different day-to-day experience, but in many ways we all have the same perspec- tive: It’s one mission.”
What do you do, and why is it impor- tant to the Army or the warfighter?
I am a PSM for Project Manager Mis- sion Command (PM MC), part of PEO C3T. Te PSM is a new role within three of PEO C3T’s organizations. My job is to develop product support strategies to enable the Army to sustain the C4ISR technologies that we field. Operations support represents approximately 70 per- cent of a product’s life-cycle costs, so the earlier we look at product support, the less it costs when we reach the operations and support phase. Our objective is to leverage enterprise opportunities across U.S. Army programs and DOD compo- nents to develop and implement the best comprehensive product support strategies at the best value for the Soldier.
As a life-cycle manager, I collaborate with the project managers to make the right investments and decisions to keep our systems viable for the Army. If we make those necessary investments upfront, we reduce operational support costs down the road. In addition, PSMs are establishing greater cooperation between PEO C3T and the Army’s Communications- Electronics
Command (CECOM),
the designated life-cycle management command, also located on the Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG, MD) C4ISR campus.
During your career with the Army AL&T Workforce, what changes have you noticed that have impressed you the most? What change has surprised you the most, and why? When I supported FBCB2, I was part of a standard paradigm where government funds supported all technology research
and development in conjunction with a large contractor. We did not have a lot of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) tech- nology, at least not on a component level. Te government was the configuration control and management authority, so we saw a little less flexibility with the acquisi- tion framework, and development efforts moved more slowly in general.
I now see PEOs and PMs moving toward COTS, where you see more rapid tech- nology evolution and more flexibility. Tis happens because the government doesn’t have to make that upfront invest- ment with research and development; commercial industries make this invest- ment, and that’s a good thing.
Now, the COTS software is very agile, but the hardware is not as much so, because it was developed as ruggedized with rigid government specifications and testing. Our challenge now is, how do we sustain COTS hardware that becomes rapidly obsolete? For example, you may have a laptop that is somewhat ruggedized today, but next year it may not be available to purchase, or the repair parts may become obsolete. Systems quickly become obsolete, which makes it very difficult to use the traditional organic sustainment mechanisms.
What’s the greatest satisfaction you have in being a part of the AL&T Workforce?
We have dramatically increased our Sol- diers’ capabilities with the technology we develop and field. I have seen a major evolution of the equipment from the time I was a Soldier to last year, when I was the PEO C3T LNO in Afghanistan.
As a retired Soldier, I have the satisfac- tion of knowing that if we are successful in implementing a good sustainment
strategy, we will
implement
a
game-
changer for our Soldiers. Our products will be sustained throughout their life cycles, whether through training prod- ucts, technical manuals, supply support or repairs.
Acquisition has changed profoundly in many ways in the past 25 years. How do you see it changing in the future, or how would you like to see it change?
Te biggest change I see is how rapidly we
are evolving our future technolo-
gies. I would like to see the acquisition framework—and specifically the sus- tainment support structure—be more flexible to be able to sustain that rapidly evolving technology.
In the mission command realm, we will see greater efficiencies with the Command Post Computing Environment, where we will use Web services and a single server in the cloud that reaches across programs of record at the tactical level. Hardware com- monality will simplify logistics, which, in turn, will enhance our life-cycle support.
What’s something that most people don’t know about your job? What sur- prises outsiders most when you tell them about your job?
I get a lot of blank looks when I tell people about my job. Many don’t understand
mission command
technologies, logistics or even the military as a whole. Te biggest surprise to many is the scope and impact of our work within PM MC. Tey think I just provide support to units at APG, but in fact our support is critical to command and control throughout the entire U.S. Army and across the entire globe.
—MR. ROBERT E. COULTAS
ASC.ARMY.MIL
43
LOGISTICS
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