Newsletters - Volume 51

Director of Signals Update

A couple of months ago in an e-mail to all members of the Signal corps, I introduced myself as the newly appointed Director of Signals, and spent a fair bit of ink describing some of the challenges and opportunities we face as we head into what could be described as a “Perfect Storm” for Signals. The e-mail was long on describing these challenges and opportunities, and pretty short on what we’re doing to exploit them, so in this, my first C&E Newsletter article as D Sigs, I hope to fill in some of the blanks left in my original e-mail. The ultimate purpose of a newsletter is to tell readers what’s going on, and in a corps as widely dispersed and as variously employed as ours, there’s a lot going on. In the next few paragraphs I hope to give readers a taste of some of the major initiatives planned and underway in our corps.

Right up front, I have to say how proud I am of all our Signal corps members who have deployed or are about to Director of Signals Update deploy on operations in Afghanistan. In just the eight months since I took up my responsibilities as Army G6, LCol James Lambert and Sqn Sergeant-Major Steve Base’s squadron have returned from theatre as part of HQ 6-08, Major Robyn Hulan and Sqn Sergeant-Major Kevin Johnson’s squadron have returned from their deployment as the RC-South HQ & Sig Sqn, and LCol Gary Whelan and Sqn Sergeant-Major Mike Dudra’s squadron have deployed as part of HQ 5-09. As I write, Major Stéphane Roy and RSM Ghislain Daigle are preparing their squadron to deploy as part of HQ 6-09 later this year. Every Task Force, OMLT and PRT have been supported by Signal corps members as well, and it would be interesting to know how many of us have served on operations in Afghanistan since 2003. One thing I know for certain is that all of you who have deployed are doing all of us in the corps proud, and are holding high the torch passed on by previous generations of men and women who have worn Signals in the past.

I know I spoke for all members of the Signal corps when I expressed my condolences to the family of Corporal Chad O’Quinn of 2 CMBG HQ & Sig Sqn, who was killed in action in Afghanistan in March. Corporal O’Quinn died in the service of our country, doing what he loved to do, and protecting those he had trained to protect. He joins Corporal Mathew McCully, also of 2 CMBG HQ & Sig Sqn, who was killed in action in 2007, and reminds us of the price we could all be called to pay in the performance of our duty.

Major Dave Yarker and RSM Gerry Blais of 2 CMBG HQ & Sig Sqn had to put aside their own grief and support the O’Quinn family as well as the members of their own unit, and I can assure everyone that they carried out this sad but crucial duty in a manner of which we can all be proud. Corporal O’Quinn’s funeral service was held at CFB Gagetown, and it was comforting indeed to see the Signal corps family in action as Major Mark Parsons and Sqn Sergeant-Major Rod Bungay of 3 ASG Sig Sqn ensured all the necessary arrangements were in place.

The fielding effort for Land Command Support System (LCSS) Capability Release (CR) 2 continues to generate lots of heat and light. We’ve certainly had more than our share of challenges as we struggle through an abbreviated Verification and Validation process, a fielding process and the integration of new equipment, TTPs and training with the road to high readiness for units and headquarters preparing for deployment. Driven by Chief of Land Staff’s intent to field CR 2 NLT August 2010, we’ve survived buggy software, the expiration and subsequent renewal of support contracts, the screeching-to-a-halt of all acquisition as a result of last autumn’s federal election, and a relentless tempo imposed by the road to high readiness. As I write this, the roll-out of CR 2 Phase 1 (including the new DAGR vehicle-mounted GPS, System Release 2.1 of the LCSS battle management software suite and associated training and TTPs) is proceeding well, and the fielding of Phase 2 (medium-capacity EPLRS data radios) is planned for later this autumn. If all goes according to our latest plans, HQ 6-09 and TF 3- 09 will deploy to Afghanistan with CR 2 Phase 1 capability, and TF 3-10 will upgrade to Phase 2 capability next year. Of course, we would have failed long ago were it not for the outstanding work of LCol Jacques Hamel’s engineering team from DLCSPM 4, LCol Scott McLean’s trainers and TTP developers from ADOK, and LCol Yves Turcotte’s G6 Command Support staff. As has frequently been pointed out, it’s amazing what can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit. From my point of view, the credit clearly goes to the team of military personnel, public servants and contractors who’ve made this happen so far despite all the odds. Well done, folks.

