U.S. Army Watervliet Arsenal March 2015

THE SALVO

Millions of reasons why this experimental part is so

important to WatervlietStory on Page 3

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The Arsenal Salvo is an authorized monthly publication for members of the Department of Defense. Contents of the Salvo are not necessarily the official views of, or an endorse-ment by the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, or the Watervliet Arsenal. News may be submitted for publication by sending articles to Public Affairs Officer, 1 Buffington Street, Bldg. 10, Watervliet, NY 12189, or stop by office #102, Bldg. 10, Watervliet Arsenal. The editor may also be reached at (518) 266-5055 or by e-mail: john.b.snyder.civ@mail.mil. The editor reserves the right to edit all information submitted for publication.

Commander, Col. Lee H. Schiller Jr.Public Affairs Officer, John B. SnyderEditor, John B. SnyderPhotographer: John B. Snyder Arsenal Facebook Page @http://on.fb.me/sq3LEm

ColonelLee H. Schiller Jr.

CommandingManufacturer 6

Commander’sCorner

As we near the end of the Internal Revenue Service’s filing season, which ends on April 15th, the word “audit” inflicts fear among many. Despite the baggage this term brings to many, not all audits are to be feared. During the last week of February, we hosted a DOD readiness audit team from the Safety Management Center for Excellence to assess our current safety posture. This audit is critical in our preparation for a formal Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Star Certification. As most of you know, VPP is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration program that ties management and the workforce toward a common goal – to ensure that every person here works in healthful working conditions, thus preserving human resources. According to OSHA, Star Certification recognizes employers and employees who demonstrate exemplary achievement in the prevention and control of occupational safety and health hazards, and the development, imple-mentation and continuous improvement of their safety and health management system. Attaining Star Certification will speak volumes about our sense of duty to each other and to our maintaining high standards of excellence. Very few businesses attain this status. Before I say another word, I wish to thank the great ef-fort by leaders, workers, and by our VPP and safety team to give the audit team everything they asked for during their visit. From conducting walkthroughs of our produc-tion buildings to conducting interviews, everything was well coordinated. Due in large part this great support, the audit team was able to quickly assess the arsenal’s current posture and

thereby, giving us feedback that will make us better as an organization. The bottom line is that there were no earth-shattering findings during three days of intensive inspection. Nev-ertheless, there are some areas the audit team identified that need action and or focus. Not to bog down this month’s column with a laundry list of areas that we need to improve, suffice it for me to say that some of the areas of concern that needed to be fixed immediately were fixed. And over the course of the next few months, we will have addressed all other areas found by the audit team as needing attention. Safety and the health of our workforce transcends the safety and VPP staff, as every one of you influences whether or not we are known as a manufacturer of excel-lence. Please continue to find ways to ensure that every-one goes home safe and injury-free at the end of each day.

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By John B. Snyder

Story continues on page 4, see “Muzzle”

Benét designs, arsenal builds...we all hope

From right to left is the currently fielded muzzle brake for the M119 howitzer, the 3-D print model, and the double-baffle prototype muzzle brake that has been recently manufactured and sent to the Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona for field testing. Army researchers believe the new muzzle brake will greatly reduce the harmful effects that howitzer blast overpressures have on Soldiers.

Photo by John B. Snyder

Army weapons research engineers at the Watervliet Arsenal said this week that they have designed a signifi-cant improvement to the M119 105mm towed-howitzer system that if adopted by the U.S. Army will reduce Soldiers’ risk to health complications from blast over-pressures. “After three years of computer-aided design and prototype development, we just began testing at the Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona an enhanced muzzle brake for the 105mm howitzer system,” said Alan Ng, a mechanical engineer with the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development, and Engineering Center’s Benét Laboratories. Dan Crayon, an ARDEC-Benét Labs supervisor, said the currently fielded muzzle brake, which is the component at the end of the barrel that redirects muzzle

pressures, limits the daily allowed number of rounds that a gun crew can safely fire due to extreme blast overpressures. The new double-baffle muzzle brake may potentially increase the allowed number of rounds that gun crews can safely fire by reducing the harmful effects of sus-tained exposure to blast overpressures, Crayon said. This test seems to be timely as just last year the U.S. Navy and Army worked on a joint research project at Fort Sill, Okla., to measure the effects of concussion, traumatic brain injury and blast events on military per-sonnel due to the firing of a howitzer. Fort Sill is the home to the Army’s Fires Center of Excellence. “The effects of blast overpressure from firing a how-itzer can have the same effect as an explosion or even a non-combat blow to the head,” said Lt. Col. Chris

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Muzzle Cont.

