Army IT official stresses training

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — The Army's top information technology program official said lessons from the war on terrorism show that providing a training and management structure remains just as important as delivering new technologies to warfighters.

For example, officials in the Army's Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems (PEO-EIS) bought and delivered automatic identification tags to assist troops waging the war on terrorism. However, many soldiers did not know how to use the tags — some even removed them — and the technology lacked a structure for training, management and maintenance, said Kevin Carroll, program executive officer for PEO-EIS. He spoke Sept. 22 at the 2004 Network Centric Operations symposium.

Carroll said his staff would ensure that troops heading back to Iraq later this year know how to use the tags. "We will train people what they are and what they can do," he said.

Carroll said 275 people from PEO-EIS — including 175 in the communications field, most of whom are private contractors — support warfighters in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said his office staff will focus on providing technologies, services and training that simplify troops' jobs.