Top goal: Tactical Battle Command links

Army Communicator, Wntr, 2008 by Charmain Z. Brackett

Meeting the technological needs of the warfighter is a top goal for Tactical Battle Command.

Recently, LTC Kenneth Rodgers, product manager for TBC at Fort Monmouth, N.J. visited the Signal Center to find out what signal Soldiers are requesting on the battlefield.

"We are trying to find out if we are doing the right thing by signal Soldiers," he said.

"This is a great opportunity to see how we support the school house."

He also met with Joe Capps, United States Army Signal Center and Fort Gordon deputy to the commanding general.

During the past few months, TBC has worked with the Signal Center in many ways including providing subject matter experts and training on new technology such as Battle Command Object Synchronization, VMWare and SharePoint/MOSS 2007.

Rodgers visited several SharePoint classes during his visit.

The command also provided training materials for various systems such as CPOF and BCCS.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Also, TBC has provided equipment and software to help make a System of Systems lab.

Rodgers said as technology continues to develop rapidly it's up to him and his staff to make sure the warfighter has the necessary new pieces.

"They understand what the tools can do, and they want to use them," he said. "We've got to support the warfighter."

Sometimes that means buying several licenses for commercially produced technology rather than spending manpower and dollars developing something new. Rodgers said he plans to stay as close to the technological advances as possible despite its quickly changing nature.

ACRONYM QUICKSCAN

BCCS--Battle Command and Control Systems

CPOF--command post of the future

MOSS--Microsoft Office Sharepoint Service

TBC--Tactical Battle Command

VMWare--Virtual Machine Ware

Mrs. Brackett is a correspondent for the Fort Gordon, Public Affairs Office, Fort Gordon, Ga.