Compton, the former 2-2nd Field Artillery com-mander whose Soldiers participated in the research. Additionally, howitzer blast overpressures pro-duce a significant impulse noise that may degrade Sol-diers’ hearing over time, Crayon said. The enhanced muzzle brake has the potential to reduce impulse noise by up to 40 percent. The M119 Howitzer was originally a British de-signed gun; however, ARDEC’s Benét Labs is the current design activity for the M20 Cannon on the M119 Howitzer and has been re-engineering product improvements for the M20 Cannon since the weapon system was fielded in the 1990s. The Watervliet Arse-nal manufactures the M20 cannon. According to Ng, this is truly a collaborative effort between Benét Labs, the ARDEC Weapons Systems and Technology Directorate, the Program Manager for Towed Artillery Systems, and the two Army arsenals - the Watervliet Arsenal and the Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois. “Rock Island Arsenal used our computer-aided designs to produce a casting,” Ng said. “Once we had the casting, we had the Watervliet Arsenal’s manufac-turing center machine the casting into its objective or test configuration.” John Zayhowski, who is an Arsenal machinist work leader and the apprentice program supervisor, said that his machinists were able to quickly manufacture a prototype muzzle brake due to the close proximity of the manufacturing center to Benét Labs. “Because Benét Labs is only a five minute walk from the manufacturing center, we were able to work hand-in-hand with the engineers who designed this muzzle brake,” Zayhowski said. “During the design process, we also took advantage of Benét’s 3-D print-ing capability to produce a resin model of the muzzle brake that we could use to prove out our machining process.” Zayhowski said that for prototype machining or for the launch of a new product line the Arsenal tradition-ally has a long lead time to get a casting or a forging in from an outside vendor. Once the vendor’s first piece has passed a thorough quality control inspection, then Arsenal machinists will use that piece to the test tool-ing and the machining processes. This can be a very expensive process, as well as time consuming, Zayhowski said. But with the 3-D

model, Arsenal machinists were able to prove out their machining process within days versus months, as well as complete the process at a fraction of the cost. The experimental blast overpressure firing is cur-rently underway at Yuma Proving Grounds, said de-sign engineer Bob Carson. To date, the live-fire test re-sults show very good comparison to blast overpressure reduction predictions formulated through extensive Computational Fluid Dynamics modeling analysis. According to Carson, blast overpressure reduc-tions are on the order of 20 to 30 percent depending on round type, gun elevation and crew location. Ng added that this is the second major improve-ment in recent years that will improve Soldiers’ safe-ty for this weapon system that Benét Labs engineers have designed. In 2011, Benét engineers designed and fielded an improved breechblock for the M119 howitzer. That modification eliminated the need for a Soldier to reach behind the cannon in the path of the recoil during a misfire to recock the weapon, and it cor-rected a safety issue that allowed the firing pin to protrude when the gun was in the safe position. The Watervliet Arsenal is currently manufacturing two more prototype muzzle brakes that are projected to undergo component durability testing at the Yuma Proving Ground sometime in May 2015, and the live-fire testing should be completed at the Yuma Proving Ground in June of this year. If the Army adopts this enhanced muzzle brake, the arsenal workforce hopes for a multimillion dol-lar contract with production to begin in 2016.

The M119 105mm howitzer outfitted with the prototype muzzle brake being readied this month for live-fire testing at the Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.

