Treadhead ping
I was the Ft Knox project officer for the M1 Tank Driver Trainer (TDT) in Pool Hall. I was the one who walked out into the middle of a vacant lot with the architect, the project engineer from PM TRADE (Program Manager, Training Devices) the Project Director from PM TRADE and a handful of others and decided there was sufficient room there to build a 43,000 sq ft building for the M1 TDT.
I walked the M1TDT program through the entire acquisition process from design to prototype to testing to fielding. In addition I helped to “find” funding for the building in a congressional insert.
I don’t remember the exact cost savings data, but the initial cost of the M1TDT and the building was somewhere in the neighborhood of $35,000,000.00. The savings in OPTEMPO costs allowed the M1 TDT to run in the black after about 6 years. This program was one of the largest cost savings/avoidance programs the Army has had.
When it was time to name the building a coworker who had heard of SSG Lafayette Pool mentioned his name and the fact that nothing was named after this great American hero. That ended up being another part of the job as we had to go through the Army Heraldry Office to research the name and then contact the family for permission. As a final salute to this hero the building name was approved. SSG Pool's family attended the ribbon cutting ceremony.