CAMP SWIFT, Texas -- As the nature of contemporary warfare evolves and adapts, so too must the technology we use to maintain the advantage on the battlefield. Never before has global information moved so quickly and now, more than ever, combat zones place a premium on safe and efficient communication. When seconds count, the military needs to know it can rely on its training and its equipment.
For the 36th Combat Aviation Brigade, this means two weeks of intense, invaluable training to adopt the latest means of information distribution, the Command Post of the Future. From June 11-25, the Texas Army National Guard’s premier aviation outfit engaged their annual training at the Austin Bergstrum International Airport armory, exclusively to rehearse, perfect and conduct full-scale exercises of the new technology.
From General Dynamics, the architects of the system, the CPOF is “an executive-level decision support system providing situational awareness and collaborative tools to support decision-making.”
Simply put, the CPOF facilitates communication at all levels of command, streamlining movements, accountability and resource allocation for today’s warfighters.
“It’s a collaborative tool that all commanders can reach out to each other over the internet or the network,” said Gale Bourdette Product manager of command post systems and integrations, “and do the planning and process of execution of the mission so they don’t have to leave their command post like in the old days.”
This training on CPOF, and the setting up of the Trailer Mounted Support System that houses the equipment, has many practical uses for the National Guard.
“We will use this oversees,” said Spec. Bryan K. Hardi Jr., an intel analyst with HHC, 36th CAB. “We can use it during hurricane missions also, but we’ll definitely use it oversees.”
Using the CPOF would have proved impossible without the infrastructure provided by the TMSS. The housing system, designed by the Drash company, includes rapidly deployable tactical operations centers capable of providing dynamic command, control and communications on the battlefield. These tent systems require substantial training and official certifications to ensure the Soldiers follow proper safety and assembly standards.
“It takes a minimum of eight men to set it up,” said Spc. Christopher Woods, a plans specialist with HHC, 36th CAB. “I was one of the eight-man crew setting that up, the TMSS medium-sized tents.”
After establishing the TMSS, soldiers engaged daily practices on setting up the computers and other necessary components of the CPOF. For ten days they rehearsed the procedures, improving their efficiency and teamwork each time. The training culminated in a five-day practical training exercise where the Soldiers put what they learned to work.
“We’re going to put units on there,” said Woods, “[and] to my understanding its going to be missions that have been taken place in the past and how we would react.”
“I think most people are pretty enthusiastic about it,” said Sgt. Gregory S. Reinhart, an intel analyst with HHC, 36th CAB. “Its been a slow and tedious process getting to that point of being validated in every one of the steps at the end of each day and getting to that end state but its been enlightening.”
Battlefield coordination remains a timeless component of warfare, going all the way back to wooded shelters with rudimentary maps taped to dirt walls. CPOF ingeniously takes the best practices of more than two hundred years of American conflicts and updates them into a real-time matrix of maps, telecommunications and tactics.
“When I came into the marines in the 1980’s,” said Reinhart, “we had literally boards with a map and then we put acetate over them and we changed overlays by hand depending on what the commander wanted to see. CPOF allows you to do that on the computer and you can manipulate it so that you can get the overlays in just a click of a button and its there.”
At the end of the day, CPOF supports the mission, fulfills the commander’s intent and will ultimately save lives. For the soldiers of the 36th Combat Aviation Brigade, it represents a welcomed advancement for their stateside and overseas mission.
“Everyone wants to learn how to use these systems to better enhance the tactical requirement out there,” said Bourdette. “That’s the big thing right there and that’s why we’re out here.”