REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. (Feb. 24, 2025) – Imagine having the opportunity to spend a day shadowing a U.S. Army general.
Three DEVCOM Aviation & Missile Center leaders do not have to imagine, they experienced it as part of the DEVCOM Distinguished Leaders Program (DLP). Travis Massa, with the Systems Readiness Directorate; Nate Bordick, with the Technology Development Directorate; and LaShanda Felton with the Software, Simulation, Systems Engineering and Integration Directorate were each selected in a highly competitive field for the program’s 2024 cohort.
Created in 2021, the DEVCOM DLP is a year-long program that focuses on executive forums and strategic partnership engagements to foster innovative ideas aimed at solving enterprise problems. Scientists, engineers, technicians and analysts are chosen each year for their demonstrated excellence as leaders but also for their abilities to take what is learned in the program and implement it at the Center level. This year, in addition to the DEVCOM centers, higher headquarters Army Futures Command also sent participants.
Along with tours of headquarters and the seven centers and one lab under DEVCOM, participants also had a day to shadow DEVCOM Commander Maj. Gen. John Cushing, an opportunity which all three said was a highlight of the program.
“Maj. Gen. Cushing was very open and allowed us to shadow all his meetings,” Felton said. “Often after the meeting he would ask for our opinion and feedback. He also welcomed our questions. Observing our senior leaders, their discussions and how they gather information to facilitate decisions was a highlight.”
“Interacting with the cohort of leaders and center leadership was fantastic,” Bordick added. “It was a great opportunity to bounce ideas off those leaders. I left with a much better awareness of what each center does and what they bring to the DEVCOM mission. I definitely saw some new areas for collaboration, and ways that I can leverage cross-center investments, people, and expertise that I didn’t know existed before the program.”
In an organization as large as AvMC, often its own people do not cross paths. Which is why DLP gave Massa, Bordick and Felton the opportunity to not only tour other DEVCOM locations, but to also get to know each other and exchange information, perspectives, and advice about their respective directorates.
“I learned things from Nate and Travis about their roles and mission within the Aviation & Missile Center in addition to learning from our other cohort members,” Felton agreed. “In the site visits, I learned information that will foster greater collaboration and make me a better advocate for AvMC and DEVCOM as a whole.”
The three agreed that their advice to anyone interested in a future cohort was short and sweet: Do it.
“I see it as an investment in you from the organization standpoint; from the employee standpoint, the investment of time and energy will garner knowledge to help you and the organization going forward,” Massa said.
Bordick agreed that it was an invaluable experience.
“The senior leader engagements with the Senior Executive Service members at each of the centers, the interaction with General Cushing, the mentoring, the career perspective, the view of DEVCOM and the future of the Army were definite highlights. And you know, Travis and Shanda are pretty cool, too,” Bordick said with a smile.
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The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, known as DEVCOM, is Army Futures Command’s leader and integrator within a global ecosystem of scientific exploration and technological innovation. DEVCOM expertise spans eight major competency areas to provide integrated research, development, analysis and engineering support to the Army and DOD. From rockets to robots, drones to dozers, and aviation to artillery – DEVCOM innovation is at the core of the combat capabilities American Warfighters need to win on the battlefield of the future. For more information, visit devcom.army.mil/.
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