The Joint Readiness Training Center is pleased to present the one-hundredth-and-sixty-eighth episode to air on ‘The Crucible - The JRTC Experience.’ Hosted by MAJ David Pfaltzgraff, the Brigade Executive Officer Observer – Coach – Trainer and MAJ Marc Howle, the Brigade Senior Engineer / Protection OCT for the Brigade Command & Control (BDE HQ), on behalf of the Commander of Ops Group (COG). Today’s guests are subject matter experts from within JRTC’s Brigade Command & Control Task Force (BDE HQ): MAJ Mike Stewart is the BDE S-3 Ops OIC OCT. MAJ Steve Yates is the BDE S-6 Signal OIC OCT. CW2 Chris Puthoff is the BDE S-6 Signal Network OCT. And SFC Aaron Breitbach is the BDE Fires OCT.
This episode examines the importance of digital fires in accelerating and improving the sensor-to-shooter kill chain. The discussion traces how fire missions move from forward observers using Precision Fires-Dismounted and the Joint Effects Targeting System through company and battalion fire-support elements, AFATDS, and ultimately the firing unit. Digital transmission reduces transcription errors, incorporates automated safety checks, improves target accuracy, and can cut mission processing from more than 20 minutes over voice to only a few minutes. The episode emphasizes that this speed is essential for delivering responsive fires, maintaining valid triggers, and supporting Soldiers in close contact before the tactical situation changes.
The conversation also addresses why digital fires frequently struggle despite their advantages. Effective employment requires fires and signal personnel to jointly design, resource, test, and sustain the architecture rather than treating it as the responsibility of a single warfighting function. Topics include limited network profiles, radios tied to specific IP addresses and mission plans, equipment compatibility, redundant digital pathways, PACE planning, and the consequences of late changes to the maneuver plan. The episode recommends making digital sustainment training and technical rehearsals recurring battle-rhythm events, beginning at home station and extending from the forward observer through the entire fires enterprise. Ultimately, reliable digital fires depend on disciplined repetitions, stable planning timelines, tested equipment, cross-functional integration, and an architecture proven before the formation enters the fight.
Part of S13 “Hip Pocket Training” series.
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“The Crucible – The JRTC Experience” is a product of the Joint Readiness Training Center.
