Photo By Kristen Pittman | Col. Peter Sittenauer, EUCOM/AFRICOM Regional Operations director, leads a lesson...... read more read more
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The U.S. Army Security Assistance Command’s Security Assistance Support Directorate culminated their first iteration of four Foreign Military Sales training courses at Redstone Arsenal Aug. 25-28.
USASAC Commanding General Brig. Gen. Allen Pepper directed the training following workforce feedback on the lack of structured training on USASAC-specific processes.
The SASD implemented four weeks of training, each week geared to different regional operations directorate roles: technician, logistician, country case manager, and country program manager.
“The purpose for this training is for the ROs at their various levels to understand more of the day-to-day how-to’s and systems they need for their jobs,” said FMS Lifecycle Branch Chief Amanda Rickabaugh, whose RO Support Team spearheaded the training effort.
In developing the curriculum, the SASD created a structured agenda that provides a broad FMS overview as it relates to each role. This required the SASD to pool not only their collective knowledge but to reach out to other internal divisions such as the G-2/6 for systems and security considerations and G8 for financial case management.
“We requested support from within the (regional directorates) to provide segments of instruction which are especially prevalent for the country program managers whose roles require a lot of partner and ally interaction. The ROs really came through with providing support, especially for the CPM role,” said Rickabaugh.
At the request of Pepper, each course began and ended with a test to measure the immediate impact of the instruction provided and gauge what changes need to be applied for the next cycle.
In addition to the USASAC-specific instruction on processes and procedures, each course also provided Defense Security Cooperation University, Army Security Assistance Enterprise, and other higher-level resources for further development.
Rhonda Williams attended the technician course in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, and said the curriculum greatly benefitted and applied to her daily tasks.
“What I was able to take from the training was how to properly read a Letter of Offer and Acceptance, process Concurrent Spare Parts lines, and have a better understanding of the different acronyms used throughout the Army Security Assistance Enterprise,” she said. “It also helped me better understand the financial data in (the General Fund Enterprise Business System), how funding is broken out by primary category codes and what each PCC signifies.”
With this enhanced understanding, Williams said she feels this class has prepared her for future promotion.
Rickabaugh said the feedback following the first courses has been mostly positive with most suggestions for improvement revolving around adding more content and real-world examples.
“I think this RO training program could have a really positive impact on the workforce development at USASAC,” said Rickabaugh. “The ASAE and DSCU courses are great from a high level perspective to give everyone the overarching view of ‘What is FMS?’, but our courses really focus on the day-to-day job and what you need to know to be able to do that, and I think that’s really going to improve our workforce’s knowledge, their ability, and their efficiency.”
The next courses are already on the calendar for 2026 with the first for technicians being held in January at New Cumberland. Personnel can reach out to Julia Bozovich, julia.l.bozovich .civ@army.mil, to sign up or supervisors can nominate an individual for a spot.
| Date Taken: | 09.04.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 09.04.2025 13:13 |
| Story ID: | 547240 |
| Location: | REDSTONE ARSENAL, ALABAMA, US |
| Web Views: | 21 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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