Photo By Tech. Sgt. Marleah Miller | Cadets with U.S. Special Operations Command’s Ignite Program learn about drones and...... read more read more
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U.S. Special Operations Command’s Acquisition, Technology and Logistics directorate and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory kicked off the 2025 SOCOM Ignite Program at MIT’s campus, Sept. 19-22, where 94 cadets from 20 colleges and universities, as well as the Army, Navy and Air Force academies, prepared to continue on-going projects or begin their own.
The SOCOM Ignite Program is an innovation and talent pipeline development program aimed at creating an opportunity for future military officers to apply their Science, Technology, Engineering and Math degrees toward building technology solutions for Special Operations Forces-submitted challenges.
During the kick-off event, personnel with U.S. SOCOM presented their challenges to the students, who then teamed up with SOF operators and researchers to innovate solutions for real-world problems. Challenges presented consisted of big data analytics, smart sensors, unmanned system autonomy and swarming, human-machine teaming, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and generating real-time actionable intelligence from battlefield sensors.
U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. JoAnn Naumann, senior enlisted leader for U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Fort Liberty, North Carolina, provided the keynote speech during the kickoff event and shared the importance of people and technology in the SOF enterprise.
“We’ve got great people in the SOF organizations, but they’re looking at these problems from the perspective of their experiences and from what they’re seeing on the battlefield,” said Naumann. “You all are looking at it with a totally new perspective. The brightest, freshest minds in our country, right here in this room, taking on hard problems and giving us a new way to look at them.”
Naumann also discussed what future careers await cadets within SOF, as well as a new military occupational specialty job created just for special operations.
“Special operations is leading the Army by creating a new MOS this year for technology, innovation and integration – a new MOS that does not exist in the Army,” said Naumann. “We’re creating it because we realized that we need it. We will have people whose job is to think about these kinds of problems, build prototypes and then help us once we get the technology integrated into the battlefield and make it work in real-world scenarios.”
Ignite started with less than 10 cadets participating to over 90 this year, but the goal was more than just figuring out the solutions to the challenges submitted.
“The goal was never to make more projects and have more outputs than actual tech, it’s always been about the people – it’s always been about building connections,” said U.S. Army Sgt. Maj. Brian McLaughlin, military lead with SOCOM Ignite. “We show them a lot of different opportunities they could do and that they’re not just going to join the military and do random things.”
With the hopes of recruiting cadets into a SOF career field and the numbers of cadets attending SOCOM Ignite each year, the number of mentors for each submitted challenge is declining and McLaughlin would like to see more mentors from the SOF enterprise in the future.
“We’re investing,” said McLaughlin. “This is long-term where you’re not going to get an immediate benefit from it, but maybe that person comes back five years later in your unit. We have to start on the service member side and start thinking about it a little differently for the future of SOF.”
U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Katrina Thoms, with the Warrior Scholar Program, Fort Jackson, South Carolina, attended SOCOM Ignite last year as a cadet. Thoms and two former SOCOM Ignite Fellows were selected by U.S. SOCOM as part of a deliberate talent-scouting pipeline for SOF, as well as mentor cadets throughout the year.
“What I think is so different about this program is the environment that it instills. It’s not about the product and the end goal,” said Thoms. “The Ignite members are continuously supportive of everybody in the program. They always say school’s first, they always make sure you’re going to graduate with your undergrad degree - that is first for them. The environment, alone, would inspire a cadet to come and be a part of it because it’s a win-win situation. There is no downside to being here.”
Thoms also shared her excitement for the new special operations MOS mentioned by Naumann during her keynote speech.
“I think this MOS is going to be great for recruiting for the Army, special operations and the military in general,” said Thoms. “This gives a new pathway and a new job opportunity for people who are really good at technology, and not just the gun-ho, ‘let’s be in the field,’ type of people.”
For some cadets, their first year at SOCOM Ignite is also their first year at college. Cadet 4th Class Angel Ko, a freshman with the Air Force ROTC at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, was introduced to SOCOM Ignite during the new cadet orientation at Texas Tech and knew that was exactly what she wanted to do.
“SOCOM Ignite is a really good way to get into the innovative side of the military,” said Ko.
For the upcoming school year, Ko shared hopes for her team’s project to get off the ground enough for it to be continued through a summer internship or even being picked up by U.S. SOCOM.
“I want to contribute to the processes involved with the special operations command,” said Ko. “Not with just engineering busy work like at the university, but actually contributing in a relevant way for the U.S. military and serving my country.”
| Date Taken: | 09.22.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 09.30.2024 21:12 |
| Story ID: | 482166 |
| Location: | LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS, US |
| Web Views: | 1,455 |
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