COMMAND/ORGANIZATION: Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space
TITLE: Project manager, Tactical Aviation and Ground Munitions
YEARS OF SERVICE IN WORKFORCE: 20
DAWIA CERTIFICATIONS: Advanced in program management; Practitioner in engineering and technical management
EDUCATION: MBA in global leadership and management, Lawrence Technological University; M.S. in mechanical engineering and B.S. in mechanical engineering, Iowa State University
AWARDS: Meritorious Civilian Service Award (2); Civilian Service Commendation Medal (3)

CRAIG RIEDEL

by Cheryl Marino

Craig Riedel, project manager for Tactical Aviation and Ground Munitions (TAGM) under the Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space, finds that people outside of his workplace are fascinated with defense work. Often, he said, they are unaware of the collaboration between civil service and military in these roles and inquire about opportunities in this field. They often ask how he stumbled into it himself.

“I was in the last semester of my master’s degree work [in 2003], wrapping up my thesis, and started looking for jobs when I needed a break from writing. I came across an Army posting on the university alumni career services website, but I didn’t apply because the criteria required 10 years of experience and some other qualifications I did not meet,” Riedel said. “It turned out I accidentally applied and was confused when I got a call a few days later for an interview.”

Riedel’s master’s work was in engineering design and analysis applications in virtual reality, and it turned out that the Research Development and Engineering Center at Rock Island Arsenal was starting up a virtual reality program and seeking someone with virtual reality hardware and software experience, which was rare at the time.

“It was an accidental match made in heaven,” he said. “I interviewed and started work there a few months later after graduation. The idea of working for the Army on weapon systems and utilizing the skills I developed in my master’s work was very appealing.”

As the project manager for TAGM, Riedel is responsible for the overall cost, schedule and performance management of critical tactical munitions, including the Joint Air-to-Ground Missile, the Hellfire, the Javelin, guided and unguided Hydra rockets, the Tube-Launched Optically Tracked Wireless-Guided (TOW) missile, the Switchblade, the Long-Range Precision Munition, the Containerized Weapon System and all the related launchers and support equipment, as well as developing, fielding, sustaining and improving these weapon systems.

“One reason I enjoy acquisition is that I get to interact with a wide variety of organizations across the Department of Defense and beyond,” he said. “I really enjoy the diversity and breadth of people I interact with as an acquisition professional.”

The most important point in Riedel’s career, he said, was when he deployed to Iraq in 2007 to be the chief of facilities and facilities engineering for the U.S. Army Materiel Command’s 402nd Army Field Support Brigade. “At that point I had been in civil service for three years. I enjoyed my work, but there were a lot of great career opportunities out there and I was starting to doubt whether I wanted to make a career out of Army acquisition.”

Riedel said the deployment experience was completely out of his comfort zone. For the first time in his life, he was surrounded by Soldiers daily and was given a massive amount of responsibility with minimal direction to go with it.

“The natural course of my duties allowed me to see almost all Army modernization activities that were being executed in country. I also got to talk to a lot of warfighters who were on our footprint getting trained on the new gear before they drove off with it into combat. This flipped a switch in me. I have always worked hard, but this experience brought my commitment level and work ethic to a whole new level,” he said. “I left there excited to make a change in my career field to program management and start managing a program as soon as I could.” He was placed into a developmental assignment as an assistant product manager following the deployment that later became permanent.

Riedel realized he could benefit from training to take the next step in his career. He was serving as a board select product director when he applied to the Senior Service College Fellowship (SSCF). “I had reflected enough on my work performance to know that I made too many unforced errors, and that there was a significant gap between my current performance and my potential. However, I could not quite put my finger on what to do about it. I heard that SSCF was a great program for many things, including taking a year to really focus on myself as a leader,” he said. “The timing and recognition of need lined up very well for me, and I went for it.”

He participated in SSCF from July 2020 through May 2021, and said he got a lot out of the program. Two things in particular have proven to be essential for him. “First, a lot of time was spent on skills for developing trust bonds that enable effective delegation. I would fail at my job if I could not implement responsible, effective delegation,” Riedel said. “And second, through formal learning as well as peer mentoring, I learned how to better address feelings of defensiveness when they come on. This has helped me stay focused on the task at hand when working through difficult situations or relationships.”

He said the best lessons he’s learned through his experience and training is that you will get the best outcome on challenges nearly 100% of the time when you work collaboratively as a committed team.

“Real world problems are far too difficult to solve with an individual perspective or skill set,” he explained. “It is imperative to include multidisciplinary and diverse perspectives to attack hard problems. I seek to build such teams to work the hard stuff, and never make any important decisions in a vacuum. I often find that I make a different decision after hearing other perspectives than I would have on my own. I have also found that many hands make light work and free up some of my time to address more priorities.”

Riedel said he tries to give advice to junior acquisition personnel as regularly as he can. “It generally comes in the form of feedback on something I observed, but sometimes takes the form of sharing knowledge I have on topics that I think they will come across in the near future.”

Most commonly, his advice is on how to move forward in an environment of uncertainty. “I see too many junior professionals who become stymied in their current actions because of fear they might not be focused on the right things, given decisions or guidance they are waiting for. I always encourage them to fast-forward in their mind and look backward to today, to determine the consequences of moving out in a direction and being wrong or to see if there is any action they can take now to get a nudge in the right direction.”

Riedel said he applies many of the techniques he has learned at work to situations outside the workplace. “I definitely apply the skills for handling defensiveness on a regular basis. I am able to come out of difficult situations and engagements in a much better position for being successful,” he noted. “It has also helped me see when others are getting defensive and change the tone of an engagement to get everyone pulled back into a place where we can move forward together.”