Photo provided by Yuma Proving Ground

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Helping first responders, each other via CPR

By John B. Snyder

Story continues on page 6, “CPR”

Your coworker collapses on the floor …tick…tick…tick… you check to see if the individual is okay …tick…tick…tick… he isn't breathing …tick…tick…tick… you are all alone …tick…tick…tick… The actions you take or don't take in the next few seconds may have life altering consequences, for your coworker and for yourself, said Donald Haberski, a lieutenant with the Arsenal fire department. "There is no doubt that this situation, which re-cently occurred at the Arsenal, would place you in an extremely stressful situation," Haberski said. "But the key is to do something, anything that will save that person's life." The act of doing something is the genesis behind a revitalization of a cardiopulmonary resuscitation

or CPR course the arsenal has been doing for many years, Haberski said. The training here had been focused on those who needed CPR training as part of their job, such as those who work in the Arsenal's health clinic and emergency services. But Haberski and the Arsenal's leadership wanted to share the wealth by providing free training to every-one at the arsenal, and that is what Haberski did this week. Haberski said his goal is to offer the course to anyone who wants to take it. But given the fact that the Arsenal has 2.1 million square feet of office and production floor space, he believes it is critical that a

Photo by John B. SnyderPeter Sofranko, an Arsenal production controller, said that he took the CPR training because he has two young daughters. Here, Sofranko seems to be enjoying the CPR training for infants.

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CPR Cont.

significant number of the workforce is trained in CPR so that aid can be more quickly provided. "Although the Arsenal's emergency services is very responsive to urgent calls, early intervention is the key to better patient outcomes," Haberski said. "So, the sooner someone can start receiving CPR the better chances that they will survive." According to the Mayo Clinic, CPR can keep oxy-genated blood flowing to the brain and other vital or-gans until more definitive medical treatment can restore a normal heart rhythm. When the heart stops, the lack of oxygenated blood can cause brain damage in only a few minutes. A person may die within eight to 10 minutes. During the recent four-hour course, students learned the critical skills needed to respond to and manage a sudden cardiac arrest emergency until emergency medi-cal services arrive. Students applied their learned skills to three different scenarios: adult; child; and an infant. Additionally, Haberski provided training on the use of an Automated External Defibrillator or AED. The American Red Cross states that more than 350,000 Americans will die from sudden cardiac arrest this year. But with the proper administering of CPR and AED, those actions could save 50,000 lives each year. AED is the only effective treatment for restoring a regular heart rhythm during sudden cardiac arrest and is an easy to operate tool for someone with no medical background. For each minute defibrillation is delayed, the chance of survival is reduced approximately 10 percent.

"What is great about this training is that an indi-vidual can take their new skills and apply it to situations here, as well as situations outside of the Arsenal fence line," Haberski said. And others agreed with him. "I took the training because I was inspired by those who stepped up last year when we lost one of our co-workers here at the Arsenal," said Tracey Fitzpatrick, an Arsenal timekeeper. "I wanted to be prepared to help if a similar situation ever arose and I was nearby." The training was very thorough and should she ever have to call upon the training, Fitzpatrick said she feels confident that she can provide lifesaving care until help arrives. Peter Sofranko, an Arsenal production controller, said that he took the CPR training because he has two young daughters. "I thought the training was very good and it gave me a sense of confidence that if I ever needed to provide CPR to my girls that I would know what to do," So-franko said. Haberski was able to train 20 workers during the March course due in large part to the support he re-ceived from Chief Warrant Officer 3 Stephen Breen, who is an Arsenal safety officer, and from Christine Schiller, a former nurse and the wife of the Arsenal commander. "Without the support from Chief Breen and from Christine, I would have only been able to train 10 work-ers," Haberski said. "It was terrific having the additional instructor help from two who are well-experienced in CPR." Upon completion of the course, all attendees will be certified by the American Heart Association for two years. The next class begins on May 14.

Left: Tracey Fitzpatrick applying newly learned CPR techniques to a simulated infant, which was one of three lifesaving scenarios.Right: Course instructor Donald Haberski, in blue uniform, and assistant instructor Chief Warrant Officer 3 Stephen Breen, left, providing CPR instruction to nearly 20 students.

