LEARNING ON THE GO
innovative in the way we train by deliver- ing a concise yet diverse training set.
We are streamlining training, making it shorter and more user-friendly, more intu- itive and more technologically enhanced to match the needs and expectations of a new generation of Soldiers. We reworded manuals and reduced portions of the train- ing to make them more clear and suitable for general users, and we employed a lot of hands-on training.
Walker: What lessons did you learn from your deployment that could help future fielding efforts or other PM field- ing deployments?
Dodge: Having a “green suiter” lead field- ing efforts makes coordination with units much easier, as we understand how oper- ational units work and can thus better plan around their mission. Coordination and ensuring that the project manager is on the same page as the unit are essen- tial. I was closely tied with the brigade and battalion staff to keep them aware of all acquisition efforts, so they could redirect me as necessary in support of their missions and timelines. While the
program office is responsible for fielding, the unit should be the driving factor in determining who gets assets first. Te unit is the customer!
We are also continuing to use Soldier feed- back to implement changes to streamline and improve fielding and training. For example, when we first started fielding the 1st SFAB, some of the radios were fielded incrementally as parts became available, rather than fielding the system as a complete set. But we learned quickly that it was more efficient to field the entire system at once to enable the unit to train as they fight.
Hittner: New formations like the SFABs rely on us for guidance in the fielding and training process. I wouldn’t say we had any significant challenges, but [we had] opportunities to learn. You don’t know what you don’t know until you are there on the ground, so we conducted thorough site visits to see what assets were there. One thing the site visits revealed was the need to coordinate shipping. We stream- lined supply support by proactively and very closely cross-coordinating across enti- ties before shipping, including the unit on
the ground, the warehouse and the ship- ping entities. It is also important to closely monitor tracking numbers to stay ahead of any unforeseen shipping issues and to keep a fluid shipping line from point A to point B.
Synchronization is key to fulfilling the unit’s requirements. A lot of planning and coordination enabled us to expedite ship- ping and we are able to provide a smooth, fairly seamless transition of equipment from the United States to Afghanistan. Te next time we go back to field another forward-deployed unit, the lessons learned will make everything more expeditious.
Tis fielding effort has also made coordi- nation with our vendors much smoother and our relationships with all of our PM logisticians and the units forward- deployed much stronger. Te Army often talks about being ready to deploy and support any time we are called, and that includes the acquisition community, folks in the background, all the civilians and all of the partners. It’s important that we can rapidly pull together to make these missions successful, whether supporting from home station or deployed with the
TRAINING TEAM
Capt. Domoniqué Hittner, far right, assistant product manager for Satellite Communications assigned to the PM for Tactical Network, observed that it was important to conduct thorough site visits to see what assets were available. “You don’t know what you don’t know until you are there on the ground,” said Hittner, shown here with her fellow team members who provided new equipment training and fielding to the 1st SFAB in Afghanistan in September. (U.S. Army photo)
22
Army AL&T Magazine
Spring 2019
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