Troops returning from current operations now have the e-means to share their two cents about how to improve the information technology systems they used in the field. Gestalt LLC has set up TroopIdeas.com, a Web site that invites soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines to communicate their ideas directly to the company. The firm can then make sure their solutions are up to snuff or develop the warfighter’s idea into a much-needed product. If the suggestion doesn’t fall into the company’s bailiwick, it will be forwarded to an appropriate decision-maker whenever possible.

Bill Loftus, president and chief executive officer, Gestalt, explains that the idea for the Web site occurred quite by happenstance when employees heard warfighters who had recently returned from current operations talking in informal settings about some of the capabilities that would have helped them while in combat. So far, two of the solutions warfighters proposed during casual conversations have been developed and are moving up the approval chain. One would help troops share information about improvised explosive devices (IEDs) while the other would increase efficiency when attacking targets.

The wars being fought by the U.S. military today differ drastically from past wars, and this calls for new ways to develop solutions, Loftus states. “We’re in a war over there that is totally different. The amount of ideas that can be generated is off the charts. The Internet allows us to talk to people who are lower in the chain of command and get their ideas,” he states.

 “We have always been in search of real problems that we can help solve. This is really the genesis of any solution. Our belief is that there’s a lot of information out there about what is needed and we could use it to help us design solutions. But we had just been gathering these insights informally as we talked with warfighters who had just returned from Iraq or Afghanistan. The question was how to formalize the process for gathering this information,” Loftus explains.

The answer turned out to be in technology itself. Gestalt personnel designed TroopIdeas.com, the 21st-century version of a suggestion box, so warfighters can describe a problem and propose a solution. Loftus emphasizes that this site is not an end run around the traditional U.S. Defense Department procurement processes. It is just another way to better understand the problems warfighters face in the field and how technology may solve them. In fact, Loftus stresses that the company does not guarantee that every suggestion will be turned into a solution.

Loftus shares that some Gestalt employees say the site could be fancier, with more bells and whistles such as the ability to collaborate. But Loftus feels that part of the site’s function is to make it as easy as possible for anyone at any level of technology training—or comfort—to use the site to send in a suggestion.

If the success of projects generated from informal conversations is any indication of how successful TroopIdeas.com might be, Gestalt is in for some very busy times. One of the first ideas that got the company thinking about gathering insights from warfighters and developing solutions to address them is already on its way to approval. During a party a Gestalt employee attended, a Marine who had recently returned from Iraq talked about an idea that may have prevented the injury he sustained in combat from an IED. The Marine explained that despite all the high-tech devices available in the theater of operations, IED information was still collected and shared using paper and pencil, so the location of IEDs could not be quickly shared. Gestalt employees immediately began developing the Marine’s idea and turned it into PatrolNET, a device that allows warfighters to enter and share data about the location of IEDs with other troops.

In addition to PatrolNET, the company developed a solution based on input from a warfighter who had recently returned from operations in Afghanistan. The soldier pointed out that one of his biggest problems about getting metal on targets was determining which service to call for fires. Without the means to ascertain which was the closest or had the available assets, the service that spotted the target usually called its own warfighters to respond even when another service’s assets were the more efficient choice.

Gestalt researchers determined that what was needed was a small piece of software that would allow information about locations to be shared. A solution is now being reviewed by the Electronic Systems Center that would put all fire options on one sheet so commanders can choose the most efficient and effective one.

The company plans to monitor warfighter usage of TroopIdeas.com and will then determine plans for the site’s future, Loftus says.