Supporting Missions at Army IT Day

This week we’re gearing up for a big week at AFCEA West in San Diego, where we’ll meet with experts from the Navy to find out how our technologies can help them better accomplish their missions. (Stay tuned for videos and other posts from that show in the weeks to come.)

But before we dive in to AFCEA West, I wanted to highlight a great experience I had just before the holiday season at Army IT Day, hosted by AFCEA NOVA.

Army IT day was a must-attend show for government and industry professionals working with the Army, and it was great to engage with senior Army leaders to get insight into their top priorities and issues and learn the best ways that the technology industry can innovate to help them meet their goals. The sessions centered on how the Army can make our Warfighting efforts effective, affordable and defensible in the years to come, and how the technology industry can support those efforts.

In addition, we were able to honor a few of those senior leaders who have served our country and remind us that the products we develop are being used to carry out the most critical of missions.

Lieutenant General Susan S. Lawrence, the chief information officer of the Army, headed the tribute to Avon Blevins, CMC (ret), who served on the USS O’Brien from Omaha Beach through to Okinawa through the end of WWII and retired after 30 years of service. The USS O’Brien DD-725 Navy Destroyer served from 1943 to 1972, received 19 Battle Stars, and was hit by enemy power several times in both the Pacific and Atlantic Theatres during WWII, Cold War, Korea and Vietnam.

L to R: WWII vet honored during seminar, LTG Sue Lawrence, Patty Bortz, Avon Blevins, US Navy (ret), Glenn Bortz, and Vivian Blevins

Blevins is the father of one of my HP colleagues Patricia Bortz, so it was great to see him honored for his accomplishments and life-long service to the Navy. HP has been a strategic partner of AFCEA and we’re committed to delivering Army-ready solutions that are designed and tested to meet industry standards. I’m glad that our HP team was able to attend the event and I would recommend future Army IT days to anyone in the industry.