A Forward Operational Assessment Team was welcomed back to West Fort Hood less than six months after another was honored.

Team VIII, lead by Col. Vernon L. Lister, had soldiers embedded in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait, field testing equipment from April 14 to Oct. 7. Their work included testing Stryker armored vehicles and a new piece of equipment for the Army’s transforming brigade combat teams, according to www.globalsecurity.org.

The 15 soldiers and six civilians were greeted by Maj. Gen. Roger A. Nadeau, commander of the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command. Nadeau joked that the team members, who he has previously only seen on videoteleconference screens, looked a lot better in person.

Members of were from Fort Hood’s Operational Test Command; Developmental Test Command, Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md.; and U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command, Alexandria, Va.

The mission of test commands is traditionally thought of as a stateside one, Nadeau said, but since November 2003, similar teams have deployed to test systems in the environment they’ll be used. Testing them in combat zones helps the teams more accurately gauge how they will perform. Those are the places those systems will operate and results can be different if they were testing in a location like Central Texas rather than Iraq.

“We would not send teams into the combat zone if we did not have to,” Nadeau said.

This testing ensures that the equipment in the soldiers’ hands is the safest and best possible so they can do their jobs, the two-star general said. He called it a new and impressive way of getting information.

Not only is it the best way to get equipment to the troops, it’s also the fastest, Lister said. Lister serves as the director of the Command and Control Communication and Computer Test Division at Operational Test Command.

The tests the team’s soldiers conduct help officials decide whether they want to purchase or purchase more of the equipment being tested, the colonel said. Lister arrived at Operational Test Command in June 2006.

The following team members were honored with Bronze Star medals: Col. Vernon L. Lister, Sgt. Maj. Edwin V. Blount, Maj. Darcy R. Saint-Amant, Chief Warrant Officer-4 Clinton G. Logwood II, Sgt. 1st Class Paul F. Vasquez.

Meritorious Service Medals were awarded to Lt. Col. Kevin J. Mulvihill, Maj. Curtis R. Burns, Maj. Terry L. Butler, Maj. Kevin E. Finch, Maj. Jon Hawkins, Maj. Rodney S. McWhorter, Sgt. 1st Class Stephen J. Bal, Sgt. 1st Class Michael Morris and Staff Sgt. Harold B. Turner.

Maj. David K. Anderson, Maj. Rodney A. Turner, Chief Warrant Officer-4 Robert Jr. Brown, Sgt. 1st Class John D. Hudson III, Sgt. 1st Class James F. Shelby and Sgt. 1st Class Maurice L. Strawder were awarded Army Commendation Medals.

Those to receive Superior Civilian Service Awards were Ramona J. Miller, Cynthia D. Dunn, Felix Velazquez, Thomas R. Masino, Steve D. Weuve, Douglas Blankenbiller and Ron Nugen.

Raymond G. Fontaine, Harold R. Jellison and Joon N. Lee received Achievement Medals for Civilian Service and Hogan Roberts and Hugo Rangel received Commander’s Awards for Public Service.

Maj. Dave Blackburn, Staff Sgt. Gerrine Lizama, Skip Ansel, John Butler, Shawn Contino, Susan James, Johnny Lindsey, Patricia Silvia, Beverly Thompson and Richard Whitten received Certificates of Appreciation.