Photo By Mark Schauer | U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) Commander Col. Patrick McFall speaks at a ceremony...... read more read more
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Nearing the end of his three-year command at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG), it is clear that Col. Patrick McFall took the reins at a pivotal moment in the Army’s—and YPG’s—history.
Having steered a course through the peak of the COVID crisis while maintaining YPG’s position at the forefront of Army modernization efforts, McFall feels grateful for the proving ground’s success-- and bullish about its future.
“When I came in under those conditions, I didn’t know what to do: It wasn’t like the Army wrote a manual on this to reference,” he said. “It was trial by fire and a lot of guesswork, and hopefully get it right.”
In recent years, YPG has achieved an unprecedented prominence within the Department of Defense. The proving ground hosted Project Convergence 2020 and 2021, the latter being the largest capabilities demonstration in the Army in the preceding 15 years. The last three Secretaries of the Army have visited the test ranges, and ambitious Army modernization efforts will only expand in the years ahead. It is mostly forgotten now, but in the weeks prior to the scheduled beginning of PC 20 there was concern that Yuma County at that time was reported as having the highest COVID transmission rate in the country, prompting some calls to move the important experimentation elsewhere in the United States.
“When we sat down to talk to everybody, we said that YPG is isolated, here are our workforce numbers: we think if we follow a process, we can do this safely and still provide everything that YPG has to offer, and we did. We built a COVID response team led by one of our test officers, Savanna Silva, and created a comprehensive protocol.”
Despite the day-to-day challenges the pandemic environment brought, McFall kept focus on longer-term development for the proving ground and its personnel.
“When PC 20 ended, I realized that I had just graduated from the Army War College and that there were things that I didn’t know. How many others were like me? So, we started building the EMERGE program, and the program was focused on how we modernize with the Army for 2030.”
The Employee Modernization Effort for Relevant Growth and Enrichment (EMERGE) program, was stood up last year with an initial investment of $270,000. The program’s efforts at preparing the workforce for the future test mission is wide-ranging and comprehensive, covering everything from developing new test methodologies for advanced technologies to leadership strategies and critical thinking. Though it has already attracted positive attention from the Army’s senior leaders, McFall stresses that the program is not only designed to prepare the workforce for the long term, but to be implemented incrementally due to the continuous demands of YPG’s busy test schedule.
“Hopefully it becomes a model that people can use, because it is a programmatic look at how to modernize through education and training. It is a focused effort on where the Army is going and where we need our people. It is a huge program for our people, built by our people.”
Safety is always a vitally important factor in successfully conducting YPG’s mission,
Aside from the obvious facets such as keeping surface danger zones free of people while tests are in progress, fortified bunkers and blast shields for personnel to take cover in while test firing artillery, and remote firing of weapons by test personnel, McFall also sees how other factors contribute to a good safety culture, such as good nutrition, fitness, and an appropriate work-life balance. McFall sees the implications of this lasting far beyond the working career of YPG personnel.
“We did an analysis, and it showed most of our accidents happen at midday, after lunch. I want our teammates to know that one day they will have a next chapter in their lives. When that next chapter comes, I want you to have your body uninjured.”
McFall believes good community relations are vitally important in ensuring the proving ground’s long-term viability, and he has been an active presence in the community for the duration of his time in command. He is particularly impressed with organizations like the ‘Yuma 50’ military support group, made up of many of Yuma’s most prominent civic and cultural leaders.
“Outreach is important because it lets people know YPG is there, but also lets people know that YPG is different. When you think of an installation you usually think of somewhere like Fort Drum, where service members are walking down the street in formation. This is a different environment.”
As for advice for future proving ground commanders, McFall offers this:
“Keep the can-do culture and embrace the community. When you come in here, listen to the people: you have to give guidance and direction, but the core mission of developmental test is not going to change. The tools and instruments we use to collect data might change and the technology might change, but at the end of the day you have to make sure the technology does what it says it is going to do.”
Above all, McFall says he and his family will miss the Yuma community.
“We’ll miss the place and we’ll miss the people. It has been a great honor to serve with my YPG teammates. We’ll always remember our time at YPG.”
| Date Taken: | 05.16.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 05.16.2023 13:11 |
| Story ID: | 444521 |
| Location: | YUMA PROVING GROUND, ARIZONA, US |
| Web Views: | 76 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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