BMC redesignated JMC New name better reflects evolving organizational mission
Maj. Gen. Terrence McKenrick, left, commanding general, U.S. Army Joint Modernization Command, and Command Sgt. Maj. Wilbert E. Engram Jr., command sergeant major, U.S. Army JMC, unveil the new symbol of the JMC during a redesignation ceremony at Soldier Hall here Friday. Photo by Abigail Meyer, Fort Bliss Bugle Staff.
By Abigail Meyer, Fort Bliss Bugle Staff:
(El Paso, Texas, Feb. 16, 2017) The Brigade Modernization Command was redesignated as the U.S. Army Joint Modernization Command in a ceremony at Soldier Hall here Friday.
“The recommendation was made to seek a different name from the organization to better reflect the evolving mission that we have as an organization,” said Maj. Gen. Terrence McKenrick, commanding general, JMC. “The original title was focused on the brigade combat team effort at the time and our mission through the NIE (Network Integration Evaluation) to test concepts and capabilities for the brigade level and below. Over the years that’s changed … We’ve integrated division and corps level commands into our exercises with the Army’s first AWA, Army Warfighting Assessment.”
The 10-year-old unit has changed names a few times over the years, but their mission, to assess and evaluate equipment, networks, concepts and capabilities, remains largely the same, it just reaches more echelons.
“We were officially accredited for the AWA exercise as a Joint National Training Capability training site,” McKenrick said. “That’s significant for a couple of reasons. Because it’s like an FDA stamp of approval on exercises. It means it’s a high quality training event.”
Fully accredited, the AWA has now changed to be the United States Army Joint Warfighting Assessment. The JWA will build Future Force Development, joint and multinational interoperability and training. It will provide opportunities to assess concepts and capabilities without formal test constraints, and partner with industry to integrate and assess early developmental prototypes, increasing the rate of innovation for our Army.
The NIE will continue to integrate Army tests on Programs of Record within a brigade force-on-force exercise. Operationally relevant with demanding scenarios, the exercise will primarily focus on the network, mission command systems and other networked systems.
JMC’s next exercise is NIE 17.2, which will occur here in July. In a departure from previous exercises that included Soldiers from the 1st Armored Division, the Army will send a brigade from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to test and evaluate six capabilities. JMC is also planning its follow-on exercise, which will be conducted in Europe.
“We planned our JWA 18-1 with U.S. Army Europe and other joint partners in the European theater, USAFE (U.S. Air Forces Europe), NAVEUR (U.S. Naval Forces Europe), MARFOREUR (U.S. Marine Forces Europe). We’ll have that exercise in May 2018 over in Europe,” McKenrick said. “We’ll have brigade headquarters from the UK, Canada and from France, so it truly is a joint, integrated effort with our sister services and other multinational partners.”
Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, director, Army Capabilities Integration Center and deputy commanding general, Futures, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, was the guest speaker and spoke about the evolution of warfare. He emphasized the importance of working with sister services and multinational partners.
McMaster hit on four key areas where enemies could threaten the U.S. McMaster said all domains will be tested, and no longer will air and ground supremacy be absolute. He said the battlefield will become increasingly more lethal and more complex. The fourth thing he spoke about was the need for resilient systems.
“That means the answer to this kind of problem is joint. What’s our advantage? Our advantage as a U.S. Armed Force is our ability to integrate all efforts of all of our services together,” McMaster said. “We’re going to give you eight problems to solve and we’re going to gain that advantage by operating effectively with all the services and with multinational partners.”
The JMC will help the Army stay ahead of potential enemies by conducting integration and evaluations of the network, capability packages and provide recommendations on the way forward to the Army.
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