Connecting Soldiers to Digital Applications

Connecting Soldiers to Digital Applications (CSDA) is something that started a few years ago when Lt. Gen. Sorenson was the Army's chief information officer (CIO/G-6).  It's not really a program, just an idea.  But it's a very big idea that's getting bigger.  Like a snowball rolling downhill.  What started back in 2008 or 2009 as an Army-wide contest for who could develop the best app, is now an effort led by the Mission Command Center of Excellence that just recently opened the Army Software Marketplace.  I am privileged to work with some of the Army's CSDA experts at the U.S. Army Signal Center of Excellence who are working to contribute signal-relevant apps, some of which will be posted to this marketplace.  Apps are also being developed that will be used by future Soldiers under actual operating conditions.  So this really is big stuff.

One of the things we are working on now is putting together an entire issue of the Army Communicator magazine which is published quarterly by the Signal Center.  This year's summer issue will focus almost exclusively on mobile applications for the Army.

In the video, Lt. Col. James McGhee, from the Mission Command Center of Excellence, is briefing an audience at the Association of the United States Army winter symposium in Fort Lauderdale, which is going on this week.  One of the things he is emphasizing is how the Army wants to use CSDA to expand the "Doctrine 2015" initiative begun last year.  Watch for the e-book demonstration in Lt. Col. McGhee's briefing.