REDSTONE ROUNDTABLE: AMCOM adapts to meet complex challenges of future

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By: Michelle Gordon The Aviation and Missile Command welcomed a new senior enlisted leader during a change of responsibility held June 14 at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. During a ceremony hosted by AMCOM Commander Maj. Gen. Tom O’Connor, outgoing Command Sgt. Maj. Bradford Smith relinquished the unit colors and incoming Command Sgt. Maj. Christopher Doss received them. The colors symbolize the unit's lineage and honors, as well as the loyalty and unity of its Soldiers. The command sergeant major is the custodian of the colors. O’Connor said that during Smith’s 33 months as the AMCOM command sergeant major, he was not only a principal advisor to the commander but also a voice for the AMCOM workforce and the Soldiers in the field. Smith was extensively involved in establishing high-velocity training at the depots, capturing the generational knowledge of the artisans and ensuring that knowledge was used to build the bench and train incoming personnel. He visited the depots, labs and maintenance sites to understand the challenges facing AMCOM employees and the warfighters, and he brought those issues back to headquarters to find solutions that would make their jobs easier and ensure the equipment remained ready. “Sergent major went out and recognized people,” O’Connor said. “Not only did he pat them on the back, shake their hands and present them with a coin, but he carried their stories throughout the enterprise. We are in a great debt of gratitude for what he did to bring the message and the issues from the field back to our command so we couild resolve them.” Smith thanked O’Connor for his friendship, mentorship and guidance, as well as his family and friends for their support throughout his career. He said he does what he does because of the warfighters, regardless of their rank, position or command. “What we do matters, not just for the U.S. Army, but for this country, and it’s about the warfighter, and I remember that every day,” Smith said. “I’m a Soldier going out and helping Soldiers. When I talked to someone outside of the aviation and missile branches, my message was, ‘If I can’t help you, I know somebody who can, so give me your problem, and I’ll take it back to the enterprise.’” Smith, a native of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, leaves AMCOM for the Army Test and Evaluation Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, later this month. There, he will ensure the Army pursues and acquires equipment that is tested, ready and safe to operate. Doss comes to AMCOM from Fort Novosel, Alabama, where he was the garrison command sergeant major. The Birmingham, Alabama native said he looks forward to the opportunity to work with the members of the AMCOM team and empower their success. “Being a leader is not easy,” he said. “We make choices every day that affect the lives of our Soldiers, employees and their families. I will do my best to continue to improve this organization and safeguard our nation.” The Aviation and Missile Command delivers responsive aviation, missile and calibration materiel readiness to the Army to optimize joint warfighter capabilities at the point of need. The command works to overcome the challenges of an ever-changing strategic environment to ensure the Army and the joint force have the best aviation and missile equipment, services and subject-matter expertise available.

By Della Adame, CCAD Public Affairs Specialist Corpus Christi Army Depot, TX -- In a milestone event, a ribbon cutting was held to open the CCAD aviation maintenance instructional center. The center point of aviation maintenance training is now home to the High Velocity Talent Continuum (HVTC) project. Spearheaded by Larry Adams, chief of the workforce development division, and Earl Walters, Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM) HVTC program manager, the project will help prepare the depot for changes in mission that will require upskilling or reschooling of the workforce. These efforts will drive the CCAD training division into a modernization effort that takes advantage of educational opportunities to meet training needs on demand and at the point of need. AMCOM’s Command Sergeant Major, Bradford Smith, explained, “There are work packages with experienced artisan input, that can be digitized. We develop an advanced training curriculum, and anybody from college/high school or the workforce can train with it. That's like working right beside them, but you're doing it online or in this HVTC office.” This kind of skill training benefits soldiers and artisans. Soldiers may come to the Depot for training to become more proficient and competent with necessary skills to maintain aircraft at their home bases and units. The groundbreaking event set the standard as no one else in the Army has this. Carlen Chestang, AMCOM G1 Deputy Chief of Staff, elaborated, “The United States Army is experiencing a challenge, that includes skill gaps, workforce shortages, and the disconnect between what's being taught at the academic level and the new technology the depot requires amidst the growing numbers of artisans who are retiring from the workforce.” The high velocity alliance with the Army furthers the ability to capture knowledge from retiring subject matter experts. This development of a pathway for interns and new employees helps bring in their skills as well. Chestang added, “Make sure you get the right people with the right skills and the right skill sets.” Chestang also lauded CCAD leadership and thanked the command team for embracing the HVTC concept, “It’s important, not just for CCAD, this is groundbreaking for the Army, and you should be very proud of that.” Scott Frost, a contractor with the Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment Program in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, manages the industrial workforce development investment portfolio under an initiative called the National Imperative for Industrial Skills. He explained the growing challenge in assessing training, retaining critical skill sets particularly in the trades, across the defense industrial base, the commercial, and private sector, and the organic industrial base. The program is a multi-year initiative was primarily focused on the private side. The program partnered with military departments, within industry and academia, to solve problems that are really growing beyond the risk of industry to solve alone. “The Office of the Secretary of Defense must craft an attack plan against some of these big giant problems like a retiring baby boomer workforce. So that as those new folks are coming out of the HVTC training pipelines we can fill the seats. Even with increased automation, requirements are large,” said Frost. He further explained, “CCAD for instance, could be moving from sheet metal and aluminum to perhaps composites in the future. And those 35 to 40-year artisans that understand sheet metal/aluminum, they understand that business, but do they understand composites?” They are the most important component in the HVTC project wheel, the dedicated patriotic, hardworking artisans. They're the engine and subject matter experts that drive all things HVTC. Their dedication to their trade and the knowledge base that's going out the door when they retire is of the greatest value. Being able to capture that knowledge with the new HVTC tools is so critical. The Commander of the Corpus Christi Army Depot, Colonel Kyle Hogan, emphasized the importance of this new learning concept and how it supports the Army’s four priorities: warfighting, deliver a combat ready force, continuously modernize, and developing the profession.