USAASC PERSPECTIVE


1,370 Acquisition New Hires as of June 1 1,217 interns / 153 journeymen


Figure 2


900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0


809 Contracting Professionals 732 interns/77 journeymen


268 Life-Cycle Logistics


69 Systems Planning, Research, Development, and Engineering


65 Information Technology 56 Test and Evaluation


55 Business-Financial Management/ Cost Estimating


26 Program Management 11 Facilities Engineering 9 Quality Assurance 2 Legal


SOURCE: USAASC


now recognize that it created a gap in our capabilities. This growth pertains not only to civilians, but to our military coun- terparts as well.


We have been accessing and growing noncommissioned officers to serve spe- cifically as contracting professionals in the 51C Military Occupational Specialty. These board-selected NCOs receive train- ing at either the U.S. Army Acquisition Center of Excellence at the University of Alabama in Huntsville or the U.S. Air Force Mission Ready Airman Contracting Apprentice Course in San Antonio, TX. After training, the NCOs are assigned to contracting teams where they learn tech- nical skills from experienced contracting civilians. We also have the Functional Area 51 officer program, where we access officers into acquisition and provide them


128 Army AL&T Magazine


opportunities to excel in their acquisition skills. We access them only after they’ve had several years as Soldiers in their respective branches, to look, feel, walk, and talk like other Soldiers, so they will have credibility in that community later in their acquisition careers.


We’ve been working diligently at grow- ing the AL&T Workforce, but now, the very pendulum that brought acquisition growth is moving in the opposite direc- tion. The Army is now in a time when OCO dollars are coming down, we’ve withdrawn the majority of our troops from Iraq, our missions in theater are drawing down, and we have financial and manpower reductions across DOD. We’re going to be in a very difficult and constrained environment from a resource perspective. History has told


us that resources go up and down, and we are now on the downward side of a resources peak. We are going to have to be prudent and judicious in managing our resources. When DOD has resource challenges, it will look to all its facets, including Army AL&T, to reduce cost and increase efficiencies. We actively support Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Dr. Ashton B. Carter’s Better Buying Power: Mandate for Restoring Affordability and Productivity in Defense Spending.


That’s why the Army Acquisition Work- force Growth Initiative is so critical to getting the right people in the right posi- tions. We can’t be more efficient with less-than-stellar performers—we abso- lutely need the best and the brightest to do more without more.


Contracting Professionals Life-Cycle Logistics


Systems Planning, Research, Development, and Engineering


Information Technology Test and Evaluation


Business-Financial Management/ Cost Estimating


Program Management Facilities Engineering Quality Assurance Legal


New Hires


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