Hope, of course, is not a course of action (at least not a dependably repeatable one), and we’ve been hard at work making sure we don’t go through a similarly painful process for CR 3 and beyond. LCol Walter Wood and Major Lisa Smid of DLR 4 have done sterling work designing a go-forward governance framework for the Army Command Support Programme that will allow us to shape the development and fielding of future CRs as opposed to having them shape us. Just recently, we’ve had very fruitful discussions with CFSCE that have shown us how to integrate LCol Dave Gosselin’s ground-breaking work on a Centre of Excellence for Network Operations in the Electromagnetic Battlespace with our thoughts on Command Support, and we’re starting to see how an Army IM Strategy (see below) fits in as well. We’re on the threshold of a Grand Unified Theory of Signals Stuff (GUTSS) that, while far from the pointy end of radios, networks and EW, will go a long way in terms of providing the conceptual and strategic coherence many of our efforts have lacked to date.

As alluded to above, we’ve grasped the nettle of information management, and have embarked on a joint effort with the Army G3 staff to produce an Army IM Strategy. Shawn Hoag and Major Stéphan Huppé’s team of IMers have criss-crossed the country since January, carrying out an IM Capacity Check that will feed the production of the strategy. They’ve had encouraging support from Land Force Area HQs and have the endorsement of senior Land Staff to produce the IM Strategy by June. Shawn’s article on the effort describes the intent, challenges and promise of this strategy.

The transformation of the Communication Reserve into the Signal Reserve is marching ahead, the first tangible sign of which was the stand-down of 70 Communication Group HQ and the simultaneous stand-up of 2 Operational Support Group HQ on 2 April. LCol Durwin McLellan and CWO Mark Brown provided exemplary leadership to 70 Comm Gp, and we wish them both well as they take on new challenges. In related work, we’ve had great cooperation from the Signal Reserve leadership in defining the new mission, roles, tasks, and structures of the future Signal Reserve, and we should be in a position to release the results of this work by September at the latest.

The Land EW community continues to deliver outstanding, life-saving support to our operations in Afghanistan, and we have moved to exploit the increased awareness of the importance of EW and SIGINT by senior Army leadership. Work to amalgamate 2 (EW) Sqn and 772 (Reserve) EW Sqn is well underway, with a regimental stand-up foreseen for 1 Apr 2010. Additionally, we’ve resurrected the Land EW Advisory Group (LEWAG) to achieve unity of thought on the way ahead for Land EW/SIGINT.

IM Transformation, the initiative by which we will replace Signal corps personnel currently delivering garrison IT support with contracted support, has started in earnest. With the cooperation of LF Areas and garrison Signal squadrons, we have identified 64 military positions for the first phase of the transformation and contracts are being staffed as I write to allow the military members of these positions to augment the field force and the institutional Army by APS 09.

To address the chronic problem of under-recruiting for Signals occupations, the Three Wise Men and Deputy D Sigs are forming a Signals Attraction Team that will criss-cross the country starting Sep 09, raising awareness and “selling” the corps to prospective new recruits. The Signals Military Employment Structure (MES) initiative, which will see the creation of a single occupation Director of Signals update (from page 6) combining the current Lineman, LCIS Technician and Signal Operator occupations has moved into implementation, with an ambitious target date of Spring/Summer 2010 for the conduct of the pilot course for the new Army Communication Information System Specialist (ACISS) QL3. Capt Yves Labonté’s article in this issue covers some of the background behind the Sigs MES.

The structure of Signal officer training and career development has been the subject of some critical analysis by Major Walter Gamblin and his merry band of training developers in the Directorate of Army Training, ably assisted by CFSCE staff. As a result, we will implement a new Signal officer professional development framework over the course of the next year, with initial changes being made as early as APS 09.

With all of the above underway, it’s clear that the Signal corps is a happening place. My job as D Sigs and Army G6 is to provide some coherence and synergy across all these important initiatives, for the benefit of the Army, the CF, and the members of our corps. Obviously, the scope of this challenge is too wide for one man to get his arms around, and the folks mentioned above are all doing their part to move us forward as a corps. In our own way, each of us is doing his or her part to do the same.

Velox, Versutus, Vigilans

Written by Colonel Saulnier