{"id":60566,"date":"2023-12-07T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=60566"},"modified":"2023-12-09T09:20:04","modified_gmt":"2023-12-09T09:20:04","slug":"national-guard-members-showcase-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=60566","title":{"rendered":"National Guard Members Showcase Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Army Lt. Col. Loong Lee, center left, state training officer with the Arizona National Guard\u2019s Joint Force Headquarters, makes a pitch to panel judges at the 2023 National Guard Bureau Innovation Challenge at the Herbert R. Temple Jr. Army National Guard Readiness Center, Arlington Hall Station, Virginia, Dec. 7, 2023. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Erich B. Smith)
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\n Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau, and Senior Enlisted Advisor Tony Whitehead, SEA to the CNGB, center left and center right, respectively, with competitors of the 2023 National Guard Bureau Innovation Challenge at the Herbert R. Temple Jr. Army National Guard Readiness Center, Arlington Hall Station, Virginia, Dec. 7, 2023. Arizona Army National Guard members took home top honors for their concept of exportable maneuver live-fire capabilities that could help units achieve training requirements. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Erich B. Smith)
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ARLINGTON, Va. – The 2023 National Guard Bureau Innovation Challenge showcased the inventive prowess of Guard members nationwide Dec. 7 at the Herbert R. Temple Jr. Army National Guard Readiness Center. Among the concepts featured: a virtual reality application by the Arkansas National Guard, a South Carolina Army National Guard initiative for robotic automation of personnel data, and a Michigan National Guard medical system revolutionizing casualty care in austere environments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an opportunity for you to show us how we can become a better organization,\u201d said Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau, who hosted the event. \u201cAs I looked through the topics that each of you are presenting today, many of them are unique to the Guard but can also have applicability to the entire Joint Force.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the Arizona Army National Guard clinched top honors at the competition with its pioneering idea \u2014 an exportable live-fire range.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re pleasantly surprised and very honored,\u201d said Army Lt. Col. Loong Lee, the state training officer for the Arizona National Guard\u2019s Joint Force Headquarters.<\/p>\n

The team bested the three other finalists \u2014 all with solutions that support one of Hokanson\u2019s key priorities: modernization, which the 2022 National Defense Strategy stresses as crucial in building \u201cenduring advantages across the defense ecosystem\u201d and sharpening \u201cthe Joint Force\u2019s technological edge.\u201d<\/p>\n

The competitors submitted their proposals at the state level, followed by elimination rounds conducted in four regions and then semifinal rounds. The finalists created visual products showcasing their ideas, followed by a presentation to Hokanson and three other senior leader judges.<\/p>\n

The competitors were chosen based on their ability to identify a challenge, develop a unique solution and explain the overarching benefit, said Keith E. Buchholz, the NGB\u2019s programs and resources comptroller, who coordinated and organized this year\u2019s challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy virtue of the fact you are here today as finalists, you have already shown your initiative to seek answers to the questions of how we will do things better, faster, cheaper in the Guard,\u201d Buchholz said.<\/p>\n

For Lee, the training officer for the Arizona Guard, this meant identifying challenges in meeting live-fire and training requirements while complying with environmental and safety regulations.<\/p>\n

That kind of training at major installations hundreds of miles away from a home station, he said, also \u201cresults in loss of time, increased costs, and potential unresolvable conflicts for resources against other units.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA solution to these problems is increased utilization of short-range training ammunition as well as a combination of battery-powered simulation devices and training scenarios\u201d that follow Army guidance, said Lee in his team\u2019s presentation.<\/p>\n

This provided the means to produce what amounted to a mobile range.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough these tools, we can create an exportable maneuver live-fire range that can be safely established in existing training areas that are traditionally too restrictive for standard ammunition,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n

While minimal transportation can cut costs, the \u201ctime savings\u201d could propel units forward, said John Ralph, an Army budget analyst for the Arizona Army Guard\u2019s operations and training directorate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a Guard environment, where you typically get one weekend a month and two weeks to train, every minute is precious,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we can give back that time to those commanders to let them get after [the mission].\u201d<\/p>\n

Many Guard members who hold relevant civilian jobs helped bring the team’s proposal to fruition, said Sgt. 1st Class John McCrory, a transportation management coordinator with an Arizona Guard training center.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith one of my technicians, if he was just brought up as a Soldier in the active-duty Army, I don\u2019t think he would have the civilian experience with electronics\u201d needed to \u201cadapt to whatever situation we were in,\u201d said McCrory, who also headed the team\u2019s \u201cproof of concept\u201d efforts for the proposal.<\/p>\n

Ralph said Soldiers and Airmen should always consider themselves part of the innovation ecosystem and always push ideas \u2014 however big or small they may be.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t be afraid to say something if you see something that needs to be done better because we can always do anything better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The National Guard Bureau will further explore each team\u2019s presentation to determine the feasibility of advancing ideas from concept to reality, according to senior leaders. The factors they will consider include funding, scope and impact on the Guard force.<\/p>\n

Hokanson closed out the event by emphasizing innovation is imperative and that more competition is on the horizon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe four teams that got here did remarkable work, and we were fascinated by the level of innovation going on in our organization,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that just inspires us just to continue to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NGB plans to conduct innovation competitions biannually through December 2025. Guard members are encouraged to work with their designated innovation lead specialist, typically positioned at a state\u2019s headquarters element, to advance their ideas.<\/p>\n

For more National Guard news<\/a><\/p>\n

National Guard Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n

National Guard X (Twitter<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Army Lt. Col. Loong Lee, center left, state training officer with the Arizona National Guard\u2019s Joint Force Headquarters, makes a pitch to panel judges at the 2023 National Guard Bureau Innovation Challenge at the Herbert R. Temple Jr. Army National Guard Readiness Center, Arlington Hall Station, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60568,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=60566"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60571,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60566\/revisions\/60571"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/60568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=60566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=60566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=60566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}