Fort Gordon Signal Story By Bonnie Heater
The Fort Gordon General Dynamics C4 Systems LandWarNet School celebrated its 25th Anniversary Friday.
The current LandWarNet School can be traced back to the original Mobile Subscriber Equipment; Resident School operated by the GTE Corporation and activated May 10, 1989, at Fort Gordon. Since its opening 99,000 students have completed the curriculum.
Guest speaker, Col. Stephen Elle, the 15th Regimental Signal Brigade commander, talked about the accomplishments of the LandWarNet School during a ceremony celebrating its 25th Anniversary at Brant Hall.
Guest speaker, Col. Stephen Elle, the 15th Regimental Signal Brigade commander, talked about the accomplishments of the LandWarNet School during a ceremony at Brant Hall and the changes the school has made over the years to keep Soldiers trained and current with ever-changing technology
“On behalf of all of Fort Gordon and members of the Signal Regiment everywhere, I want to congratulate you on this milestone achievement and thank you for your continued service and your significant worldclass contributions in the training of the signal regiment over the past quarter of a century,” Elle said.
The commander talked about how the LandWarNet School became a major partner of the signal regiment over the years, particularly as the premier provider of tactical secure mobile communications.
“The training team from C4 Systems at Fort Gordon has done magnificent work over the years – and the ability to reach back into the manufacturing base and into engineering in order to develop top-notch relevant training and simulations has been invaluable,” he explained. “Being able to reach out also to General Dynamics Field Service representatives around the world has also helped keep our training in step with lessons learned from around the regiment. This synergistic ability to reach into the entire General Dynamics team has been a major advantage to the training of the signal regiment for the past 25 years.”
“Through the years you have kept us on the cutting edge by keeping our training up to date during periods of rapid changes to technology,” Elle added. “Some 10 years ago, this school underwent a complete transformation from the earlier Mobile Subscriber Equipment to today’s Warfighter Information Network –Tactical Increment 1 System. This transition required you all to develop new curriculum, acquire and adapt to new equipment, and most significantly, required the individual employees to learn new skills and to transform themselves to stay relevant.”
The Yankton, South Dakota native talked about the WIN-T Increment 1 System and the Army Learning model activities incorporated by the school.
“Your efforts to get behind this paradigm shift and to figure out ways to change the training culture so as to permit training devices, bring-your-own-device, use of quick response codes and self-paced training, all in a paperless environment has been phenomenal,” Elle said.
The University of South Dakota alumnus made comments on General Dynamic’s involvement in the Fort Gordon community.
“Likewise, the General Dynamics team has been a major part of the community, and Fort Gordon is better for it,” Elle said. “Whether it be your corporate generosity to the Fort Gordon Fisher House, your support of our quarterly awards ceremony, helping civic organizations such as Men Making a Difference, or the work-study programs you assist with for our Wounded Warriors and our young people at the Youth Challenge Academy, you have been model partners over the years and you have made the community better.”
“You have been an instrumental partner in the training of the signal regiment these past 25 years,” he said. “We could not have done it without you.”
