{"id":50488,"date":"2023-06-05T14:15:58","date_gmt":"2023-06-05T14:15:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/06\/05\/the-armys-82nd-airborne-division-has-a-new-battlefield-tech-unit\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:22:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:22:42","slug":"the-armys-82nd-airborne-division-has-a-new-battlefield-tech-unit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2023\/06\/05\/the-armys-82nd-airborne-division-has-a-new-battlefield-tech-unit\/","title":{"rendered":"The Army\u2019s 82nd Airborne Division has a new battlefield tech unit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editor\u2019s Note: <\/i>This article<\/i><\/a> was published as part of a content-sharing agreement between Army Times and The Fayetteville Observer.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division are innovators, the command team of the division said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To capitalize on that innovation, the division created a new company that was formally activated at the end of March<\/a>, said Maj. Gen. Christopher LaNeve, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs we switch to large-scale combat operations, we\u2019re taking a look at what do we have to build to be able to harness the technology and the ideas, so we created the Gainey Company,\u201d LaNeve said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capt. Aaron Johnson, the commander of the company, said the company\u2019s namesake is William Joe Gainey, who served in the division and was the first senior enlisted advisor to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who is in Gainey Company<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The company currently has 28 soldiers, comprised of permanent soldiers and paratroopers who join the company on a rotational basis<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re continually bringing new blood into the Gainey Company, and we\u2019re pumping them out back into the brigades, the knowledge base of what they just did inside the Gainey Company,\u201d LaNeve said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Command Sgt. Maj. Randolph Delapena, the senior enlisted leader for the division, said a soldier\u2019s military occupational specialty \u201cdoesn\u2019t withhold them\u201d from joining the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSoldiers want to make something to help the formations, and all those little things that they kind of work through, what they talk about in a barracks and in their company, that\u2019s where you got to draw that energy from,\u201d Delapena said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rotational soldiers from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team were radio operators who were able to train fellow paratroopers on the newest technology before they return to their brigade at the end of June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The radio operators were able to breach information technology equipment that was previously difficult to use, said 1st Sgt. Allen Addison, the senior enlisted leader for the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\t