Army Force Management School, Part V

L3-MPRI logo

The instructors teaching the Army Force Management Course are contractors. Each is an employee of a company called L3-MPRI, a division of L-3 Communications Corporation, and each is a retired Army officer with an advanced degree. Each probably has more than 30 years experience in the Army if you combine their service time with their experience afterwards as defense contractors.

I learned this morning that one of the instructors is a retired signal officer, Dr. Gregory Hamlett. Dr. Hamlett recognized right off the bat that I was from Fort Gordon and wanted to know if I worked in the towers (Signal Towers). I am hoping I will get an opportunity to have a conversation with him later in the course to get his thoughts on signal doctrine. He taught two classes this morning, the requirements validation and approval process and materiel development roles and missions.

A lot was thrown at us today. In addition to Dr. Hamlett's classes, we learned about materiel acquisition strategies and contracting; the materiel oversight and review process; and two courses on materiel acquisition, pre-systems acquisition and systems acquisition and sustainment.

Tomorrow afternoon we are expecting the director of materiel from the Army G-8 Force Development staff to come speak to us.

Army Force Management School, Part IV

Sean Naylor's book

The biggest challenge of the last couple of days in the Army Force Management Course has been to stay awake. We had had our first test on Friday (I passed) then settled in to learning about the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS).  I went through a two-week course on JCIDS back in October, so going through the chain of documents and milestone decisions for a second time is, to use a military euphemism, a challenge.  The most interesting blocks of instruction (death by PowerPoint) have been the Future Force Warfighting Concept Development and Experimentation; Science and Technology and Army Modernization; and, believe it or not, the class on Cost-Benefit Analysis Overview.

During my down time, I am enjoying reading Sean Naylor's account of the early days of the war in Afghanistan, Not a Good Day to Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda.  I actually started it back home, but because of I was so busy and had several other books started, it was difficult to get in to; but, with all those distractions removed, I'm finding it a riveting read.  There is a very interesting review of the book on the Pritzker Military Library's website, here.

Guidance to the DoD Workforce from Deputy Secretary of Defense

Three-page memo from the DEPSECDEF:  guidance to military and civilian employees and contractors of the DOD.  Lead paragraph reads--

"The Department remains hopeful that a government shutdown will be averted.  The president has made it clear that he does not want a government shutdown, and the Administration is working to find a solution with which all sides can agree ...."

Yeah right.

Army Force Management School, Part III

Today's excursion into force management lore brought us to consider the Army Force Generation model, aka ARFORGEN.  Formally defined, the ARFORGEN model is the structured progression of readiness over time, to produce trained, ready, and cohesive units prepared for operational deployment in support of combatant commander and other Army requirements.  It is a cyclic system that allocates resources to units based on unit deployment schedules.  The model has three phases:  RESET, Train/Ready, and Available.  It is an "evolving" process--the instructor kept saying that there are still a lot of imperfections in the system.

Army Force Management School, Part II

Timothy Keating, an MPRI
employee, one of the
AFMS instructors.

Just finished Day 3 of the The Army Force Management Course (AFMC) at Fort Belvoir.  The AFMC is one of the courses of instruction taught at Fort Belvoir's Army Force Management School.

Here's an overview of what we have covered in three days--

General Dempsey on the Army Capstone and Operating Concepts

On April 11, 2011 General Dempsey will succeed General Casey as the Chief of Staff of the Army.

Army Force Management School

Army Force Management School

My turn has finally come to take the four-week Force Management Course at the Army's Force Management School at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

What a way to spend an April.  Death by PowerPoint.  Happily, the first two days are in the can.  Not that bad.  Only eighteen more to go.

For the duration, I am quartered in Knadle Hall, a transient billeting facility within walking distance of the school.  It's no Hampton Inn, but it's survivable.