TRADOC Test and Experimentation Command (TEXCOM) was provisionally established on October 1, 1988.  On December 11, 1988, CDEC was provisionally re-designated TEXCOM Experimentation Center (TEC), remaining at Fort Ord.

The provisional TEXCOM headquarters was formed from the command and staff of TCATA, while the remaining three test directorates formed a new TEXCOM Combined Arms Test Center (TCATC).  During the provisional year, the nine TRADOC test boards, located at various TRADOC Training Centers and schools across the nation, were aligned under TEXCOM.

Department of the Army orders established TEXCOM on October 2, 1988.  The Institute of Heraldry designed a distinctive unit insignia, shoulder sleeve insignia, and distinguishing colors—a first in almost 20 years as a test organization.  Each of the test boards was authorized its own distinguishing flag.

On May 26, 1989, the distinguishing flags of TEXCOM, the Combined Arms Test Center, TEXCOM Experimentation Center, and nine test directorates were unfurled in a colorful ceremony at West Fort Hood.

 The Road to OPTEC

During 1990, TEXCOM went through one of the most significant and dramatic periods in its history—the consolidation of the Army's operational testing program.  During that time, TEXCOM planned, executed, and reported some 100 operational tests.

Major tests included Army Tactical Missile System, Line-of-Sight Forward Heavy System, Palletized Loading System, Light Assault Bridge, Vehicle Magnetic Signature Duplicator, and XM21 Remote Sensing Chemical Agent Alarm.

The year began with a DA directive to implement approved recommendations contained in the Army Management Report.  TEXCOM was to move from TRADOC to a new command—U.S. Army Operational Test and Evaluation Command (OPTEC).

TEXCOM continued its mission of operational testing and experimentation while reducing personnel strength by 30-percent, closing four test boards:  Armor and Engineer at Fort Knox, Kentucky; Infantry at Fort Benning, Georgia; Communications and Electronics at Fort Gordon, Georgia; and Aviation at Fort Rucker, Alabama.

At the same time, the following test directorates were established at Fort Hood:  Armor; Infantry; Command, Control, and Communications (C3); Engineer and Combat Support; and Aviation.  The off-site boards remaining at their locations were downsized and re-designated as TEXCOM test directorates:  Intelligence and Electronic Warfare at Fort Huachuca, Arizona; Fire Support at Fort Sill, Oklahoma; Airborne and Special Operations at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Air Defense Artillery at Fort Bliss, Texas; and the Combat Developments Experimentation Command (CDEC) at Fort Ord, California, which was re-designated TEXCOM Experimentation Center (TEC).

On the world scene, Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2 and Operation Desert Shield was launched, which compounded the difficulty of reassigning military within the command and having available combat troops to conduct tests and experiments.  TEXCOM deployed 70 military and four civilian employees for Operation Desert Storm.

Operations in the Arabian desert clearly validated the importance of this organization's mission:  to assure the quality of the equipment, tactics, training, and doctrine employed by American Soldiers.

On March 1, 1991, TEC completed its move from Fort Ord to Fort Hunter Liggett.  Multiple TEXCOM test directorates and TEC teamed up at Fort Hunter Liggett to conduct an early-user test of the M1A2.

Other TEXCOM tests included the M109A6 155mm Self-propelled Howitzer "Paladin," AH-64 Air-to-Air Stinger, Metallic Mine Detectors, Chemical Protective Undergarment, Forward Area Air Defense Ground Base Sensor System, Tactical Quiet Generators, and TOW 2B Product Improvement Program follow-on test and evaluation.

The TEXCOM Headquarters Building was dedicated in a ceremony in honor of Mr. Reedie A. Stone, Jr., former deputy director of the Battlefield Automation Test Directorate, TCATC, who succumbed to heart failure on September 28, 1989.

The Close Combat Test Directorate was established in July 1992, combining the missions of the Armor and Infantry Test Directorates, which were both disestablished.

