ISEC engineer Meacham of KICC program is honored as one of top C4ISR personnel of 2004

Ralph Meacham, an employee of the U.S. Army Information Systems Engineering Command at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., has been selected as one of the 12 Outstanding C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Sensors and Reconnaissance) Personnel of the Year for 2004 by the Communications-Electronics Life Cycle Management Command.

Meacham, who provides matrix support to the Kuwait Iraq C4 Commercialization program--the multi-billion dollar program through which the Army is providing enduring communications infrastructure for U.S. and Coalition forces in Southwest Asia--will be recognized at an awards ceremony on March 24, at Fort Monmouth, N.J.

As the KICC program's Deputy Assistant Project Manager for Advanced Planning, Meacham was one of the four original personnel who, in June 2003, created a functioning, entirely-new project management organization in a war zone. He is being cited for his work in 2004 in successfully integrating resources--including people, processes and industry and government capabilities--to provide C4ISR systems to support Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"I am an engineer by training and experience," said Meacham. "I was blessed with some early experiences that educated me to fact the 'systems' are more than electronic boxes--this is even truer of the KICC mission. My goal has been to put together the web of experience so we could pull together elements to field complex systems which deliver essential battle command to the force through battlefield acquisitions processes."

"Ralph has a unique talent for successfully leveraging the skills of the entire team--including partners--to develop solutions you may not have originally considered," said LTC Joseph Schafer, the project manager for the KICC program.

A case in point: Because of the threat of car bombs, vehicles and drivers must undergo thorough security checks before being admitted through gates at bases in Iraq--a painstaking and time-consuming process, during which concrete can cure before getting to where it's needed.

"We found that many loads of concrete--which we needed for pads to support satellite terminals and microwave towers--cured during the wait and had to be dumped," said Schafer.

Meacham, with the input of industry partners, came up with an out-of-the-box solution--the KICC team built concrete plants and housed local workers right on Camp Victory in Baghdad and Camp Anaconda in Bilad.

"You don't usually think of concrete as an IT product," noted Schafer. "This decision has saved time and money by avoiding the need for loads of concrete to be dumped because it has cured while waiting to get through a gate. Plus, it has avoided having concrete trucks destroyed and local workers killed or wounded in transit by insurgents."

Positive motivator and mentor

Meacham was also cited for being a positive motivator, empowering members of the KICC team to successfully perform more complex assignments than they ever had before.

"Mr. Meacham knows what needs to take place to field systems, but he passes this on and doesn't micromanage," said John Hildreth, a communications specialist who, under Meacham's mentorship, successfully served as project leader in implementing the Coalition Military Network. "He lets me run, allowing me to learn by mistakes, but at the same time, he's always there should I need him to give me advice and help me keep things on track. He has slowly increased the difficulty of the tasks he's given me, to the point where I can manage my time better and find out what I need to do by a particular time to meet project goals."

Joseph Abel, KICC's Deputy Assistant Project Manager for Operations, cited a series of reasons why Mr. Meacham is held in high esteem.

"Start with his knowledge," said Abel. "He seems to know everything about government agencies work, the processes required to get things done, the rules of what you can do and what you can't do. He is untiring and unwavering in his dedication--he works on vacation days and is there for everybody, all the time. Plus, he's friendly--everybody likes him, and his sense of humor keeps people on even keel. He's not a bad systems engineer, either."

"The KICC program would be dead without Ralph Meacham," said Schafer. "He is a C4ISR 'force multiplier' for us, from contracting through engineering. Ralph has a knack for recognizing the implied tasks necessary to execute the missions and getting them executed, for seeing unintended consequences and then pointing the right person in the right direction. He is the model of what C4ISR personnel should be."

"It is the KICC team of great people that makes all this possible," said Meacham. "Every face or name one sees on the KICC team is backed by dedicated folks in industry, in other government organizations and on the home front."

Meacham holds a bachelor of science degree in electronic engineering from Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo, Calif., and has more than 28 years of service performing Echelon-Above-Corps and sustaining base communications engineering and operations and maintenance functions in the Active Army, civil service, U.S. Army Reserve and Delaware National Guard.

Also cited as Outstanding C4ISR Personnel of the Year for 2004 are COL James Meredith of the U.S. Army Communications-Electronic Command Logistics and Readiness Center; Michelle Goode of the CECOM Acquisition Center; Medhat Abuhantash of the CECOM Software Engineering Center; George Brady of Tobyhanna Army Depot; Charles Carter of the CECOM LRC; Lynne Fleury of the CECOM Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel; Walter Harbort of the CECOM Legal Office; Larry Lashine of the Communications-Electronics Research, Development, and Engineering Command; Paula Nilsson of the CECOM Logistics Modernization Program Office; Mark O'Neill of the Program Executive Office, Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors; and Lawrence Smith of the CECOM Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans.

Mr. Larsen is a public affairs officer with Program Executive Office, Enterprise Information Systems at Fort Monmouth, N.J.

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