A Fort Bliss organization that plays an important role in testing new equipment and in the Army's modernization has a new commander.

Col. Daniel R. Hirsch took over as the commander-director of the Integrated Test and Evaluation Directorate on May 30. He has been at Fort Bliss since 2006 in various roles.

Keeping up with technology is crucial for the Army, Hirsch said.

"As the Army has changed and evolved, we have to remember that our threats and adversaries change and evolve," he said. "It's a constant improvement."

Hirsch's role is to work closely with the Brigade Modernization Command, or BMC, which is also headquartered at Fort Bliss, and help plan the semiannual Network Integration Evaluations.

During the evaluations, numerous pieces of equipment -- mostly for communication -- are tested at the same time to see whether they operate properly and work well together, Hirsch said.

"The end state is to answer the question: Can this be deployed with our soldiers?" Hirsch said.

On a day-to-day basis, Hirsch serves as the "conduit" between the BMC and the Army Test and Evaluation Command -- which Hirsch describes as his boss's boss.

The test command is one of three partners -- called the Triad -- that put on the Network Integration Evaluation. The others are the BMC and the System of Systems Engineering & Integration Directorate.

Hirsch said that extensive planning goes into the twice-a-year exercise.

"When you actually go out to the field and do the exercise, that's the easy part," he said. "All the hard work is already done. The harder you plan, the easier the event is to execute."

Hirsch's new command reports to the U.S. Army Operational Test Command at Fort Hood. That, in turn, reports to Army Test and Evaluation Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.

Hirsch oversees a staff of 50 soldiers, civilians and contractors at Fort Bliss.

During the network evaluations, Hirsch and his staff help to serve as the exercise's "objective eyes and ears" along with other agencies under Army Test and Evaluation Command.

"We go in with the idea of being objective," Hirsch said. "We go with the facts and gather our information as necessary."

That information is then passed on to the Army's senior leaders so they can decide to purchase the equipment or pursue other options, Hirsch said.

He replaced Col. Dave Wellons, who started the organization in the spring of 2011 and was its first commander-director. Wellons is planning to retire.

Hirsch's goal is to make his new command "a little bit better," he said.

"My goal is to continue the hard work that (Wellons) laid down," he said. "Every commander who takes over an organization wants to make it a little better for the next guy or gal."

He also wants to make sure that members of his organization and their families are properly cared for, he said.