The pilot project that led to the formation of the US Army’s Rapid Equipping Force. In the summer of 2002, COL Bruce Jette led a mixed team of system engineers and combat developers to Afghanistan to test a concept for getting developmental GOTS/COTS systems out of the lab and into soldiers’ hands at a faster pace than current methods supported. The two month mission led to the first combat employment of the PackBot ground robot and the foundation of the US Army’s Rapid Equipping Force. Supporting this exciting and important project included construction of a gyro-stabilized camera mounting module for the robot and on-site video documentation of the process in the United States and Afghanistan. CTI principals supported this demonstration project while at the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies. The demonstration took place in the United States in California and Georgia and in Afghanistan May through August 2002.
