Outgoing YPG commander reflects on time at proving ground
Tough times don’t last, but tough people — and organizations — do.
Such is the outlook of outgoing Yuma Proving Ground commander Col. Ross Poppenberger, who will retire from the Army at the conclusion of his three year tour here on July 8.
As incoming commander Col. Patrick McFall takes the reins, Poppenberger is bullish on YPG’s long-term prospects, despite national and international crises like civic unrest and COVID-19.
“I think there is no other test center positioned better for the future than YPG. The competence and technical expertise here is second to none. This place is different than any other government organization I’ve ever been in.”
Thus far in the COVID-19 crisis that began in March, YPG’s workload never declined as precipitously as the post’s senior leaders had initially feared. By the third week in June, the number of unique projects in progress had recovered to nearly the level seen at the same time the previous year. Poppenberger credits the flexibility and creativity of the workforce and YPG’s long-standing reputation for excellence within the military test and evaluation community.
“A lot of the initiatives we went after and accomplished were things I had set out to do. As with anything in life, I don’t think you can make something happen by chugging along without a plan.”
Most significantly during his time in command, the proving ground was quick to distinguish itself with the Army Futures Command (AFC) shortly after it was stood up in 2018. To help create the force of the future, AFC divided the Army’s top modernization into eight different cross-functional teams (CFTs). The highest profile test project in support of the CFTs relates to the Army’s top modernization priority: long range precision fires (LRPF), which is right in YPG’s traditional wheelhouse. The Army aspires to field artillery systems capable of accurately striking targets more than twice as far away as currently-fielded 155mm howitzer shells are capable of.
YPG testing has already achieved significantly increased distances in test fires conducted at both the proving ground and the nearby Barry M. Goldwater
Range, a larger facility south of the proving ground that is shared by the Marine Corps and Air Force and primarily used for operational training with high-performance aircraft. As such, Poppenberger’s strong relationships with his counterparts at both MCAS Yuma and Luke Air Force Base were vital to conducting this testing successfully.
“Having good relationships is important,” said Poppenberger. “You don’t get things done without partnership, especially these days.”
LRPF received the lion’s share of attention, but YPG testing is actively supporting six of AFC’s eight CFTs. Later this year, the proving ground will serve as showcase for something called Project Convergence, a day-long demonstration of equipment from at least five of the CFTs working in tandem that is expected to draw a large audience of Army senior leaders, Congressional representatives, and national media outlets.
“Project Convergence is the number one demonstration in the Army for this year,” said Poppenberger. “They didn’t choose YPG by accident — they chose it because they believed in the leadership and the workforce’s ability to make things happen.
The fact that they wanted to bring this demonstration here is telling of what senior leaders in the Army think of YPG and the confidence they have in us.”
Throughout his command, Poppenberger received accolades for his support of public outreach efforts, which included such unprecedented events as the YPG 75th anniversary and YPG 2020 open houses, the latter of which drew 22,000 people onto the installation. He credits outreach efforts with results like the state’s allocation of $28 million to begin a long-needed expansion of Highway 95, YPG’s major traffic artery, to four lanes.
“That’s what I’ve done in prior commands, too. It worked for the organization and for me personally, and I wanted to apply the same practices to this organization.”
Poppenberger intends to stay in the Yuma area in his retirement. When asked what advice he would give his successor McFall, he offered this:
“They aren’t bringing us in to be the smartest test officer in the world — they already have that here. They need us to ensure we have the proper resources coming in, and the only way to do that is to get out and interface with key leaders and program partners.”