The New Training Helicopter was a significant test conducted at Fort Rucker by the Aviation Test Directorate.  Mr. David Boyken, Test Officer, was selected as TEXCOM's Civilian Tester of the Year for his actions in NTH.  The purpose of the NTH test was to assess the training effectiveness of five candidate commercial helicopters under consideration by the Army for future pilot training as compared to the UH-1 version.

Mr. Larry D. Sprabary, TEXCOM C3 Test Directorate, was named as the Army's Civilian Tester of the Year for 1992.  He was the key member during four tests of the Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (SINCGARS).

Other TEXCOM tests conducted in 1992 included Ground Launched Hellfire, Improved Ribbon Bridge/Folding Float Bridge 2000, Low Altitude Personnel Parachute System concept, Extended Cold Weather Clothing System, Desert Mobility Vehicle System, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle-Short Range, Heavy Equipment Transporter, and Enhanced M16A2 Optical Sight.

On May 20, 1994, TEXCOM conducted a ground-breaking ceremony for another new building, adjacent to the TEXCOM Headquarters.  The ribbon-cutting was conducted on November 2, 1995.  The additional 26,000 square-foot Test Support Facility provided administrative areas for test and evaluation directorates to accomplish test planning.

On its 25th Anniversary in October 1994, the Operational Testers' Hall of Fame was officially opened.  Two pioneer testers—Maj. Henry C. Wayne, who tested the Camel Corps in 1856, and Lt. Benjamin D. Foulois, who tested the aeroplane in 1910, plus six charter members—Lt. Gen. John Norton, Reedie A. Stone, Jr., William "Don" Melton, Col. Edward B. "Jack" Derr, Col. Robert A. Bonifacio, and Mr. Dionisios Sabalos—were inducted.

During 1995, TEXCOM conducted and reported on 33 operational tests and 59 customer tests, including AH-64D Longbow Apache, Armored Gun System, Theater Missile Defense, C2V, M1A2 follow-on, C-17 air transport, and several tests under the Soldier Enhancement Program.

Chief Warrant Officer 4 Larry Weidell of the Aviation Test Directorate was named Army Tester of the Year for his work with the AH-64D Longbow Apache test.

The year ended with the deployment of the J-STARS test team to Bosnia with elements of the 303d Military Intelligence Battalion.

In 1996, TEXCOM testers conducted 42 operational tests and 71 customer tests, including Patriot Advanced Capabilities, J-STARS, GRIZZLY mine breacher vehicle, Bradley "Linebacker," the next generation of Joint Service Lightweight Integrated Suit Technology, an improved M88A1E1 "Hercules" recovery vehicle, JAVELIN antitank missile, Bunker Defeat Munitions, and supported a number of tests and Advanced Warfighting Experiments.

It was announced in September 1996 that TEC at Fort Hunter Liggett would be inactivated by September 30, 1997.  The inactivation was brought about as a result of the Army's continuous efforts to reorganize for efficiency as it downsizes.

Major Christopher Addison, TEXCOM Engineer, Combat Support Test Directorate, was named Army Tester of the Year for his involvement with the Interim Vehicle Mounted Mine Detector test and Automated Chemical Agent Detection Alarm test.

During 1997, the number of tests conducted were 25 operational and 61 customer, but the large scale of the individual tests made up for the total number.

The Engineer and Combat Support Test Directorate conducted a joint operational test on the largest item of equipment ever attempted by the command:  the seven-story high USNS Shughart transport ship.

Another major test was the multi-billion-dollar Army Tactical Command and Control System designed to aid commanders in controlling forces on the battlefield.

The Experimental Force of the 4th Infantry Division employed a 365-person test team along with 102 subject matter experts.  Once compiled and analyzed, 250 gigabytes of data on the 72 warfighting initiatives involved was collected.

