Lawrence Shattuck
United States Military Academy
West Point, NY

The Army is moving full speed into the 21st Century. Force XXI, Warfighter XXI, and Army Training XXI are just a few of the future-oriented programs that the Army has initiated. Soldiers are receiving more and more technology to assist them in performing their assigned tasks. New doctrine is being written and organizational structures are being modified as innovative soldiers employ these systems and observers document their initiatives. The Army's tactical command and control (C2) system is undergoing a similar revolution. Technology, doctrine, and organizational structure initiatives are combining to influence a commander's ability to make decisions and the staff's ability to control and coordinate activities. Recent research investigated tactical decision making in an infantry brigade tactical operations center (TOC). Data was evaluated relative to the available technology and it's fit to the proposed model.

The Army is in the midst of developing and fielding the Army Tactical Command and Control System (ATCCS). This architecture consists of networked computer systems designed to support each of the Battlefield Functional Areas. The ATCCS architecture was designed to facilitate the flow of information among human agents involved in the command and control process. Shared information leads to increased situation awareness and helps agents build a relevant common picture of the battlefield. However, the ATCCS architecture is far from being mature. Human-computer interfaces are not intuitive and vary across systems. Operators require lengthy training and the skills they develop appear to be highly perishable. Interoperability is limited and costly in terms of operator workload. Given the current state of the ATCCS architecture, the technology may not enhance - and may even impede - the tactical decision making process.

Two researchers (Army field grade officers) served as observers during Division XXI Simulation Exercise I at Fort Hood in June 1997. The researchers traced the flow of data elements through a brigade TOC over a three day period. They recorded how the source of the data, the actors in the TOC that handled the data, how the data were transformed, and the methods used to transform the data. Results provide insight into the effectiveness of the current and proposed automation architecture relative to the functions of command and control.