Photo By Staff Sgt. Johnathan Hoover | Al UDEID AIR BASE, Qatar – From left, Warrant Officer Warren Godfrey, Chief Warrant...... read more read more
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By Staff Sgt. Johnathan Hoover
11th ADA Public Affairs
AL UDEID AIR BASE, Qatar – The “Top Notch” 11th Air Defense Artillery “Imperial” Brigade hosted Leader Professional Development (LPD) for a type of warrant officer known as a 140A, a command and control system integrator, from Feb. 27 to March 3.
This LPD consisted of six 140As from throughout the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility meeting to discuss combined air operations throughout CENTCOM. The LPD included site visits to different CENTCOM installations to speak with their U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy counterparts.
“We were able to get a common understanding from all the branches of service on combined air operations, shared experiences and best practices,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Christopher Nichols, the senior 140A for Top Notch. “Not all the 140As here are assigned to a Patriot unit.”
Meeting with the other branches provided the 140As with a clearer outlook of the architecture of the theater of operation.
“This gives me a better picture of the Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) architecture, which I can take back to use in our mission planning for the operational plan to ensure we are understanding which assets are being protected, so we can place our people where they will be the most protected,” said Warrant Officer Blakely Dye, 140A assigned to the 75th Field Artillery Brigade, TF Spartan, out of Fort Sill, Okla.
This will definitely assist in providing a situational awareness picture for the brigade commander, said Warrant Officer Warren Godfrey, a 140A assigned to the 449th Combat Aviation Brigade, a unit of the North Carolina National Guard.
“For me not being [familiar with] the Patriot, it was very informative,” said Godfrey. “I enjoyed seeing the different practices and enjoyed meeting with the guys learning a lot of stuff which I didn’t learn in school and learning the different techniques, the different ways to do things, understanding the computer software and a lot of things which allowed me to see a bigger picture.”
“It was a good opportunity for all of us to get together and network,” said Dye. “All of us have the same job but we do different jobs so we not only get to see the theater aspect but also each person’s take on ballistic missile defense.”
The personnel who attended the LPD brought with them more than 75 combined years of air defense systems integration with a wide range of knowledge and backgrounds.
“Being able to bring in warrant officers from throughout the AO (Area of Operation) to share their experiences and hardships enabled us a cohort to train, teach, and mentor each other of the way ahead,” said Nichols.
The face to face interaction allows the creation of relationships and adds the ability to reach out to utilize others in the career field to solve issues, said Nichols.
“We are such a small group anyway. It’s nice to meet everyone,” said Godfrey, a native of Carlisle, Pa. “The one thing I think this enhances is learning from each other.”
As a small group, most only speak to each other on a telephone or video teleconference call which provides a professional working relationship but doesn’t fulfill the personal relationship needed to build a strong lasting network.
“Video teleconferencing is a great tool but we do rely on it a little too much. It’s more personable when you meet,” said Dye, a native of Riverside, Calif. “Not only do you get to talk business but you also get the one-on-one with people which helps to integrate to build a stronger field.”
“The one thing I think this enhances is learning from each other,” said Godfrey. “Who’s an expert at CRAM, who’s an expert at Patriot, who’s an expert at ADAM Cell and the other different avenues? If I’m going to CRAM and I’ve never done it before; I can call up someone and ask for information which could help me.”
All those who participated in the LPD agreed the event should be an ongoing one and expanded to include even more participants throughout the 140A career field.
“It was definitely beneficial, not only to understand what’s going on in the theater BMD and data link wise, but also to get everyone together to encourage information sharing throughout the Army as a whole,” said Dye.
“More face-to-face, hands on systems, different sites and seeing how things are set up would be very beneficial,” said Godfrey.
“Hands on would be a lot more fun for me at least, because I don’t get to do it as much,” said Godfrey. “It was nice to see how the Air Force, Navy and CENTCOM receive the information in one spot and pushes it out to the end users.”
Nichols, who organized the LPD, said more events like this are not currently planned but he would like to see it become a bi-annual event in the CENTCOM AO.
“With the high rotation and vast mission the 140A cohort performs in the CENTCOM AO, any chance we can get to cross-talk on a large scale to achieve a shared understanding of all missions is beneficial to the individual unit, the CENTCOM AO, the U.S. Army, and all military branches as a whole.
| Date Taken: | 02.26.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 03.26.2018 09:31 |
| Story ID: | 270567 |
| Location: | QA |
| Web Views: | 501 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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