FIELDING THE FUTURE
“The entire process of designing
prototypes, material selection and down- selection to final face covering, to ramping up our in- house production team was completed in about 10 days.”
scientists, textile technologists and engi- neers coordinated the test and evaluation of potential materials,” she said.
LaFleur’s team developed an array of potential prototype systems encompassing six designs, taking into account integra- tion with eyewear and helmets, the face cover’s ability to stay in place and adjust- ability to various head sizes and face shapes, she said.
Te Human Factors Team conducted an assessment of the prototypes using local Soldier research volunteers. Te design that the Soldier Center selected for fabri- cation had the highest Soldier acceptance, with consideration for ease of manufactur- ing. A second design, also highly accepted, is being further developed rapidly as a more permanent Army solution.
Having selected the materials to use, the team rapidly cut and sewed quantities of the six designs to get Soldiers’ feedback. Te design selected was ready for use with- out improvements.
PIVOT TO PRODUCTION While the Soldier Center’s own person- nel took on the job of fabricating the first 10,000 face covers, its established role in developing solutions is to design and prototype them, not produce the items. Te Army prepared to segue into long- range production using the procurement processes established for other textile- based items, LaFleur said.
“There is a wide base of cut-and-sew manufacturers within the USA, which the Army uses to manufacture textile-based items for the warfighter,” she explained. As with the production of established cloth- ing items, all materials will comply with the Berry Amendment requirement that they be sourced and manufactured in the United States. “We also have military- specific design considerations” of form, fit and function, LaFleur said.
Unlike many other Army uniform items, the face coverings will not be treated with extra chemical finishes or processes, she said. “Tere is no bug repellent or similar treatment that could be hazardous.”
Tat’s not to say that all production has shifted from grassroots efforts to a factory setting.
Now, in addition to coordinating its efforts with the Navy and other Army agencies, CCDC SC is making its technical data package for the first face cover available to units that have the capability to produce them, said Tamilio.
THE NEXT BIG NEED To say that efforts to respond to the urgent and enormous need for effective face coverings have been a learning experience is an understatement on a pandemic scale. Tose involved are eager to make maxi- mum use of the knowledge gained.
CCDC SC will establish shortly a means of sharing its designs via a controlled open source domain for state and local author- ities around the country in need of a proven face cover design, giving them all the information necessary for production.
“We want to look at what do we do the next time? Maybe it’s not a pandemic, it’s something else,” Jones said. “Next time there’s an emergent need, how do we use organic capability” to solve the problem?
More specifically for 3D printing and additive manufacturing, “How do we, at the tactical level, better link into Army capability? We just try to prototype and innovate a new way from the bottom up. We aren’t a manufacturing capability.”
Whatever the scale of production— “whether we make one mask or a million masks,” Jones said—“the great part is in the doing it—to get a solution and do our part.”
For more information on the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) initiative to make face covers, contact the group Public Affairs Office at 253-966-4882. For more on the CCDC Soldier Center project, contact the Public Affairs Office at 508-206-3592. For more about the long-range Army Face Cover program, call PEO Soldier Public Affairs at 703-704-4963.
MARGARET C. ROTH is an editor of Army AL&T magazine. She has more than a decade of experience in writing about the Army and more than three decades’ experience in journalism and public relations. Roth is a MG Keith L. Ware Public Affairs Award winner and a co-author of the book “Operation Just Cause: Te Storming of Panama.” She holds a B.A. in Russian language and linguistics from the University of Virginia.
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