ARMY AL&T
He also noted that the leadership within the Project Manager for Defense Commu- nications and Army Transmission Systems and the Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems gave him a lot of latitude to run the project as he saw fit. “Tey were also there to bounce ideas or issues off of, and that allowed me to learn a great deal. It was my proj- ect to make work, and I had to learn the details of it.”
Schofield was a signal officer before join- ing the acquisition workforce and spent two years planning and operating small terminal dishes in Korea. “To be able to take what I know works or doesn’t work and apply it to the systems we are actively fielding has been an amazing experience. We were able to get new systems into the hands of the Soldiers within six months of funding, condensing what is normally a 24-month process.” He added that while these new systems are only for the Korea operational needs statement, “what we learned through the process of designing, procuring and fielding them is directly influencing the next generation of VSATs for the whole Army.”
Looking back over the experience, he noted that he learned a couple of things. At the top of the list is the potential hazard of institutional inertia. “Many of the proj- ects we work on in the Army are multiyear or multidecade projects. It’s very easy to fall into the processes that have always been used, but it’s important to take ownership of your program and ques- tion all aspects of how things are done,” he said. “Tings we’re doing might have made perfect sense 10 years ago, but now are just outdated. Never let process get in the way of performance.” Second, under- stand the capabilities of the equipment and the organization. “If you know what the parts, pieces and people can do, it’s easy to shift the plan when you need to.”
SPECIAL TRAINING NOT REQUIRED
The lighter, more transportable satellite terminal Schofield’s team produced can be assembled by any two Soldiers in about 30 minutes. Schofield’s time as a signal officer taught him that “if an item or system requires a field service rep just to operate or maintain it, it’s too complicated, and it won’t be used.” (Photo by Amburr Reese, U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command Public Affairs)
Schofield’s transition to acquisition was spurred in part by frustration. “Having spent eight years in various S-6 or signal company positions, I was tired of getting new equipment that was so complicated that my Soldiers couldn’t operate it reli- ably. I figured I could help make new systems simpler for the Army,” he said.
“It shouldn’t take a degree in information technology to operate an Army commu- nication system. If an item or system requires a field service rep just to operate or maintain it, it’s too complicated, and it won’t be used.”
Now that he has seen acquisition from a couple of different perspectives, he noted
that one of the things Soldiers often don’t understand are the timelines for Army acquisitions. “At the unit level, it’s hard to see the scale of the Army and the sheer amount of equipment that needs to be fielded. Soldiers can become frustrated by the pace [at which] they receive new equipment without fully understanding the production back end,” he said. “Even if we had unlimited funding, our industry partners can only make so many widgets per year. Sometimes it will take years or even a decade to field a new item to the whole Army.”
—SUSAN L. FOLLETT
https://asc.ar my.mil
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