As a former Army officer deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, I learned firsthand that situational awareness—my understanding of surroundings—made the difference between a mission’s success or failure. Each day, I saw that our situational awareness gave us an edge on the battlefield.

Since I retired from the Army, new technology, including items made by Booz Allen, has helped warfighters and first responders better analyze and understand all the information they receive in a given day. The new tools provide data-backed insights, enabling better, faster decision-making.

At Booz Allen’s recent Tactical Assault Kit Pro-Am event, military members and first responders had the chance to use this tech in realistic scenarios. It provided the opportunity for the 126 participants to share and gain knowledge of these new, cutting-edge tools.

Held in early 2025 at Reveille Peak Ranch in Texas, the three-day Pro-Am empowered users to experiment with tools compatible with the TAK framework, such as the Booz Allen Sit(x)® and Gv™ utility and technology from vendors from across the TAK ecosystem. These systems bring together information data from multiple sources and compile it an easy-to-read format, making it possible to respond to threats and make decisions faster.

The event’s culmination was the Pro-Am competition, which focused on real-life situations for three simulated missions: reconnaissance, medical assistance (pilot recovery), and black box recovery.

For Pilot Recovery, contestants were asked to:

• Connect the TAK solutions to the field equipment
• Navigate to the hypothetical pilot’s position using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) connected to TAK
• Provide a digital situation report (sitrep)
• Access biometrics to assess the pilot’s condition
• Issue a medical evacuation (medevac) request in military-standard 9-line format