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Scientist In The Foxhole
by Daniel Gaffney, Defense Threat Reduction Agency
August 29,
2019
Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Scientist In The Foxhole
program is an effort within the Research and Development Directorate
to take chemists, biologists, physicists and engineers out of the
laboratory and put them in the dirt, mud or rubble where their
technology operates. The program was created to ensure scientists
fully understand ... not only the punishing environment their
technology must work in, but also the conditions and limitations of
the warfighters that must carry and use their products.
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May 10, 2019 - A scientist
observes a fellow scientist try squeezing into the seat of a
tactical vehicle wearing the equipment a typical soldier
would be wearing, in order to better understand how little
room there is for bulky equipment.
(Photo by Stacy Smenos, Dugway Proving Ground Public Affairs
Office)
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The Scientist in the Foxhole program is the brainchild of Dr.
Ronald Hann, director of the Chemical/Biological Technologies
Department. An enlisted infantry soldier-turned chemical
officer-turned senior DoD scientist, Hann has extensive experience
in the well-lit, sterile labs where scientists work and the gritty,
harsh warzones where troops operate. He also knows that his
experience, while not unique, is rare.
“Not a lot of
scientists serve on active duty within the military. At any one time
0.4% of the population serves on active duty, and only about 7.3% of
the population have ever served in the military… and once you break
it down in terms of how many scientists have served, I bet the
number is dramatically smaller.”
Hann’s experience as a
chemical officer in Operation Desert Storm, taught him both the
value of good equipment that works in the field and the cost and
trouble of equipment that didn’t.
“I remember as a user the
third time the (chemical) alarm went off I threw it in the back of
the vehicle and I wasn’t going to pull it out again. I bought
canaries for my units in Desert Storm as we had M8 automatic
chemical agent alarm system alarms going off and driving me nuts… at
one point the entire 7th corps went into MOPP4 protective gear
because of the alarms, and at $68 a suit, times 128,000 soldiers,
that is not a trivial event.”
The Scientist in the Foxhole
program, just a few years old, started with Army units but has
expanded to include other harsh environments typical of the troops
and units that DTRA supports: Scientists on the Flight Line (Air
Force), Scientists at Sea (Navy), and Scientists in the Sand (Marine
Corps). This specialization helps scientists understand specific
challenges to the unique environments, and that what might work in
cramped but climate-controlled spaces aboard a ship or down in a
missile silo might be useless on a tank or a helicopter.
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May 10, 2019 - Scientists watch
soldiers sample simulated leaking chemical weapons in an
underground facility in order to get a better idea of both
the bulky protective gear soldiers must wear as well as the
dark, constrained environments they sometimes work in.
(Photo by Stacy Smenos, Dugway Proving Ground Public Affairs
Office)
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Scientists also get feedback from the troops that operate the
equipment. A detector as small and sleek as a modern smartphone
might be perfect inside a university lab in the hands of a Ph.D.
candidate, but if the end user is a 19 year-old soldier wearing
thick leather gloves and carrying a 20 lb. machine gun, the term
“user friendly” probably means something completely different.
The ‘Scientist’ programs bring developers and users together and
allows for real-time feedback, eliminating months of back-and-forth
trial-and-error, shortening the development timeline, and improving
the form and function of equipment.
Feedback from both
scientists and soldiers (and sailors, airmen and Marines) that
confirm the program is working as intended. Dr. Hann’s ultimate goal
of the Scientist in the Foxhole program remains making sure our
troops get the best equipment for the task at hand, as soon as
possible: “This exposure, these experiences, eliminate months of
back-and-forth design and testing, and help the scientists focus on
the mission objective, not just the end product. The return on
investment we get from this is priceless, and we can see how
scientists have changed their way of doing things which benefits the
men and women in uniform.”
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Mission
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency enables DoD, the
U.S. Government, and international partners to counter and deter
weapons of mass destruction and improvised threats networks.
Defense Threat Reduction Agency
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