Director of Army Staff Lt. Gen. William J. Troy told U.S. Army Operational Test Command leaders that he learned a lot from them during his visit to the West Fort Hood command Thursday.

"This may be just another day for you," he said, "but it's a great day for me. You face a huge challenge every day because it is obvious that operational testing is so much more complex than most of us realize."

Starting off with a command briefing by acting human resources chief, Dr. Peter Laky, Troy met with the command's test and staff directors before heading over to the Test Technology Execution Complex Integration Facility on main post for a briefing on how technology is used in operational testing.

"OTC has always been an expeditionary, deployable force," Laky said. "We test where the soldiers are; they are our real customers."

Some of that testing is conducted in Iraq and Afghanistan by the command's Forward Operational Assessment teams, Brig. Gen. Don MacWillie told Troy. "These teams are the tip of the (command) spear," he said. "Our (Forward Operational Assessment) teams do some of our most vitally important work."

Another key project for the command is standing up a new test directorate at Fort Bliss, MacWillie said. "We're in the process of forming our Network Test Directorate in support of the Army's focus on network integration. We're building it from inside (the command) without any new allocations."

Lt. Col. Jeffrey Erickson, chief, operations branch, Test Technology Directorate, showed off the command's instrumentation, modeling and simulation capabilities at the Test Technology Execution Complex that enable both live and virtual support to operational tests.

"We take pride that we're exportable," Erickson said, pointing out fuel cells developed by the command with private industry that provide a "green" power source for instrumentation.

"We're also very fortunate to be located near the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University with whom we've partnered to find more affordable and efficient technology," Erickson said.

"I've found that when your resources are tight," Troy said, "you become more innovative."

Troy ended the visit with a question-and-answer lunch with the command's senior leaders.

"Part of the reason today's discussion with you has been so interesting to me," he said, "is because of your focus on the network.

"The network is very high on both the chief of staff and the vice chief of staff's list of priorities," Troy said. "All the hard work you're doing on the network is not going unnoticed."

Troy served at Fort Hood as a battalion commander, 2nd Armored Division; chief of staff, III Corps and Multinational Corps; and deputy commander general for support, 1st Cavalry Division. He was appointed director of Army staff in August.