Photos by John B. Snyder

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Story continues on page 8, “A3”

Photo by John B. Snyder

200 years later, still in search of perfection

Some might believe that after more than 200 years of continuous operation the Watervliet Arsenal would have perfected a workforce development program by now, but the word perfection is an elusive dream as today’s arsenal leaders have recog-nized. Just as the Arsenal’s product lines have been transformed through the years, the Arsenal now finds itself urgently needing to transform its workforce development program

once again, said William O’Brien, the Arsenal’s director of installation man-agement. Today’s goal is to ensure that during this new era of declining defense budgets the long-term vi-ability of this historic manufacturing center is preserved. “We have learned through the years that in order for the Arsenal to survive the ebb and flow of defense budgets, we must continuously adapt ourselves to the ever changing opera-tional environment,” O’Brien said. “Our workforce development pro-gram will never be perfect, but we

have got to get it pretty close to per-fection if we are to continue to be the Army’s first choice for large caliber weapon production.” In the year that O’Brien has been the director of Installation Manage-ment, the arsenal has surveyed the workforce on two occasions in an effort to get critical feedback on the perceived state of the command. Last summer, the arsenal conduct-ed a command climate survey that measured the workforce’s perceptions

By John B. Snyder

Page 8 Salvo March 31, 2015

A3 Cont.

Top: Apprentice Program Supervisor John Zayhowski, right, trying to prior-itize the Workforce Development’s 18 programs on Day 1 of the Lean Event.Bottom: Some of the tools that helped make sense of the process required to better develop the workforce.

on such issues as organizational effectiveness and diversi-ty. More recently, the arsenal conducted a second survey that measured the employees’ awareness in 18 workforce development sub-programs, ranging from mentorship to critical skill retention. Armed with survey results, O’Brien said that he and other senior-level leaders here quickly realized that there needed to be a wholesale transformation of the current workforce development program. “After several years of reduction in force and orga-nizational restructuring in the late 1990s, several critical employee programs, such as training management and leader development, got lost in the transition,” O’Brien said. “What these surveys have shown is that our work-force today not only desires, but also demands a whole-sale change to the way we currently address their professional develop-ment.” This month, O’Brien, and Arsenal Chief of Staff Barbara Hill, put together a team that is focusing on the 18 sub-program areas of workforce devel-opment through a Lean A3 process, which is a problem-solving, continu-ous improvement process. The team consists of a good cross-section of leaders and workers who spent a week defining the problem and then map-ping out solutions that will address the needs of the workforce. “We are not here to solve all the problems in the world, just these 18 program areas,” O’Brien said during the kickoff of the Lean event. “The lack of a comprehensive workforce development program that incorporates

these 18 areas has constrained our workforce from doing their jobs to the best of their ability.” It is also believed by the Arsenal leadership that intan-gible considerations, such as morale and motivation, are also affected by the current state of the workforce devel-opment program. Those intangibles not only have a direct effect on the Arsenal’s quality and on-time delivery rate, they also effect retention. When it takes the Arsenal more than 8,000 hours of hands-on training to produce one machinist, every loss is painful and hard to replace. But the desire to retain a crit-ical skill base transcends the production floor, as there are critical skills in non-production areas such as in resource management, contracting, and public works. “We have come out of the A3 event armed with a strat-egy that will have the full support of the Board of Direc-tors,” O’Brien said. “But, more importantly, a strategy that will demonstrate to the workforce that their concerns have been recognized and that action will be taken.”

Although the A3 workforce development strategy will address the “low hanging fruit” first, O’Brien said he envisions the entire strategy to be fully implemented within one year. The 18 areas for re-view are: Training Man-agement; Supervisor Professional Develop-ment; Project Manage-ment Skills, Mandatory Training, Position-specific Training; Aspiring Leader Development; Critical Skills Retention; Develop-mental Training; Centrally Funded Training; Com-munications Management; New Employee Orienta-tion; Succession Planning; Organizational Man-agement; Performance Management; Hiring and Retention Management; Career Program Manage-ment; Awards Program Management; and Men-torship.

Photos by John B. Snyder

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Top: Machinist Robert Day, left, and Appren-tice Steve Luther talk-ing to students during a Machining Career Day hosted at Moho-nasen High School. The goal of the engage-ment was to encour-age non-machining students to consider a career in machining.

