Military Review English Edition January-February 2017 | Page 89

DIGITAL LETHALITY

products for their functions, but they did not validate
data integration with other information systems.
This problem was not unique to the 1ID. The Army
designed programs to help units synchronize their
mission command systems before exercises conducted at a combat training center or those led by the
Mission Command Training Program (MCTP) at
Fort Leavenworth. Of note, the Mission Command
Systems Integration Team from the Program Executive
Office Command, Control, Communications–Tactical
provides training to establish command-post (CP)
facilities, networks, and digital products in conjunction
with an exercise. This program is helpful, but does not
provide the tools or a framework to establish and run a
unit training program.
To address this Army-wide issue, U.S. Army Forces
Command (FORSCOM) mandated that units use
MCDMGs and signal digital master gunners to designate digital crews and lead them through an integrated,
three-level training program that ended with a validation exercise:
Level I: individual skills
Level II: integration proficiency
Level III: mission command systems and
staff integration
Mission command validation exercise.3
Concurrently, the MCCoE refined its take-home
training program created for MCDMG graduates. The
MCCoE applied the FORSCOM guidance in its ongoing efforts to produce the digital gunnery tables.

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The Training Tables
There are ten tables in the digital training program.
Each table builds upon the previous table, starting
at the operator level and progressing to the crew, the
section, and then to the entire staff (see the figure
on page 86).4 As the tables build upon each other,
they gradually incorporate the personnel, networks,
information systems, processes and procedures,
and facilities and equipment. The figure illustrates
FORSCOM’s three levels and mission command validation exercises next to their corresponding tables.
Table I covers the basic system skills required
to set up, operate, maintain, and troubleshoot the
user’s MCIS (i.e., CPOF, Advanced Field Artillery
Tactical Data System [AFATDS], Tactical Airspace
Integration System [TAIS], and others).
MILITARY REVIEW  January-February 2017

An MCDMG or qualified MCIS operator for other
systems may teach a refresher, but the initial training
occurs at a local mission training complex or proponent school for each system (such as AFATDS at Fort
Sill, Oklahoma, or TAIS at Fort Rucker, Alabama).
Prior to integration into a team, this table certifies
that personnel can use their information systems at a
certain level of proficiency.
Tables II and III are instructor led. During training on these tables, soldiers learn critical skill s such as
MCIS integration, digital standard operating procedures
(SOPs), and common operational picture (COP) development. Here, the personnel begin to work as a crew and
learn how to achieve interoperability among systems. For
instance, AFATDS operators determine how to validate
that their fire support coordination measures transfer
correctly from their system to the CPOF. Alternately,
the CPOF operator learns how to publish graphics and
verify that they are viewable on the other MCISs. Each
of the information systems receives similar training.
For these systems to function correctly, the different MCISs require an active network necessitating the
MCDMGs to work in close collaboration with their
information management or signal officers and their
signal digital master gunners. Both tables II and III
present opportunities for the unit to teach MCIS operators how to create and share digital products according to their unit’s SOPs.
In table IV, battle management, digital crews are
responsible for executing, tracking, and managing battle
drills, responding to critical events, and synchronizing
resources. Next, table V requires digital crews to develop
and distribute an operation order on the MCIS.
Tables VI through IX are designed to test, validate, and then certify the unit’s SOPs, crews, and CPs
with full staff integration. The digital crews provide
the necessary relevant
information to staff and
Capt. Jonathan E.
commanders to make deStafford, U.S. Army, is a
cisions and give guidance.
student at the U.S. Army
Finally, the tables culCommand and General
minate with table X. This
Staff Officers Course,
is the mission command
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
validation exercise that
He holds a BA from
confirms a unit’s ability
Pepperdine University
to configure and organize
and an MPA from
a CP to support mission
Webster University.
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