TRADOC Seeks Wartime Solutions From Rapid Equipping Force

Army, Aug 2004 by Kennedy, Tim

Since its genesis two years ago, the Rapid Equipping Force (REF) has evolved from a small experiment that supplied robot-mounted video cameras to soldiers exploring caves in Afghanistan to a thriving "technology innovation and insertion" organization that has quickly-sometimes within a few hours-fielded hundreds of urgently needed items into the Afghan and Iraqi theaters of operation.

REF responds to a critical requirement with whatever technology solution is most readily available. Whether using commercial or government off-the-shelf technologies to solve equipping issues, or applying Future Force technologies for insertion, REF offers the quickest solutions to the field commander's requirement.

"We tell commanders: 'If you're not as effective in your environment as you want to be-whether it's because of a force protection issue, a weapons issue or a deployment issue-we will try to find solutions that make you more effective,'" says Col. Bruce Jette, REF's director.

Operating with a 45-person staff-approximately half serve overseas in "hunter teams" that routinely visit deployed units-REF serves as a solutions catalyst, scouring the earth for existing technologies rather than wasting time developing new products from scratch.

Last summer, REF's ability to shrink the Army equipping timetable from many months to a few days caught the attention of Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, who summoned Col. Jette to the Pentagon and instructed him to apply REF's rapid-equipping methodologies to the Army's Future Force. Gen. Schoomaker was particularly eager to have REF examine emerging concepts, technologies, surrogates and threshold capabilities to determine if they can be inserted onto the battlefield "right now, rather than later."

To better enable REF to establish links with operational forces before deployment as well as in the field, REF has established partnerships at key locations within the U.S. Army Forces Command and Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC).

"The mission Gen. Schoomaker has given to REF is closely aligned with the TRADOC mission, particularly its responsibilities for training development, doctrine development and combat development for each of its key materiel groups," says Joe Henry, a REF strategic plans consultant.

As REF's liaison with TRADOC, Henry works closely with the Combined Arms Center (CAC), at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and the Futures Center, at Fort Monroe, Va. "The focus of REF's partnership with CAC is to support predeployment training at combat training centers [CTCs], as well as finding technological developments available now that can be inserted into areas of the Army's battle command," says Henry.

One of Henry's frequent points of contact at Fort Leavenworth is Brig. Gen. Timothy Livsey, CAC's deputy commanding general for Training. "The beauty of the REF is that they have small, closely connected elements spread throughout the Army," says Livsey. "By having their foot in everybody's camp, they know exactly what's going on inside TRADOC."

Livsey says CAC's partnership with REF has additional value because REF is frequently asked to find technology solutions to issues sent from deployed units to the Center for Army Lessons Learned (CALL), a CAC component. "The CALL relies on REF to quickly turn operational lessons learned into solutions," says Livsey. "In addition, the REF works with CAC to gain access to the CTCs to rapidly test-prove candidate technology solutions.

"The CAC is closely connected to the forces that are actually in the fighting," Livsey adds. "We deal with current training and warfighting issues, whereas the Futures Center-REF's other partner at TRADOC-deals more with the force of the future."

"Our relationship with the TRADOC Futures Center is focused on surrogate and threshold technologies that are currently earmarked for future combat systems," says Henry. "We also try to match these potential technology solutions with initiatives in which REF is engaged."

The focal point of the REF-TRADOC partnership at the Futures Center is a set of 10 force capability gaps for which the Chief of Staff of the Army has specifically asked REF to find technology solutions.

"REF and TRADOC have been working together since March 2004, with a KEF representative in my office on a daily basis working to find technological solutions to shortfalls we've found," says Brig. Gen. Phillip Coker, director for Capabilities Development at the TRADOC Futures Center.

Soldier protection in a counterinsurgency environment is a force capability gap for which TRADOC has recently supplied REF a solution: an explosive-resistant coating originally developed by the Navy. Essentially a paint-on armor, the polymer-based coating significantly enhances the ability of metal surfaces to absorb blast effects without being penetrated.

"This is an example of where we had a force capability gap, became aware of a solution to the gap and then made that solution known through REF's people in the field and their contacts through the G-3 with divisions about to deploy," says Coker.