LOGISTICS
Balanowski is the assistant product manager (APM) for the Maneuver Support Vessel (Light) (MSV(L)) and the Landing Craft Mechanized-8. She also oversees research, development, testing and evaluation (RDT&E) for the product director for Army Watercraft Systems. One area of her managing RDT&E projects is ensuring that the Army’s legacy and future water- craft fleet remains compliant with statutory environmental requirements, an effort involving close collaboration with Navy engineers.
“As an APM, I touch all aspects of a program—from funding and engineering to testing and logistics—and I’m able to see the complete picture. In the end, the most rewarding part is hearing from a Soldier that the piece of equipment you manage does what it is supposed to do and keeps them safe.” In her 15 years at PEO CS&CSS, she has worked in different capacities on differ- ent products. Her career outside the PEO included assignments with the Air Force and the Defense Logistics Agency. “I’ve worked backward through the life cycle: I started on end-of-life turn-in procedures and logistics, worked as a program analyst, a logistician and a systems acquisition manager, and have been working on the MSV(L) from the materiel decision document to where we are now: source selection for contract award and obtaining milestone B approval.”
MSV(L) is a new-start program designed to improve the Army’s ability to maneuver from the sea with current combat platforms. Te vessel is intended to access austere entry points, degraded ports and beaches without onshore support, thereby facilitat- ing maneuver or sustainment operations, and will be capable of operating in rivers, shallow coastal waters and narrow inland waterways. Balanowski has played a role in getting the program from early development through successful release of the request for proposal.
Tis Acquisition Category III program is entering at milestone B. “Army Watercraft has not had a new program in more than 15 years and never had a program entering at milestone B. So, we don’t have a road map for what milestone B paperwork should look like,” Balinowski said. “We’ve been working with examples of documentation from several other program offices such as the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle [JLTV] program, using their program’s documentation as a guide, but the JLTV is a vehicle and the MSV(L) is a vessel, so there are some differences.”
Balanowski grew up in a military family and worked for a large defense contractor after graduating from college. “Something was missing from my job, and it took me nearly three years to
“Be willing to step outside your comfort zone. Take opportunities for special projects or assignments, and expand your experience.”
realize that what I really wanted to do was work for the govern- ment, specifically DOD.” Of the positions she has held, Army acquisition is her favorite. “To take user requirements and trans- form them into equipment that allows Soldiers to complete their missions is very rewarding.”
Te best thing for people seeking a similar career is to get uncomfortable, she said. “Be willing to step outside your com- fort zone. Take opportunities for special projects or assignments, and expand your experience. Having experience in more than one area of a program management office allows you to excel in the long term.” She knows whereof she speaks. She took part in a PEO CS&CSS shadowing program in 2015, spending two weeks traveling and attending meetings with Program Execu- tive Officer Scott J. Davis. “Tat experience allowed me to gain insight on the span of systems within our PEO, the issues and concerns that are discussed at that level and the magnitude of responsibility that the PEO has. I am not sure I could keep up the same pace for 365 days a year.”
As the APM for the Vehicle Mounted Mine Detection System, commonly known as the Husky, she spent 17 days at five for- ward operating bases in 2011, meeting the Soldiers operating the system. “Tat trip gave me the chance to understand things from the Soldier’s point of view. I learned what was working, what needed improvement and how they felt about the vehicle in enabling them to complete their mission. When a 19-year-old Solider—who could be your child—tells you that they love the Husky and feel safe in it, you know that what you do day to day is working—something that’s especially meaningful since route clearance is dangerous and demanding work.”
—MS. SUSAN L. FOLLETT
ASC.ARMY.MIL
49
LOGISTICS
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