Photo By Scott Sturkol | Army Signal Corps troops have an area of Fort McCoy, Wis., set up Aug. 4, 2022, to...... read more read more
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BY PFC. NOAH CARLSSON
368th Public Affairs Detachment
A career as an Army Reserve Signal Corps officer wasn’t 1st Lt. Micah Good’s intended path; however, he found it to be exactly what he needed.
Good is a senior information systems officer in the 86th Training Division who is stationed in Arlington Heights, Ill. He participated in training exercise Grecian Firebolt at Fort McCoy in August 2022.
Grecian Firebolt is designed to test the Signal Corps’ ability to install and maintain communication lines in the field, along with providing computer support for other units on the ground.
“The reason I wanted to go into information technology (IT) is, on the civilian side, I’m an accountant,” he said. “The direction that finance and accounting is headed is very reliant on IT. The systems that provide accounting information … I thought would help bolster my civilian career by having that fundamental IT knowledge that the Army gave me.”
Good found out that this sharing of knowledge was a two-way street, aiding him with both his civilian career and in military operations, such as participating in Grecian Firebolt.
“I’ve found now that I’ve got about five years under my belt as an officer in the Reserve” Good said. “There’s what I call cross-pollination — where the skills the Army teaches me — I bring back to my civilian world — allowing me to be better at my job as an accountant.
“Then the skills that my civilian job teaches me, I can bring back to the Army and better my trade in the Reserve and better my team,” Good said.
This ‘cross-pollination’ of experience has enhanced Good’s capability to maintain the U.S. Army Reserve’s readiness through modernization of technology and leadership.
During the training exercise, Good oversaw field logistics, making sure communication lines were available in a timely manner, providing communication support to all the Reserve exercises taking place there.
“We run fiber optic lines, and ensure that occupied buildings have network connectivity,” he said. “We work with resources at Fort McCoy to ensure the training audience is successful in setting up their network. We’re also getting valuable training by ensuring there’s a good live network and systems they can connect to.”
Good’s responsibilities include modernization of technology as much as they do field efficiency of current technology.
“It’s an ever-changing environment,” said Good. “There’s so many different systems and applications and things that are just constantly moving in the IT realm. A good example is the DOD’s (Department of Defense’s) implementation of Microsoft Teams. In the grand scheme of things for how long I’ve been in the Army, that’s a very new thing.”
Good has worked on the implementation of not only Microsoft Teams, but also migration of Microsoft 365 accounts. This modernization that Good, and others like him are pioneering, is a vital step towards maintaining readiness in the Army Reserve.
Good said he leads Soldiers with a servant mindset that drives those who follow him to excel at what they do in the Reserve.
“From a readiness perspective, it’s been just an absolute treat for me to see just how effective and efficient the Soldiers (who) I’ve worked with here can switch off their civilian mode and do their jobs effectively,” said Good. “That speaks testaments to the Reserve’s readiness. You don't even know half the time if you’re working with a Reserve Soldier or active-duty Soldier because the Reserve Soldiers are just so squared away and so proficient in their jobs and tasks that you would never know unless you ask them.”
Grecian Firebolt is an annual training exercise that allows signal units to keep pace with communication transformations, and link communication support to identified U. S. Army Reserve Command-sponsored exercises.
In a previous 2015 article about Grecian Firebolt, the article states that “in a combat environment, warfighters must have a way to communicate at all times, whether providing critical real-time communications or sending sensitive files from the field back to the command.
“Without signal, communications break down and the mission fails,” the article states. “Therefore the primary mission ... is to provide that tactical communications network.”
(The Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office contributed to this article.)
| Date Taken: | 09.02.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 09.02.2022 11:06 |
| Story ID: | 428591 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 28 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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