HISTORY IN THE MAKING
You don’t have to be a historian to learn more about your job or your program’s field or product, but you certainly can think like one to achieve a better overall perspective of your role and the mission of your organization.
According to Kenneth Hurban, chief engineer for the Conventional Ammunition Divi- sion within the Project Manager for Combat Ammunition Systems (PM CAS) in the Joint Program Executive Office Armaments and Ammunition (JPEO A&A), a combi- nation of past and current practices provide valuable insight and tools to analyze and explain problems in the past and position us to see patterns that might otherwise be invisible in the present.
KENNETH B. HURBAN
COMMAND/ORGANIZATION: Conven- tional Ammunition Division, Project Manager for Combat Ammunition Systems, Joint Program Executive Office for Armaments and Ammuni- tion
TITLE: Chief system engineer YEARS OF SERVICE IN WORKFORCE: 37
DAWIA CERTIFICATIONS: Practitioner in program management; Practitioner in engineer- ing and technical management; Practitioner in systems planning research, development and engineering
EDUCATION: B.S. in mechanical engineer- ing, Rutgers University
AWARDS: National Defense Industrial As- sociation Firepower Management Award, Picatinny Chapter (2018); Honorable Order of Saint Barbara, United States Field Artillery As- sociation (2001); Army Superior Unit Award, Department of the Army (2001); Certificate of Achievement, Defense Acquisition Executive
(2000)
“Become the office historian,” he said, by “spending time researching past development efforts in your program’s field or product while learning the current way of doing things.” Tis provides a crucial perspective for understanding—and solving—current and future problems for a well-rounded on-the-job experience. It also helps to get a firsthand look at products and processes, as well as take advantage of hands-on training in your field.
“Broaden your background by visiting Army bases, production facilities and ‘green- ing’ with Soldiers,” he said. Greening is a training opportunity that enables the Soldier Center workforce to better understand the experiences a Soldier has in a field environ- ment. Hurban believes spending time with Soldiers is important because they come from all over the country, and world, and have a different set of life experiences. As a result, Soldiers approach learning and knowledge of tasks and attack problems differently than scientists and engineers, which, he said, is important to recognize and understand when you’re responsible for improving or designing weapon and ammunition systems. Seeing how products are being used provides better perspective on how they’re developed. “Our Soldiers are more creative than our engineers at using and developing new tactics for the items and products they are provided. Tey have always surprised me,” he said.
In Hurban’s role as chief engineer at PM CAS, he is responsible for reviewing require- ments documents for new development programs, material change programs and system engineering actions and conducting preliminary and critical design reviews. He also oversees malfunction investigations involving mortar and artillery ammunition and serves on both the ballistics review and fire support interoperability boards, which inte- grate new munitions and systems into U.S. Army tactical data systems and software.
PM CAS develops, produces and equips Soldiers and Marines with conventional artil- lery and mortar ammunition, precision ammunition, mortar weapons and mortar fire control systems.
Hurban believes it is important to give our Soldiers the best equipment and tools to protect our country. “I am proud of the programs I have been a part of, and as a member of the acquisition workforce it was my responsibility to supply the best possible,” he said.
50
Army AL&T Magazine
Fall 2023
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136
