Support Command; joint service users; the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command; Air Mobility Command, which provides expert flight test support; the Defense Logistics Agency; and the U.S. Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command’s Integrated Logistics Support Center, which provide logistics and sustainment support.
Tibault has spent his entire career as an engineer in the air- drop field at NSRDEC. He has had a hand in replacing much of the portfolio of Korean War- and Vietnam War-era airdrop equipment with more advanced equipment—improvements necessitated by U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. At the peak of Operation Enduring Freedom, 85 million pounds of cargo were dropped in Afghanistan in one year. Te increase in aerial deliveries provided more opportunities for Tibault and the CAD team to collect feedback from Soldiers in theater. Tat feedback, in turn, helped shape improvements to two key sys- tems: the Low-Cost Aerial Delivery System (LCADS) and the Joint Precision Airdrop System (JPADS). LCADS is a one-time- use ballistic system that delivers supplies from low altitudes, whereas JPADS releases at high altitudes and uses airborne guid- ance units for precision drops.
Legacy Army cargo supply parachutes, made from nylon, have to be packed by hand by a trained rigger and recovered after each use. It was difficult to keep up with demand created by engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan, and NSRDEC devel- oped a new system that uses a prepacked polypropylene chute. Tose changes reduced the cost of the system by 50 percent and eliminated the need for a rigger to pack each parachute. “Te biggest challenge we face now is remaining relevant and agile in the current environment of financial uncertainty and chang- ing priorities,” Tibault said. “Te best way to address that is to anticipate change and stay in touch with our ultimate customer, the Soldier and the combatant commanders. If we get too far removed from that, we won’t do well.”
Tibault was hired in 1978 as a co-op engineering intern student at what was then the U.S. Army Natick Laboratories, and started in the Aero-Mechanical Engineering Directorate. Maurice P. Gionfriddo, an aerospace engineer from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Airdrop Systems Integration Branch chief, hired Tibault and remained his technical and acquisition mentor for a good portion of his early career. “He made sure I was given demanding and challenging assignments in a team- centric environment, which allowed me to work with and learn from many other seasoned engineers on a wide range of equip- ment and systems.” Tose early years also exposed Tibault
to the Army research, development, testing and engineering process and the importance of forming a cohesive integrated product team with all of the acquisition stakeholders.
He has been a member of the Army Acquisition Workforce (AAW) since its inception. “Shortly after the Defense Acquisi- tion Workforce Improvement Act became public law in 1990, and about 10 years into my career, my supervisor encouraged me to join the AAW and become certified in what was then systems planning, research, development and engineering,” said Tibault. “It was a great opportunity to participate in the newly structured AAW training and certification program.”
Structured training is essential to understand the framework that guides defense acquisition, he added, “but it’s the interac- tions with users that have given me a better understanding of their airdrop needs, a broader knowledge of the airdrop equip- ment and a much deeper appreciation of the highly dynamic environment we need to design the equipment for.”
What sticks out most as he looks back over his career are “the experiences where I observed, firsthand, warfighters relying on airdrop equipment. Tere’s nothing like the feeling of standing on a desolate drop zone with warfighters or being on the deliv- ering aircraft with the crew, waiting for that new or improved airdrop system or piece of equipment to safely come out of that aircraft.” Tibault has been on the ground for testing and train- ing drops in locations around the U.S., including Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona; Fort Bragg, North Carolina; and Edwards Air Force Base, California. He also had the chance to take part in a humanitarian aid drop in the early 1990s, in what was then Bosnia-Herzegovina. Drop teams were having problems with the parachute systems used for large deliveries of food and clothing, and Tibault was part of a joint Army and Air Force team that observed the drops to try to identify and resolve the problem.
Tat hands-on experience is a vital part of career development, he said. “Get as much hands-on experience and functional knowledge as you can early on in your career, with the types of equipment and acquisition processes that interest you the most,” he said. “Immerse yourself wherever and whenever possible with warfighters who rely on and use the equipment or processes that spark your interest.” Or, as Tibault remembers former PEO CS&CSS Kevin M. Fahey saying, “Work like your life depends on it, because someone else’s does.”
—MS. SUSAN L. FOLLETT
ASC.ARMY.MIL
105
WORKFORCE
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 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162
