RDECOM Command Sergeant Major OEF Interview
The Army Technology Live blog has an interview up with the Research, Development, and Engineering Command Command Sergeant Major, Command Sgt. Maj. Lebert Beharie, discussing his recent trip to Afghanistan. An interesting excerpt:
How does the RDECOM Field Assistance in Science and Technology-Center accomplish its mission of providing engineering solutions to Soldiers directly in theater?
“What a tremendous capability to our Soldiers. This is a big win for the Army. This is a battlefield enabler having the RFAST-C that forward in theater. In six months, they have done over 177 projects for theater. That is throughout the [Combined Joint Operation Area], throughout the battlespace. While I was there, they were working on projects for the [Afghanistan Working Group] for the Afghan Army. They are working on engineering projects for the Air Force’s AC-130.
You name it, they are working on it. You have a Soldier who walks up to the RFAST-C and says, ‘Hey, I have a problem.’ I met that Soldier, a specialist. He showed me how he came up with the design, his drawings, what he envisioned, and the problem he had. He walked up to one of our engineers and said, ‘Hey, here is a problem that I have. Here is what I think a solution could be. Can you do something about this?’ Our scientist said, ‘Absolutely we can do something about it.’ They put the engineering mental muscle behind it and came up with a great product to fill that Soldier’s problem. This proliferates on the battlefield. It was a game-changer. This was an adjustment that had to be made because of new technology that we sent to theater to protect our Soldiers. We had to adjust how we placed certain items on vehicles.
I cannot speak enough about how great of a resource [the RFAST-C] it is for theater. I spoke to RC-South, RC-East, RC-Capital. I’ve talked to every command, all the way through [International Security Assistance Force] Command, and they all are singing the praises of what we are doing in theater.”
This is pretty interesting to me as my Afghan Journal and book are all about my own deployment to Afghanistan as an RDECOM science advisor, and one of my co-workers recently returned from a deployment with RFAST-C.
The theater has certainly matured significantly from a technology perspective since I was there. The RFAST-C is a tremendous capability -- a full service engineering lab and prototype shop, staffed with RDECOM engineers, able to research, analyze, design and build solutions for soldiers on the battlefield in real time. It was just an idea being kicked around when I left RDECOM; it's great to hear that not only did it get deployed, it is getting great feedback from the soldiers who need its services. Trying to get this sort of mission accomplished as an RDECOM quick reaction team leader in the states was tough, as we had to beg, borrow, or steal (well, borrow) resources -- RFAST-C appears to be well resourced and much closer to where the action is.
I expect with the reduction of forces in OEF the RDECOM and acquisition footprint will probably also decline; if RFAST-C is still an effective capability let's hope it stays as long as the troops need it.
