Sec Army recognizes innovators

From Army.mil ... the Secretary of the Army reconized a number of soldier and civilian innovators working for the Department.  I find the best story to be the one of four soldier-innovators:

Among those whose contributions save lives are the four Soldiers who teamed to build the "HMMWV Egress Assistance Trainer," or "HEAT." The training device helps Soldiers and other service members learn to escape from an overturned Humvee.

"We built the prototype and got it inducted into Army training, and now it's part of the curriculum for every unit going down range," said Sgt. Mickey L. Hill, 82nd Sustainment Brigade, XVIII Airborne Corps, U.S. Army Forces Command, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Hill was part of a team that included Chief Warrant Officer 4 Rick Cox, Sgt. 1st Class James A. Jett Jr., and Staff Sgt. Christopher R. Whiting that devised the training device, which involves a Humvee that can be mechanically flipped using hydraulics. Their construction of the device was in response to combat losses in theater from Soldiers unable to escape from overturned Humvees.

"After so many losses in Operation Iraqi Freedom to begin with, from vehicle fatalities specifically from vehicle rollovers, FORSCOM directed their safety office to come up with an idea," said Jett. "At the time, the only training tool was a graphic training aid, a card. [Chief Cox] had the idea and came up with the materials. We assisted him in actually fabricating from what his idea was, to making it work."

The Army has now adopted that training tool worldwide, and a similar tool is now going to be used that trains Soldiers to exit an overturned mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle, known as an MRAP.

Way to go, guys!  It just goes to show that given the tools and opportunity, soldiers can be some of the best sources of new and effective ideas.