New software helps Army roll out training apps faster
By Mike Casey
Combined Arms Center
November 30, 2016
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The Army is picking up the pace to make more training mobile applications available for Soldiers’ smart phones and computer tablets.
Recently a team of Soldiers and civilians at Fort Eustis, Virginia, started using software to ensure Army mobile apps meet government security requirements and other standards.
“With this new vetting software, we can expedite getting proponent-approved and cyber-secure mobile apps to the force,” said Lt. Col. Joe Harris, Training and Doctrine Command Capability Manager-Mobile (TCM Mobile). “Soldiers are getting accurate, up-to-date training content.”
TCM Mobile has used the software to vet nearly 80 mobile applications for infantry training, gunnery practice, reporting sexual harassment and other topics. Its effort is part of a broader Army campaign to get training and educational materials to Soldiers when and where they need them.
Last year, TCM Mobile started posting mobile applications to the TRADOC Application Gateway hosted by TRADOC Capability Manager, Army Training Information System as well on commercial sites such as iTunes, Google Play and Windows Phone.
To make sure the applications met standards, TCM Mobile relied on a private company or another defense organization.
“The process was expensive and time consuming,” Harris said. “We decided to get our own vetting software from a private company. Now we can do the vetting ourselves. Our goal is have 200 or more mobile applications, vetted, approved and posted by the end of next year.”
TCM Mobile also is certifying units’ applications for wider use in the Army.
“A number of Army organizations developed mobile applications for themselves,” said Matt Maclaughlin, TCM Mobile’s senior mobile instructional design specialist. “By vetting these units’ applications, we’re building a validated, secure, mobile application library to help Soldiers throughout the Army.”
In addition to using the software, TCM Mobile utilizes a human-in-the-loop check to ensure the applications meet standards.
TCM Mobile is part of the Combined Arms Center—Training at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. CAC-T develops training requirements, fields training systems, delivers leader training and sustains training capabilities to support Army institutional and operational training of Soldiers, leaders, and units to successfully execute Unified Land Operations in complex, ambiguous environments.