Skip Vaughn, “New project manager directs ‘combat proven’ system,”

The Redstone Rocket , 16 January 91, p. 6.

The new project manager for TOW is confident the missile system will perform well if used in the Middle East.

“TOW is a combat proven missile system,” said Col. Jack Conway, who officially becomes project manager January. 22. “It was used to some extent in Vietnam. It was also used in the Israeli ’73 war with significant success. Today it’s a more modern system than it was then, more capable. I’ve got all confidence it’s going to prove to be an extremely capable and effective weapon system.”

January. 15 was Conway’s final day as director of command and staff department at the Ordnance Missile and Munitions Center and School. He succeeds Col. Tom Devanney at TOW. Devanney is now the deputy program executive officer for fire support.

Conway is no stranger to TOW, having served two earlier tours with the project office. He was deployments officer for TOW missile system from 1976-79, and served as assistant project manager for the Bradley application of TOW 1986-87.

“This’ll be my third time, my third tour, in the TOW project so it’s kind of like going home,” he said.

As director of command and staff department at the missile school, Conway was in charge of the officer professional development courses. About 60 staff and faculty members provide around 20 different courses with an average of 300 students. These include officer courses for the munitions materiel management and missile materiel management officer. Warrant officers receive training in both the missile maintenance and munitions management specialties. The department also does pre-command courses for lieutenant colonels and colonels who are going to take command of missile and munitions units. Captains and lieutenants can take an advanced course that prepares them to become company commanders or battalion staff officers. The department also has courses for newly commissioned second lieutenants to prepare them for an Army career and leadership positions. Warrant officer courses include both senior warrant officer courses and warrant officer candidate courses.

“It’s really been a great learning experience for me,” said Conway, who served as director of command and staff department since August 1989. “It’s a different experience. Most of my career has been devoted to field logistics and acquisition. This is the first time I’ve been involved in formal training, institutional training. It’s been a real eye-opener, a good experience for me, a rounding experience.”

Conway, 46, was born in Portland, Ore., and raised in Walla Walla, Wash. His father, Robert, was a civil engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers in Walla Walla; his mother, Frances, was a high school teacher there. …

He received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Washington State University in 1967 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in ordnance. In 1976 he received a master of science degree in logistics management from the Florida Institute of Technology.

Conway has served six years in overseas assignments, including time as commander of 71^st Ordnance Company in Vietnam and as officer in charge of ammunition supply points in Udorn and Korat, Thailand. He was in Vietnam from November 1969 through November 1970. In Germany, as a major, he was executive officer of 15^th Ordnance Battalion for two years and served as logistics staff officer at headquarters, U.S. Army Europe. Other assignments have included Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., as a research and development project officer, and the Ammunition Procurement and Supply Agency, Joliet, Ill. …

“Continue the tremendous success that the TOW system has enjoyed through improving and modernizing the system,” Conway said, referring to his goal as project manager. “There are two significant development programs going on—one to improve the sight, one to improve the missile—which are going to be our primary focus.”

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