The cool rain was a welcome break from the Georgia heat as the final phase of pre-deployment training came to a close at Fort Benning, Ga., last month.

A team of 25 soldiers and civilians headed up by U.S. Army Operational Test Command (OTC) was among some 400 individuals there for medical screenings, briefings and weapons training before deploying to Kuwait, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

Better known as Forward Operational Assessment Team IX, this data collection group is the Army Test and Evaluation Command's current A-Team, made up of members from Army Evaluation Center, Developmental Test Command, and OTC.

The team assesses new systems used for the first time by units in theater.

The team's presence there facilitates a coming-together for the product user in theater and the decision maker back in the States, on many new systems.  It makes rapid fielding possible.

It's called "Harmony Church," the place where the final week of training was conducted — but unless folks stopped by the Religious Education Center for some worship tunes, about the only sounds of music were hundreds of weapons all clicking at the same time — if you call that music.

Soldiers and civilians familiarized themselves with weapons by taking them apart and putting them back together prior to qualifying.

At the ranges, the noise from the foxholes — a combination of blast and heartbeat — was a reminder of the reality of war.  During weapons qualification, one group of soldiers, crouched with ear plugs in and empty shells flying off to the sides of their M-16's, zeroed in on the target dead ahead.  Another group stood ready with 9 mm handguns as targets popped up from behind dirt mounds.

Soldiers in teams practiced handling grenades, maneuvers for securing territory, forging walls, and making their way under barbed wire fences.

With the hot Georgia sun beating down, keeping hydrated was the order of the day.

While waiting for baggage checks just prior to deploying, OTC's Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Domont voiced his appreciation for the reservists who conducted the training.

"They did an outstanding job equipping us with the skills we need," Domont said.

Domont would be one of the first arrivals in theater and provide logistics support to the mission.

Col. Mike Bowers, commander of OTC's Fort Sill, Okla.-based Fire Support Test Directorate, said the Army tester agenda has changed in recent years.

"We're at war, so we're using an accelerated testing and fielding time line," Bowers said.  "You get the best solution you can in soldiers' hands.  In cold war days you might have five or six years to get that 100 percent solution.  We don't have that."

The team will deploy for six months and overlap with the team they will replace.

Some members of the current team served on previous teams, including information tech Brian Trahan; the current team's leading noncommissioned officer, Sgt. Maj. Scott Koroll; and data collector Sgt. 1st Class Robert Wolf.

"This is a needed job," Wolf said.  "You have to interact with many, many groups, and everybody here—their personalities are perfect for the job."

At least one member of FOA Team VIII, Lt. Col. Charles Wittges, is extending his time in theater because he has relevant aviation training.

The team's leadership said harmony was certainly one of the themes throughout more than a month of training that led up to deployment.

Those weeks helped the team see the "big picture" of ATEC's mission, an experience Koroll said he wished everyone coming into the command, not just his team members, could have.

The weeks of training took the team to ATEC test facilities, starting with database training and theater-specific deployment training at Fort Hood.

Training topics they covered included finance, sexual harassment, survival evasion resistance and escape, land warfare, and antiterrorism.  They also used a skills trainer simulator to practice weapons qualification.

They visited Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., where they drove Mine Resistant Ambush Protection (MRAP) vehicles and saw a live IED demolition.

The team also visited Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., for hands-on training in electronic warfare testing by Developmental Test Command.

"It demonstrates the flexibility of ATEC and the Army," Bowers said, "when we can take 25 people from three of the major subordinate commands, 12 different installations in the United States, bring them together in about five weeks, go through all the stages of team building, and turn into a performing team at the end of that, and go get the job done."

Maj. Steven Braddom, a test pilot from Developmental Test Command's Aviation Technical Test Center at Fort Rucker, Ala., is one of two test pilots assigned to the mission.  Braddom explained the value of having someone who has experience with a system to answer questions as new equipment is used by units operating in theater.

"There will be all kinds of questions," Braddom said. "Why is it this way and not that way, is it safe to do this.  It's nice to have (someone) who is familiar with all the gyrations that went around on the system and tested it."

According to Braddom, who said he is "eager to help," that's where the team's mission comes in.

"You can't just send a paper survey over there," Braddom said.  "You've really got to have a guy sit down with the soldier and talk to him."