Bruce D. Jette

Jette was commissioned a second lieutenant (2LT) of Armor and, subsequent to graduation, attended Armor Basic Course and Motor Officer Course at Fort Knox, Kentucky, before departing for his first assignment as platoon leader, 3rd platoon, Charlie Troop, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR) patrolling the East German border. In addition to staff position, Jette commanded Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 1/11 ACR, B company 6-32 Armor, B company 3-68 Armor, and B company 2-68 Armor. Jette was an operations officer in his staff positions as assistant S-3 and S-3 Air in 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, and assistant S-3 and acting S-3, 3rd Brigade, 8th Infantry Division. Captain Jette was then selected as S-3, 2-68 Armor Battalion, 8th Infantry Division, Baumholder Germany.

The Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, General Maxwell R. Thurman, recognized the need for a highly technical future Army by establishing a program in which he selected 12 officers who had demonstrated technical competence through their education and a high degree of tactical and operational competence, Capt. Jette being one of the twelve. Jette was accepted to MIT, where he earned a Master of Science in Materials Science. His master's thesis was titled "Feasibility of electrodeposition of yttrium and barium" and was published in 1991.[3] He also earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Solid-state physics[4] from the MIT.[5] His doctoral thesis was titled "Critical mechanisms of nanoscopic electrochemical deposition induced by the scanning tunneling microscope" and was published in 1993.[6]

Upon graduation, Maj. Jette assumed duties as science advisor to the Chief of Staff of the Army, General Gordon R. Sullivan, authoring some of the concept papers which initiated the digital battlefield. Assessed into the U.S. Army Acquisition Corps, Maj. Jette was centrally selected as Product Manager, Aerial Common Sensor, in which he fielded Guardrail Common Sensor – System II and Airborne Reconnaissance Low – Multifunction, for which he was selected as Product Manager of the Year. He also participated in meetings of the Army Science Board. Lieutenant Colonel Jette was centrally selected, again, and deferred from the War College to take on the position of Program Manager, Soldier Systems, in which he took the Land Warrior program to production through innovative application of commercial technologies by leveraging Silicon Valley expertise. He then recommended the formation of Program Executive Office – Soldier, which was authorized and he established. Between 1998 and 2001, he was assigned to the Land Warrior program. As program manager, the then-Colonel Jette, phased out the running contract which was over budget and not working and hired new contractors,[7] turning the project around.[8] Colonel Jette was credited with Military Education Level I (War College Completion), in part, due to his visiting fellow status at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Then, General Eric Shinseki assigned Colonel Jette as deputy for acquisition – Objective Force Task Force, responsible for designing the future force architecture. While in that position, 9/11 occurred and Col. Jette was provided the additional duty of supporting the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, General John (Jack) Keane, as he addressed emerging challenges in Afghanistan. Colonel Jette recommended the use of small robots to clear caves rather than sending soldiers in and was given the task of doing so. Removing his rank and personally putting the first robots in the caves, Col. Jette initiated the first use of robots in combat and established the U.S. Army Rapid Equipping Force. During the next 2 ½ years, Jette served in both Afghanistan and Iraq,[2] bringing technological innovation to soldiers on patrols or in convoys. His actions earned him a Bronze Star. He also served in Kuwait.[1]

He reported that the Army had accomplished significant improvements and costs reductions by using off-the-shelf-technology.[9][10]

Jette served as founding director of the U.S. Army Rapid Equipping Force (REF) between 2001 and 2005.[8] In May 2002, he formed a small team to deploy "packbots"[11] in only 28 days as a solution for finding enemy caves and tunnels in Afghanistan.[2] Half of the REF's 40 members were forward deployed in both Afghanistan and Iraq. The unit was tasked with finding answers to threats such as IED's, snipers or mortars.[12] REF developed and fielded the first IED jammers,[4] and satisfied more than 50 requirements from various Army units in 2004.[8] In addition to their defense capabilities, packbots were used to map enemy areas.[13] REF's budget grew to $220 million in the first two years of its existence.[14]

Retiring from the military after 28 years of service in 2005,[15][16] Jette founded Synovision Solutions LLC, a technology development and engineering consulting firm serving both commercial industry and government.[17] Energy projects were a major focus area of the company. Jette received patents for neutrally buoyant proppant and robotic drilling systems, the latter of which can be used for improving well recovery or more practical application of geothermal energy. After conducting a study on convoys in Iraq, Jette wrote a paper proposing that reducing energy consumption in the war zone would reduce casualties, subsequently developing a method of insulation structures to reduce overall fuel consumption, which was cited by an Army Material Studies Analysis Agency (AMSAA) study for saving lives and fuel costs. This effort lead to development of a blast and fire-resistant modular structures with integrated renewable smart energy management deployed to a number of military sites worldwide. The company advised military systems managers and worked with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the U.S. Army, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense.[13] He remained a member of the Board on Army Science and Technology.[18] Jette was an adjunct professor at Georgetown University's Center for Security Studies.[5]