As the ADA commandant, your success is an integral part of our overall mission. We want to know how USAADASCH can serve YOU!
As the ADA commandant, your success is an integral part of our overall mission. We want to know how USAADASCH can serve YOU!
2 Comments on "How can USAADASCH better support YOU as an Air Defender?"
While attending the CGSC Class 12-02 Branch Day, there was a discussion about now that siADA is part of the Fires Center of Excellence that there is a push to have ADA aligned with the Fires Warfighting Function (WFF) instead of the Protection WFF. I personally believe we should remain in the protection WFF but would be interested in seeing the reasoning of why the shift to Fires WFF is important enough to do.
If this is happening, is the ADA Schoolhouse going to prepare young ADA officers with the skill sets to be a “Fires Officer”? The branches are quite technically and tactically different and I wonder what the development path or the expectations of this Officer. Having worked with Field Artillery Officers on an IBCT Staff in Afghanistan, working the A2C2 was kind of similar, but the knowledge of the field artillery weapon systems and their capabilities would be hard to master unless it was something learned early and often in your professional development.
Major Bradd A. Schultz
CGSG Class 12-02
SG 2E
May 19, 2010 1:03 PM SPC DICKSON said:
Incorporate into training the multitasking between being a 14 series and also working in a S shop. Few of us work with our skill set on a constant basis, most hold other shop positions in the BN and BDE level. Some never even see our MOS again. And some don’t see it untill a field problem or TABLE VIII eval. But yet we’re all expected to be able to do land and ammo, or schools, or TDY, or Orderly room, ect. based on the MTOE. Is there a way to prepare us for those tasks since we’re inevitably going to be doing them.
v/r
SPC DICKSON
31st ADA BDE PAO
May 19, 2010 1:08 PM Hitchcock, Benjamin SPC said:
Sir I am with the 226 MEB Alabama National Gaurd in the ADAM cell and we have no equipment to train on is there any classes for the National Gaurd go to for a refreasher on the ADAM shelter? Or an AMDWS and TAIS box to train on during drill weekends?
May 19, 2010 1:51 PM LTC Mike McGuire said:
Sir, The general issue I would like to address has to do with our officer developmental training and quite frankly, expectation management for our officers being assigned to ADAM Cells. What are we doing to prepare our officers for assignment to ADAM Cells at corps and below?
The bottom line up front is that our officers serving on corps, division, and brigade staffs routinely fill positions within the repsective staffs outside of the air defense mission. We typically fill roles such as Battle Captains, CHOPs, planners, training officers, BN S3S, etc. I am currently serving as the Deputy G3 for 1st Cavalry Division and previous to that ran the CUROPs for III Corps. In both cases, I was slotted as the senior air defense officer at both III Corps and now 1st Cavalry Divsion.
Acknowledging we are all Soldiers and accomplish whatever mission we are given, many of our officers coming from the career course and ILE are expecting to be part of ADAM Cells and seem surprised to learn they won’t be working in an ADAM Cell as their primary mission. All of the air defense officers I have worked with have been extremely professional and competent, but go through a (pardon the expression) “there is no Santa Claus” phase when they report in to a divisional unit. It does cause frustration in some cases and in reality, many officers may come to believe the air defense mission within divisional units is not a priority.
I understand I may be a victim of my own experience at Fort Hood and wanted to throw this topic out for discussion. Although serving in three OIF tours since 2005, I notice the same trend with the units we RIP with.
v/r,
LTC Mike McGuire
michael.j.mcguire@us.army.mil
May 19, 2010 1:56 PM SSG (P) Reyes said:
Sir,
My questions are concening the 14J split into 14G and 14H. It is my understanding from briefings that the special identifier of Q3 will be scrapped completely from all Air Defense in the split. My issue is valuable time and money was spent to instruct, train and certify soldiers just to delete it as an ASI.
There is a vision for 14J soldiers currently to be in a current assignment for two years and then have them move to another assignment in an attempt to have a seasoned 14J soldier. When the split occurs, the 14G (SHORAD) MOS will fall in line with the vision but the 14H MOS (HIMAD) will not. The assignments currently slated for 14H are highly compartmentalized and require extensive training, which will ultimatley result in 14H soldiers stagnating in certain assignments and not rotating every two years.
