United States Army Aviation Branch

Obviously, that program is a couple of years into the future, even as the Army has moved to try to accelerate it.

So, I mean, it's actually a pretty exciting time for Army aviation.

Well, they're getting the units.

Look, an extra 16 aircraft, that's a couple of months production.

But behind those extraordinary accomplishments is something our listeners know well, an industrial and systems engineering mindset.

Shane earned a master's degree in operations research from Georgia Tech, and throughout his career from Army Aviation to leading crews aboard the International Space Station, he's relied on systems thinking, teamwork, risk management, and continuous problem solving in environments where there is little room for error.

So happy ISE day and welcome to Problem Solved.

Colonel Shane Kimbrough, thank you so much for joining us.

What brings you back to Westport?

So the unit that I command, the 160th, is here for Branch Week, you know, trying to tell Army aviation stories to all the cadets and really for us a recruiting opportunity to make sure we get in early with the cadets that are interested in branching aviation and plant a seed that we hope will grow into a tree someday where they end up in the 160th serving with the great men and women that support our unit.

Amazing.

Have you noticed any trends here at Branch Week? Anything you're looking for in particular when people are coming up to you to talk about the

One, they don't want to embarrass a guy talking, especially if there are RCOs there.

they only catch after and the second thing is they don't want to be that guy that the one guy that didn't understand the plan well guess what there's probably six or seven others who are also not gonna ask the question so i think that's a really important thing to do yeah

and we you know I talk about this all the time in Army Aviation.

Like, the ecosystem works really well when you have a senior warrant officer and a sergeant major and a commander that are all synchronized.