STRATCOM STRONG
What’s missing? For one thing, a strategic communications
(STRATCOM) plan,
which has proved to be invaluable to pro- gram success.
OPTIONAL BUT ADVISABLE You will not find “STRATCOM plan” listed as a required document at any pro- gram milestone review. Nor do I propose that it be; too many unnecessary mile- stone review documents are required already (a separate topic). However, a STRATCOM plan can serve a PM very well if approved by the service chain of command and used effectively. It can be a synchronization tool for the entire Army staff, serving as an operations order (OPORD) for program implementation across the Army.
A STRATCOM plan is particularly useful for programs that affect all ser- vice members (representing a high level of interest), have complex and multiple milestone decision authorities,
and/or
have high visibility with Congress and the media and a correspondingly high level of interest with service senior leaders. Two programs that fit this description are the Army’s physical fitness uniform and the camouflage effort for Army uniforms and equipment.
In early 2012, the Army decided to upgrade its Soldier fitness uniform from the Improved Physical Fitness Uniform (IPFU)
to the Army Physical Fitness
Uniform (APFU). Soldiers were dissat- isfied with the IPFU, which had been
in use since the mid-1990s. Te APFU program used extensive Soldier feedback (both surveys and testing) to improve the fitness uniform and implement the program in a cost-conscious way.
For combat uniforms and equipment, the Army decided to adopt the operational camouflage pattern, which would provide Soldiers
effective
combat operations and prove to be a force protection combat multiplier across the modern battlefield.
Both the APFU and the camouflage pro- grams needed a synchronization tool, as their implementation was highly visible among Soldiers, senior leaders, Congress and the media at a time of sequestration and intense budget uncertainty. Te last thing the Army wanted to do was make a uniform change not necessitated by Soldier feedback, not operationally rel- evant, contrary to pending legislation or congressional intent, or with the poten- tial to create a black eye in the media for the Army.
Additionally, the camouflage effort crossed multiple
chains of command
because it affected both uniforms and equipment having no single milestone decision
authority (MDA). Uniform
HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT The operational camouflage pattern became available for purchase in select military clothing sales stores July 1, 2015. While camouflage goes on a wide variety of organizational clothing and individual equipment, each piece of which may have a different program MDA, there is no MDA for the pattern itself. As a result, many groups of people across multiple chains of command have a stake in the camouflage pattern, making a STRATCOM plan all the more advisable to help gain their buy-in. (Image courtesy of PEO Soldier)
changes are approved by the chief of staff of the Army (CSA)—and sometimes the secretary of the Army (SecArmy), if there is intense congressional, public or media interest—after an approval recommenda- tion from the Army Uniform Board. But camouflage also goes on organizational clothing and individual equipment, and each piece of Soldier kit (cold weather clothing,
rucksacks, weapons, bags for
night vision sights, etc.) may have a dif- ferent program MDA—either a program executive officer (PEO) or
the Army
acquisition executive (AAE), depending on the acquisition category.
128
concealment during
Army AL&T Magazine April-June 2016
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