North Fort Hood was the site for testing of the new Armored Security Vehicle for the military police while the Close Combat Tactical Trainer was tested at main post.  Training took a giant technological leap forward with the testing of the Close Combat Tactical Trainer (CCTT).  A "virtual battlefield," CCTT endured rigorous operational testing of its hardware and software in the hands of the average Soldier.

TEXCOM videographers assisted local police in identifying and apprehending an infamous fugitive known as the "ball cap bandit."  John Brady, Video Documentation Branch, utilized computers and digitization methods to enhance the bank robbery video, resulting in a clear image for identification.

On September 30 at Fort Hunter Liggett, TEC ended a 40-year history of test and experiments for the U.S. Army.  Some 183 military had been reassigned and 25 civilians transferred to other jobs.

A Limited User Test of the Force XXI Battle Command, Brigade and Below (FBCB2) was conducted at Fort Hood with elements of the 4th Infantry Division.  Lt. Col. Steven Beatty, FBCB2 Test Officer, was named Department of the Army Test Officer of the Year.

A TEXCOM Team won the Army's Annual Dr. Wilbur B. Payne Memorial Award for Excellence in Analysis.  The team consisted of Col. Richard G. Sayre, Dr. Richard A. Kass, Lt. Col. Douglas L. Fletcher, Lt. Col. Gary M. Danczyk, Maj. David S. Pound, Lt. Col. Kevin W. Smith, Mr. Larry D. Sprabary, and the first ever NCO, Staff Sgt. Rey F. Arbolay.

Jennifer Oliver, a TEXCOM computer program specialist, was honored as the 1997 Department of the Army Outstanding Employee of the Year with a Disability.

During 1998, tests ranged from air-dropping a Kayak for Special Operations forces to the new armored turbo-charged Humvee.  Three TEXCOM members who served on a team that prepared a report to Congress on the Division XXI Advanced Warfighting Experiment received the Dr. Wilbur B. Payne Memorial Award for Excellence in Analysis.  The three were Maj. Jeffery Schutter, Maj. Maria Pate, and Mr. Dave Boling.

Testing continued on the C-17 with the Air Force and the M2A3 Bradley with the 1st Cavalry Division.  The 4th Infantry Division tested the Maneuver Control System.  Soldiers, civilian test members, and contractors worked together in the desert of Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah, to realistically test a new version of the Army's mobile Biological Integrated (chemical) Detection System.

The Information Mission Area Test Directorate was inactivated with the test mission absorbed by the Command, Control, Communications, and Computers Test Directorate in June.

Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Mobile) and Tennessee National Guardsmen teamed up with TEXCOM to conduct an operational test of the new UH-60Q aeromedical evacuation helicopter in Tennessee and Kentucky.

Lt. Col. Steven Beatty became the fourth consecutive TEXCOM officer to be named Department of the Army Tester of the Year.  He was the test officer for the Force XXI Battle Command, Brigade and Below (FBCB2) conducted at Fort Hood.

The last year of the millennium began with operational tests of a Mobile Air-traffic Control System, tactical power generators, air-bags for helicopters, and a new Long Range Advanced Scout Surveillance System.

SCAMP (Single Channel Antijam Man-Portable) operational test was conducted at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, with Soldiers of the XVIII Airborne Corps that would allow Soldiers in the foxhole to communicate anywhere in the world via satellites.

While deep in the planning phase of future tests of the RAH-66 Comanche helicopter, an Aviation Test Directorate test team conducted a multi-service test of a new survival radio called Combat Survivor Evader Locator System.  Aviation test teams also conducted an operational test of a new mobile air traffic control system designed to operate in all weather conditions.

The Close Combat Test Directorate teamed up with the 1st Cavalry Division to test a new Long Range Advanced Scout Surveillance System designed to allow recon units to detect enemy forces at long range.

Digitization of forces in the field requires electrical power.  Satisfying a need for quiet and reliable generators for tactical units, the Engineer and Combat Support Test Directorate conducted extensive testing of a new high-tech diesel-powered portable generator.