May 19, 2010 3:11 PM SSG Wise said:
Sir,
I agree with SSG Reyes. I am enroute to 6th BDE and have to go to the Q3 Identifier course, and our MOS is splitting…I am coming from Korea, and have no clue what is going on in ADA land…Also, The 14J/Early Warning Platoon there has only 9 14J’s, and there are 6 Sentinel Radars and 6 FAAD C2I Shelters..Another thing, Why is it that I cannot get any information on the future of the branch, 14J MOS, and where the heck me and my family are suppose to stay when we get to Sill…No One has contacted me. I have friends there already that are trying to help, but yet noone from 6th BDE has even sent us a welcome letter or email…I have that “Great” feeling inside about going to another unit like 6-52 ADA or 210th Fires BDE!!! It’s actually kinda scary when you think about it!
May 19, 2010 3:18 PM William Navarro said:
Sir, I think there should be a location where ADA Soldiers can find information of changes within the branch and developmental opportunities. Some Soldiers are assigned to assignments that are removed from the ADA community (IE ROTC, USMA, Branch Immaterial, etc). I just found out that 14Js were being splint into two MOSs from this blog. Officer developmental information would also help out. Thank you for your time.
May 19, 2010 5:08 PM SSG Atkinson said:
Sir, As a 14J, and as a Section Leader, for other 14J and 15Q I would love to have some equipment to train on. As a new National Guard MEB, building from the ground up, I understand the equipment is on the way, is there any on-line software or any other courses or units we can request to go to for our AT to retain the knowledge, and build on, since being MOSQ, like blue force tracker.
May 19, 2010 8:47 PM MAJ George Corbari said:
Sir,
I’d like to echo LTC McGuire’s comments above. We just returned from Afghanistan. Airspace management is quickly becoming a significant issue where terrain severely limits the movement of aircraft and where more and more assets are being committed to the effort. We had 2 Sentinel radars under our BCT located within close proximity to KIA. Our airspace and fire missions directly impacted flights on approach to KIA.
Manning was a significant issue for us. Additionally, having qualified/trained Sentinel Crews continued to be an issue throughout our rotation.
We had two AD MAJs on our staff- I served as the Chief of Plans and supervised the AD officers/Soldiers w/i the ADAM Cell. The other MAJ served as the BDE CHOPS.
At the levels above us, where we needed senior AD support and in some cases intervention, we could not get it. As LTC McGuire stated, LTCs at that level are reassigned to “Force Protection Officer” or other duties and taken completely out of the Airspace Management business. For most of our time the CJTF level senior AD was a CPT and eventually a CW3 when the CPT was reassigned to other duties. There are several issues that came up during our rotation that I cannot cover in this forum. As air space tightens, this will only intesify.
Having said all that, we had great success. We facilitated searches for downed aircraft, to include UAV. Our TF conducted over 150 air assault missions and was routinely active in deconflicting heavily traveled airspace.
While the other officer and I are not currently filling Air Defense slots, we have bothe been afforded the opportunity to continue to develop professionally- I serve as the BSTB XO and he serves as the CAV Bn S3.
The question is, having both served successfully in forward combat units, how will we stack up against our PATRIOT brothers and sisters who have remained in traditional air defense roles?
The combat experience, although incredibly valuable, does not compare to the knowledge gained by remaining in traditional AD units and keeping abreast of all the new developments.
How can you support us? As a branch we need to provide our Soldiers and officers equal footing to develop professionally and remain relevant to the branch, regardless of assignment (BCT, DIV, CORPS, or PATRIOT). What that looks like probably requires a lot of discussion and bean counting…
May 20, 2010 2:32 AM SSG Hagy, Daniel said:
Sir,
I agree with a lot of the last few blogs in regards to the ADAM Cell’s. I am currently deployed in Iraq right now, east of Baghdad out at FOB Hammer. We have no sentinel radars or C-RAM’s assigned to us. Our air defense role in the brigade has ceased to exist. The only Air defense I do is a weekly practice exercise with CENTCOM. Other than that the 4 14J’s I have work on doing AMR’s and aviation operations.
Our ADA officers? LTC Mcquire is quite right in his experience. My AD MAJ is stuck as the BSTB S3. Our AD CPT was our Battle captain but is now the companyh commander for Brigade. We did not even get a 140A warrant officer until we were halfway through deployment and we have not been assigned one for over a year and a half. And even he is stuck doing Aviation operations.
