth of what is done at the Arsenal, but is also a key opportunity to network and to learn the key contacts at other Picatinny organizations that can be very useful to know down the road.
“I wish my schedule would allow me to sit in,” Reim said of the week-long orientation. “I would really enjoy this and, frankly, I wish this course was available when I first got here a little over two years ago.”
Social Sharing