When Air Defense and Airspace Management (ADAM) Cells were first brought online our military leaders thought they were a great idea. The original concept made perfect sense -- put Air Defense Artillery (ADA) and Aviation officers and Soldiers together as a team to work on controlling/managing their assigned air space.
     It was a great idea, but the reality of “the needs of the Army” come first and is far greater to many brigade commanders. In general, these commanders used ADAM Cell officers as fillers in other capacities. It’s possible that these commanders didn’t fully understand the mission or the requirements of the ADAM Cell, thereby mismanaging officer from one position to another haphazardly.
     I have witnessed this first hand through my own past experiences and now during rotations from the vantage point of a brigade observer/controller at the National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin, California.
     Many brigades arriving at the NTC for training, showed up without complete ADAM Cells. Those ADA officers, who were assigned to an ADAM Cell, soon found themselves reassigned and pulling duties other than those they would be fulfilling once deployed as part of the ADAM Cell. While at the training center, some of these ADA officers found themselves assigned to what was deemed more important tasks such as a mayor of the forward operating base (FOB), controlling daily activities, or as the liaison officer (LNO) to the division instead of the ADAM Cell.
     Although, this diversification is great for the officer’s career, who is left in charge of the ADAM cell? Is it the warrant officer or the four enlisted soldiers assigned to the ADAM Cell? The answer is – whoever is left behind from the ADAM Cell. Unfortunately, this is not the right answer! Furthermore, it is not the answer we should expect to encounter during times of war.
      This type of rationale by commanders is quite possibly why many ADA officers think so little of being assigned to an ADAM Cell position, knowing that the only time they will be called upon to perform in that position is on an as needed basis, during real world missions.
     So, why have the requirement for ADA officers in the ADAM Cell at all? At the writing of this article, you’d be hard pressed to find an ADA officer who has actually been able to work in the ADAM Cell during real world missions. My experience as a former ADAM Cell officer makes it hard for me to believe that the situation with the ADAM Cell is truly improving.
     Currently, as an observer controller at the NTC, I still see these ADA officers arrive assigned to an ADAM Cell and shortly thereafter find themselves doing jobs that have nothing to doing with airspace management.. They still end up being moved to other positions while some ADAM Cells never get an ADA officer assigned to them at all.
     In a July-September 2008, Fires Professional Bulletin (PB644) article, Captain Alexander B. Corby stated that “…ADAM Cells are still new, and it is unrealistic to expect that newly deployed ADAM Cells will be integrated seamlessly and effortlessly into their receiving organizations.”
      This statement would be true if ADAM Cells were still brand new, but they’ve been around since 2004. Actually, they were first deployed in Operation Iraqi Freedom-3 (OIF-3). The brigade teams know the ADAM Cell is there, but they still choose not to use them as the Modified Table of Organization & Equipment (MTOE) prescribes.
     Based on my personal experience during OIF-3, I was assigned to an ADAM Cell until our actual deployment. After the unit was deployed, I was reassigned to three different positions. The first change of position was to the S-5 planner, followed by the liaison officer (LNO) to the Marine Corp and finally as the future operations (FUOPS) officer to the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR). When asked why I had been moved from my initial assignment, I was told that officers were needed to fill these critical positions which were more important than filling the ADAM Cell.
     This shift in assignments left the ADAM Cell with one warrant officer and four enlisted Soldiers. In the beginning, I thought this change was the exception to the rule, but soon discovered it was more the standard.
     So, the question begs asking again – “Why bother to assign ADA officers to these positions, only to have them left vacant during real world missions?”
     Air Defense officer are needed to assist in the planning and execution of all brigade missions from coordinating battalion intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), the tracking of aviation flights, clearing areas for artillery fires and to ensure the ADAM Cell works properly during real world missions.
     Commands that don’t see the value of these officers in the ADAM Cells are undermining the original concept. There must be a re-education of commanders to instill in them the why and how of the ADAM Cells and the need for ADA officers to fulfill their real world missions in them successfully. Only then will the original concept of – teaming up ADA and Aviation officers and Soldiers to control and manage critical airspace – come to fruition.