And we never get time for training as we are stuck with the S3 and having the most soldiers in the section we get tasked with doing all the work. Loading CONNEX’s, conducting PMCS on about 40 poieces of equipment between 5 soldiers and it has to be done in an hour. I had a soldier get stopped during PT, to go and stand and make Coffee for a Brigade Commander’s OPD.
I know the whole mentality behind the schooling is you will learn more when you get to your unit, and that was a perfect case coming from AIT going to a sentinel platoon. But it does not work for an ADAM Cell, especially in a light infantry Brigade. I went through the 6 week refresher course in Huntsville, Alabama and I enjoyed it. But once I got back to my unit it was back to the grind of medial tasks of loading Connex’s moving object from point A to point B, doing menial tasks for the S3 Ops SGM. I had to relearn a lot of the equipment and operations when we went to JRTC. And they still do not teach you the basic current ops of the ADAM Cell in the school house, only how to operate the equipment.
Sir quite honestly I think a lot of people are fearful of getting an ADAM Cell assignment, especially those who have done it before because of the issues going on. The Brigades do not understand or comprehend what the significance of our job is and only see us as extra personal.
May 20, 2010 5:24 AM CW3 Daniel Shields said:
Sir,
I have been in an ADAM Cell since 2004, at Brigade and Division level. I have seen these concerns first hand, many times.
Only once has any officer stayed in the section. He was a AV CPT, and our primary mission for that rotation was AMR’s. The section still played a really big role in the clearance of fires, but it did not require a officer in the section, other than the WO. I have lost soldiers to other duties on each of my rotations to ITO, but never so many as to impact the mission. The “other” duties are usually something associated with the ADAM Cell mission, such as ADACG duties.
The officers in the section need to ensure that the CMD group is well informed on the capabilities of the section. It is up to us to sell ourselves. Sometimes this is a daunting task. Your commander may have the mindset that ADA is simply not needed and there is nothing you can do to change his mind.
SPC Hitchcock – Is there a 140A in your unit? Send me an email (Daniel.b.shields@us.army.mil), I will put you in contact with someone to answer your questions about equipment fielding, etc.
My concerns: WO assignments. I have been doing the “hard job” (i.e. DIV and below) since 2004. I am on my 3rd Iraq tour, 4th overall to the Middle East. Have I been given the chance to “take a knee”? No, I haven’t! The “choice” assignments seem to go to WO1’s and guys with 1 or less deployments. Usually because, as DA puts it, our timelines don’t match up. Is there no reward for multiple deployments? I even volunteered to stay in a DIV just to make myself more attractive in DA’s eyes. I am changing my definition of a “choice” assignment. The new definition is one that only deploys me for a month at a time, instead of a year at a time.
Example: I asked for the Huntsville CRAM PM position. I was told my timeline didn’t match up and we couldn’t have a gap in “coverage”. The Huntsville guy ended up PCSing 6 months early and DA gave the assignment to a guy on his first deployment. In fact, he was able to leave his first deployment early to PCS. There was still a 6 or 7 month gap in coverage. This is just one example, there are plenty more.
What is my incentive to stay past 20 years? More deployments?
May 20, 2010 9:00 AM SSG Raymond Parrish said:
Sir,
I would like to let you know that we have great communication within our Branch. I truly believe and know that Air Defense Artillery is well more informed than most around the US Army. We have one of the best branch websites due to the great Leadership compared to my fellow comrades MOS’s.
May 20, 2010 11:04 AM CPT Patrick Snyder said:
Sir,
I will not beat a dead horse with respect to the ADAM Cells, but I recently redeployed from Iraq and was lucky to be assigned to the C-RAM Task Force (3-3 ADA) vs ADAM cells where some of my peers were assigned and became battle captains or USR officers. I think removing ADAM from the KD/BQ assignments was the right thing for the branch to do, but the issue of underutilization or misutilization of the ADA Officers in the ADAM cells is a problem that I don’t think we can fix on the ground inside the active BDEs or Divisions.
