The 11th annual TechNet, a three-day event sponsored by AFCEA (Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association), has concluded in Garden City.
TechNet is one of the largest non-sporting events held in Augusta. Destination Augusta estimates 6,000 people attend the conference. It translates to a roughly $6 million economic impact.
Among the final events was a media roundtable with MG Ryan Janovic, commander of the U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence. He was joined by CW5 Brian Matthews from the U.S. Army Cyber School, CW5 Chris Westbrook from the U.S. Army Signal School, and CW5 Dave Lucy with the Army Cyber Center of Excellence.
Janovic assumed command at Fort Eisenhower just three weeks before TechNet 2024. He said this is part of the ongoing training and exercises at the post.
“But this is the marquee event, the final event for us,” he said. “But more so, I think it’s the energy setting pace for next year. What are we now going to do? What are all the deals, agreements we’ve made and think together about our requirements and what we have to deliver together. So, it’s a great way to evaluate what the next two years and beyond should look like as we make progress together.”
Fort Eisenhower is home to the U.S. Army Signal Corps, which manages communication and information systems across the armed forces. Westbrook said the basics of training remain the same, but a generation gap has developed. To bridge the gap, they are engaging with local colleges and universities and reaching into area high schools.
“We’re learning from that generation how we can better interface. The training still has its place. The education, how we can get the message through to the soldier being trained, we’re learning that as we go. That’s why TechNet is important,” Westbrook explained. “These industry partners have been building user interfaces that are easy to use and very intuitive, where you don’t need to be trained, you can open up and start working.”
Matthews said the speed at which innovative technology can be developed presented itself during TechNet, creation of a platform for the current generation coming into the cyber school.
“We sat with a partner that built out last night, and we had access to this morning, myself, and the technical director for the cyber school, a learning platform for our new warrant officers coming in so that before they come to the schoolhouse, they have a common baseline,” he said. “We’re ready to take them to the next level of their training, because they already got to do it online on their own time and do training that applies to what we’re going to use today.”
Lucy said education is a two-way street. They watch as the younger generation takes existing technology to another level.
“It’s amazing what these individuals and the younger generations, come up with the ingenuity and intuitiveness of applying that technology. They figured out some other way to use it, some faster way to use it,” he said. “We’re learning those tricks from them just as much as we’re teaching them what we are doing.”
Although Janovic assumed command less than a month ago, this is something of a coming homecoming for the Ohio native. He was stationed at then-Fort Gordon as a lieutenant in the 1990s. He said he wants to be a center of excellence for training, but also an ongoing resource for the men and women who pass through the post.
“Come to train and return to either physically or they know they can return to us virtually and say, ‘I need help with an intractable problem. Give me some expertise. Help me find solutions and that.’ They want to come back directly, or they want to come back indirectly, and draw upon the power that you’ve seen represented here at TechNet. Hopefully, this is a microcosm of what we’re exploding up there every day.”
