WHERE OUR RUBBER MEETS THEIR ROAD
the acquisition team brings to the fight. As a battalion, brigade and division command sergeant major, I saw how the equipment provided by the acquisition team gave my Soldiers and the Army the tools for success on the battlefield. In that light, the theme for this edition of Army AL&T magazine, “Revamping acquisition,” is a most appropriate focus for my first topic.
THE WHAT, HOW AND WHY
Alexander Pilott, a new equipment instructor with the Program Executive Office for Soldier, briefs the use and care of the Soldier Plate Carrier System and Modular Lightweight Load-Carrying Equipment medium rucksack to paratroopers assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division (2/82 ABN), Oct. 27, 2014, during the brigade’s Rapid Fielding Initiative at Fort Bragg, NC. For Malloy, the first step in opening up effective two-way communication between Army acquisition and the force is to tell Soldiers “what we do and how we do it.” (Photo by SGT Eliverto Larios, 2/82 ABN Public Affairs)
Our sole purpose—and literally our rea- son for existence—is to equip our Army and the Soldier with the capability to destroy our enemies and win any war when asked by our nation. Te Soldier is, and always will be, the focal point of all decisions and recommendations I may provide about products and processes. We must never lose sight of the fact that our customer is the American Soldier. When in doubt about priorities or what direction to take, ask yourself, “How does this help the Soldier?”
warm welcome I have received from the team. I am grateful to Ms. Heidi Shyu, LTG Michael E. Williamson and Mr. Gabe Camarillo for having the confi- dence in me to serve in such a critical and strategic position as your sergeant major.
I am often asked how I would like to be introduced during speaking events. I understand that, more often than not, this introduction is done to provide the audience a little bit of relevance and cred- ibility as to why I am speaking in the first place. Terefore, please allow me to intro- duce myself to our ASA(ALT) team. I am Rory Malloy, born and raised in a small town in southern Indiana where I met my best friend, Deborah, in the fourth grade. I married her shortly after joining the Army 30 years ago. My wife and I are blessed to be the parents of two wonder- ful young adults and are thrilled to finally be grandparents.
136 Army AL&T Magazine April–June 2015
I am an infantryman and have served on the line for the majority of my career, in virtually every leadership position my career field offers, from machine gunner to command sergeant major. Should you be further interested in the details, my complete biography is on the ASA(ALT) website at
http://www.army.mil/asaalt.
A FIELD SOLDIER’S VIEW Like most leaders, I have been groomed to perform an organizational assessment within my first 90 days in position. As expected, my assessment comes through the lens of a person who has viewed life and the Army through a field Soldier’s optics. My views are based not only on what I see now but also on what I saw when my Soldiers and I used the products produced by the acquisition workforce. Tose views have been both expanded and tempered through my engagements with the leadership from across the Army. I truly know the value
Feedback and communication are vital to our processes. Without effective, two- way communication between us and our customers, we will be working in a vacuum and they will be operating in a fog. My number one priority is opening up effective two-way communication. My first task in this effort is to start by communicating to the force what we do and how we do it. Secondly, I will work across all of our programs to develop ways to better receive timely and relevant input from the force we ultimately serve. Only by solidifying this critical informa- tion and feedback loop can we develop and acquire the tools the force needs to execute their missions.
Tis may seem like a simple enough task. However, as most of you may have expe- rienced, there are difficult hurdles that must be overcome. I have already men- tioned the first: a lack of education on
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