The other question I have is the “Fires Fusion” and our move to the Fires Center of Excellence; now that FA is the only “Fires” MOS and ADA is under “Effects” with Public Affairs and Information OPs does this change or invalidate some of the actions we have taken over the past few years? Will we see our efforts centralized under the FEC/JFEC or the Protection Officer?
May 20, 2010 11:50 AM CW3 (P) Pier, Edward J. said:
Sir,
As officers, we are told that we are in charge of our own careers when it comes to attending schools, ie…advance courses and such. That it is up to us to attend and or submit a request. The problem is, that the command does not always back this up for the WARRANT OFFICER. Gunnery Table VIII’s, FTX’s, Deployments and various other high visibility exercises are more important.
Recommendation:
There should be an order of merit list for the warrant officer and he or she come up on orders to attend said schools. This will also prevent junior warrant officers from attending schools ahead of their seniors.
May 20, 2010 12:24 PM SPC Turley,Kevin said:
sir, i was a 14e for three years. i never once was in a position to do my job. i reenlisted to leave the air defense branch, because i felt i needeed a change of pace, and when i saw my orders for Ft. Bliss 5-52 i was thouroughly discouraged. I reenlisted for a new mos and im once again thrust back into,respectfully, a less viable mission than i hoped for.
May 20, 2010 5:12 PM SSGT Atkinson said:
Sir, after seeing the above posts, I agree more information is needed, but still some of the information is not always there for us. I was in BNOC last month in Stark(camp Blanding) and some of the solider from Ohio attended a course building bricks and getting more hands on, before they get deployed, as a 14J I would love to attend the course, if i knew about, and I only found out about it from them.
May 21, 2010 7:24 AM SFC Ives said:
Sir,
I recently attended SLC at FT Sill, OK. I would just like to say that the course could have been completed online! We filled out course critiques then during our breakfast social the critiques where address and when students responded they where pulled to the side and consulted one on one. That is inappropriate behavior and should be addressed. If the school is only going to evaluate me then do it throuhg distant learning. I feel the instructors should be allowed to Teach, Coach, and Mentor and give young newly promoted NCO’s some type of direction. One last thing I think all Senior Leaders at Ft Sill should have to spend one week in the Executive Inn!
May 21, 2010 7:45 AM Patricia A. Rhoderick said:
I am in the Office of Classification, U. S. Department of Energy. I am trying to find out if Earl V. Dunnington III is still with the school. He was trained by us in September 2000 to be a Historical Records Restricted Data Reviewer. Can you tell me if he is still an active reviewer? You can reach me at (301) 903-3637 or pat.rhoderick@hq.doe.gov. Thank you for your help.
May 21, 2010 1:50 PM SGT Russell Roy Shirley said:
Sir,
First off, I would like to thank you for giving us the chance to openly discuss ideas for improving this branch. Your avenue of approach is greatly appreciated. (Despite how painful this all may be for you and your staff!)
Sir, keeping people in the dark is never a good way to go into a job. Unfortunately troops coming in never get the jist of the ‘big picture’ of their profession.
Bottom line up front- the .87 and the .85 should be briefed to the students when they arrive. This way students stay tactically proficient, not as tacticians per se, but as newly informed members with all the latest and greatest in the Air Defense Artillery world.
From there, introduce them to their specific MOS duties….
The briefing or introduction, I understand, may be gruesome to some students if not done properly. If presented correctly however, it should not be a problem and the soldiers would have a greater sense of pride and duty coming to class the next day to take notes.
Everything after that I believe will sort of ‘ripple to the cause’ of learning the equipment; not exacerbate confusion.
Sir, I think this would improve every aspect of Air Defense on many platforms; be it deploying to AUAB, Table VIIIing, conducting RSOP, etc., etc., etc.
Introductory courses on the ADAM Cell should be last- since it technically does not constitute as an Air Defense role, but still is an option within our career field.
“S shop” duties should be just a half-day’s worth of going over- in which the troops will be informed on how they may or may not be spending their day to day.
Other than that, roll up your sleeves and learn the systems!
BLUF- the .87 and the .85 need to be taught- PAC 2 vs. PAC 3. Missile capabilities, why launchers are staggered, how far apart, the lay out of a site and why, ENEMY CAPABILITIES and what our main concerns are now (we all have secret clearances…?), whom works where, what they do, and here is where you will be working….
All these broken spirits about not having a ‘viable’ mission need a good class on the potential, the validity, and the vitality of our mission.