Left: Apprentice Steve Luther, right, show-ing Mohonasen senior Troy Bennett how to apply for a job at the Watervliet Arsenal.

Photos by John B. Snyder

Today’s Arsenal workforce takes every opportunity it can to help pay back, or in some cases pay forward, to the local community that has wholeheartedly supported the Army manufacturing center at Watervliet since its establishment in 1813. One such opportunity was last Thursday when the arsenal partici-pated in a machining career day that hosted students from three area high schools. The career day, which was sponsored by the Board of Coopera-tive Educational Services Career (BOCES) Technical Education Machining Program, was offered to students who are currently not in a high school machining program in hopes to increase enrollment next school year. Arsenal Machinist Robert Day and Apprentice Steve Lu-ther talked with the students at the Mohonasen High School Machining and Manufacturing Technology campus in Rot-terdam, N.Y., about their personal journeys in machining, as well as the benefits of becoming a machinist for the U.S. Army. “What is great about the machinist profession is that our skills are in high demand anywhere in the country,” Day said. “When I graduated from the apprentice program at Hudson Valley Community College two years ago, every student had a job when they graduated.” Luther added that the Arsenal probably has the most challenging apprentice program in New York’s Capital Dis-trict. “In addition to the four-year college program, every ap-prentice must also have more than 8,000 hours of hands-on training at the Arsenal,” Luther said. Although several students’ eyes popped open when Lu-ther talked about challenges to becoming an Army machin-ist, he soften the impact of his words by telling the students

that their college would be paid for by the Army, as well as they would receive full-time pay and benefits while going through the program. Once the talking was done, the students were provided a demonstration on the proper use of several machining tools, from a lathe to a milling machine. Day and Luther helped the Mohonasen instructors to explain how each machine worked. As the tour was winding down, Mohonasen high school senior Troy Bennett stopped in to talk to Day and Luther about career opportunities at Watervliet. Bennett was not part of the machining career day, but has been taking machining courses at Mohonasen for two years. As soon as Bennett said he would love to work at the Watervliet Arsenal, Luther immediately found a computer and walked Bennett through the employment process on the USAJOBs website. According to Nancy Liddle, who is the BOCES Career and Technical Business Community Liaison, seven of the career day students have already expressed interest in next year’s machining program. Already, Day and Luther’s efforts were paying off.

Building students’

mettleBy John B. Snyder

Page 10 Salvo March 31, 2015

City of WatervlietMemorial Day Parade

Monday, May 25thSave The Date:

The Arsenal is participating in the City of Watervliet Memorial Day Parade on Monday, May 25, at 10 a.m.

We will need volunteers to march with our floats in the parade.

We also have been invited to participate in the Village of Green Island’s Memorial Day Parade that will take place on Thursday, May 21st, 6 p.m. We try to support that parade with one float and a couple of emergency service vehicles.

Albany Devils Military Appreciation GameSaturday, April 4th, at 5 p.m.

Although the commander will not be in town for this year’s Military Appreciation Game with the Albany Dev-ils, the Devils organization has offered a special deal for those of who still wish to attend the hockey game.

Unlike previous years when you had to pickup your tickets at the Arsenal and pay for family members, the Devils has set aside 60 free tickets for employees and their family members that can be picked up the day of the game at the Passgate. Just show your Arsenal CAC card. Although there are only 60 tickets available, Veterans can still get in free once those 60 tickets are gone.

Passgate is located through the glass doors in the front atrium of the Times Union Center on the South Pearl Street side. You may pickup your tickets be-tween 3 p.m. and the start of the 1st period.

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Women’s History Month

Celebrating women in

our workforce

Arsenal History TriviaWhen the end of 1953 came, so did the end of the horsepower era for the Arsenal. Billy, a 19-year-old bay geld-ing, the last horse used at the Arsenal, was disposed of. Three years before, the Arsenal was directed to dispose of Billy and his harness mate, Pete, but the Arsenal gained temporary permis-sion to keep them. Pete died in 1952 despite attempts to save him and in December 1953, Billy was declared ex-cess. At Billy’s age, it was considered more humane to put him down than to sell him.

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