Again, I appreciate your sincerity and thank you for your time, Sir.
SGT Shirley
-Train to Fight-
May 21, 2010 2:40 PM bobby r. jones1 said:
ALL,
We here at USAADASCH have received and are working all your questions, comments and concerns. This past week was the Annual Fires Seminar and ADA Conference here at the FCoE, so the staff and leadership have not been able to respond. We will post answers for you all next week. Our intent is to have type of response within a 72 hour window (not counting weekends or holidays). Once again, we do want to hear from you and are working on the answers to these great comments.
Bobby R. Jones
ADA STRATCOM CHIEF
USAADASCH, FCoE, Fort Sill OK
May 24, 2010 4:27 PM Mr. James Wall said:
SFC Ives, we received the following combined response:
USAADASCH and NCOA have both reviewed your comments. Your comment on SLC being done DL has been looked at by the NCOA and USAADASCH several times. The Regimental CSM and the NCOA Commandant are looking at a proposal as to what, if any, technical ADA skills should be brought back into NCOES. One example that will likely come is the new Mode 5 for the Mark XII IFF system which would put more “Hands on” training back into the program.
May 27, 2010 8:54 AM Mr. James Wall said:
The following replie comes from CW4 Jones: Warrant Officer Program Manger in OCADA:
I understand the challenges WOs may encounter with regard to WO PME attendance. I recommend as a senior WO, you help educate the force with regard to the overall importance inherent to WO PME attendance. Here are a few tools which may resource this initiative:
DA Pam 600-3 displays the importance of every individual serving as their best career managers and it has been my experience that this notion is factual. The question you present is valid with regards to some of the challenges associated with ensuring Warrant Officers attend their PME and do so within a reasonable time period. Factors including deployments, individual WO preference and OPTEMPO can play an integral role in the overall equation. Throughout the duration of my career I found the following tips very useful with regard to achieving your desired end-state goals:
Step 1: Read DA Pam 600-3 Chapter 13-4 and identify the lifecycle timeframes when ADA WOs should attend PME.
Step 2: Utilize FM 6-22 to develop and Individual Development Plan (IDP) outlining your short, medium and long term professional and personal goals.
Step 3: Seek mentorship to validate thought processes internal to your IDP
Step 4: (most important step) Communicate your plan to your supervisor identifying windows of opportunity relative to OPTEMPO increasing your probability of success.
BLUF: I believe we (ADA WOs) can do a better job of communicating our professional goals to our supervisors and I feel strongly that supervisors will do their very best to support our goals. In my opinion, the senior leaders within our branch understand the importance of ensuring the WO force structure attends their PME on time in order to obtain additional skill sets which will benefit both our current and future organizations. This was recently evidenced via the VCSA sends message depicting the importance of all officers attending their PME on time.
Additionally, an OML currently exists for both the WOSC and the WOSSC. WOAC Phase 1 is TDY in return requiring the unit to fund the officer’s attendance potentially creating a problematic scenario. The most recent WOAC Phase 1 started with x4 no shows out of a class of x12 depicting an attendance concern. WOAC Phase 2 (CCC equivalent) is a PCS and can be initiated via RFO if course billets are available for WOs. Again, I feel the “lynch pin” to success is to articulate your professional goals and provide viable and executable time lines to decision makers increasing the odds relative to success facilitating change inherent to the legacy mindset you mention.
Please feel free to contact me directly for more information regarding this topic of discussion.
June 1, 2010 11:56 AM BG Mathews said:
Thank you for all the responses from the field and voicing your concerns.
I had our OCADA office take a look at the issues concerning the 14J transformation, and a response can be found on our FKN website at: http://www.us.army.mil/…/23100931
Thank you for all that you do!
BG Mathews
July 7, 2010 1:44 PM Mr. James Wall said:
SPC Hitchcock and SSG Atkinson: The following answer was given by the ARNG rep here at FCoE as directed by the Commandant:
The equipment will require a new equipment training/fielding (NET/NEF) package. Historically, this is taught in a six week period. The primary course you need, assuming you are already MOSQ 14J, is course number 2G-F97/043-F18, currently taught at Ft Sill as the “ADAM Cell” course. It is under revision as an ADAM/BAE course, with a length of three weeks.