By Debbie Gregory.

The 2018 Military Influencer Conference hosted in Orlando was the setting for the announcement of the three finalists of the StreetShares Foundation Veteran Small Business Award – Food & Beverage Edition.

More than 100 veterans and military spouses applied for the award before the field was wittled down to 14 finalists. Then the power shifted from the StreetShares team to the public, with over 11,000 online voters choosing the final top three contestants.

The audience at the Military Influencer Conference, comprised of veterans, current service members, military spouses, and their supporters heard the four-minute pitches of the top three finalists and then cast their votes via text messages for the product or service they believed had the greatest chance of success in the market.

Tasty sweets are the order of the day from military spouse Olandria Hudson’s Henny Penny’s Patisserie. The company is focused on providing high-quality baked goods, catering services and classes to everyone from busy parents, senior citizens, and luxury vacation rentals to the new military service members in the area.

Former U.S. Army helicopter pilot Keith Sherrill of Haint Blue Brewing Company introduced his company as the “Front Porch Beer of Choice.” In addition to his company’s 69 craft beers, Sherrill is proud his company has had the opportunity to collaborate with other veteran-owned businesses. Sherrill stated, “At the end of the day, we’re not building a brewery and making a great product, we’re building a platform and making a difference.”

And the Winner is…

Mark Mhley’s Re4ormed Organics, born from the Marine Corps’ search for a deployable, renewable energy system to recycle food waste. Re4ormed Organics’ anaerobic digester technology addresses the urgent and complex challenges of food and farm waste management. As the winner, Mhley took home the grand prize of $15,000.

StreetShares CEO Mark Rockefeller joked that this might be the first time in history that a garbage product has beaten out beer or cake in a popularity contest!

All three of the entrepreneur finalists took home a cash prize and a year of mentorship from the Boston Beer Team.

By Debbie Gregory.

As the power of artificial intelligence grows, Army officials are hoping that a consortium of experts in non-military robotics can assist combat units in defeating the enemy.

The Army’s Capabilities Development and Integration Directorate (CDID) at Fort Benning has partnered with the National Advanced Mobility Consortium to address some of the military’s problems.

Army officials are hoping the collaboration will result in a solution that can be used for precision engagement in close urban terrain, for dealing with enemy forces that hide among the population in large cities.

The Army thinks robotics can help soldiers do just that, according to Don Sando, director of CDID.

Current artificial intelligence cannot make better battlefield judgements better than humans, but AI is getting smarter, and one day they could theoretically help limit the loss of innocent lives caught in the crossfire.

The CDID-consortium partnership aims to equip military servicemen with tools that will work to conduct precision engagement in close urban terrain, said Col. Tom Nelson, chief of CDID’s robotics requirement division.

“Within five years, I have no doubt there will be robots in every Army formation,” said Bryan McVeigh, the Army’s project manager for force protection. He touted a record 800 robots fielded over the past 18 months. “We’re going from talking about robots to actually building and fielding programs,” he said. “This is an exciting time to be working on robots with the Army.”

But “killer robots” have sparked a moral and ethical discussion.

“It seems inevitable that technology is taking us to a point where countries will face the question of whether to delegate lethal decision-making to machines,” said Paul Scharre, a senior fellow and director of the technology and national security program at the Center for a New American Security.

The partnership will have between now and April to conceptualize precision strike platforms, with the goal of presenting either prototypes or proposals at the National Defense Industry Association’s National Robotic Conference.

By Debbie Gregory.

In addition to your website, a robust social media presence has become a necessity for most businesses. The more active or engaged your business is on social media (posting, sharing, etc.), the better your results will be.

Social media sites are some of the best places for you to communicate with your target audience or customer base, and vice-versa. Develop your reputation as a responsive, caring brand by offering support through social channels.

Social media boosts your visibility among potential customers, letting you reach a wide audience by using a small amount of time and effort. And it’s free to create a business profile on all the major social networks, so you have nothing to lose.

It’s important to remember that your social media pages are a reflection of your business, so make sure you let your brand’s personality shine through in everything you share on social media. What does your brand voice sound like? How does it represent who you are? Play with new ways to connect with your audience.

Make sure you have a system in place for tracking customer comments, questions, and complaints on social media. You also want to make sure that you respond as quickly as possible to any questions or concerns.

Provide the most excellent customer service you can, and go out of your way to be positive and helpful.

Psychology 101, listen to criticism and ensure that your customers feel heard. And last, but not least, know when to move the conversation off the public forum and resolve any issue via private message, email, or by phone.

By having robust social media, you are making sure that you’re not missing out on an incredible marketing opportunity, as social media sites make it easy to spread the word about your product and mission.

The Pentagon said new equipment is needed to protect Air Force crews from “emerging laser threats” in a contract announcement late last month. A laser shined into a cockpit can distract and potentially blind a pilot.

The new devices “shall provide protection sufficient to prevent permanent eye damage and protection against the temporary effects of laser weapons/devices,” a May contracting document states.

Gentex and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging received $98.3 million deals to deliver the new eye protection through 2024. The new glasses and visors must work with pilots’ current helmets.

The contracts came less than five months after U.S. officials accused China of firing military-grade lasers into cockpits of American aircraft. Two American C-130 pilots reportedly suffered minor eye injuries during one incident. Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said in May that the United States. filed a complaint with China, which denies it was behind the incident over Djibouti. The U.S. and China have separate bases in the African nation. The American base, Camp Lemonnier, is a hub for special operations forces, counter-terrorism, and intelligence-gathering missions in the Horn of Africa and the Middle East.

In June, the Pentagon said its pilots were being targeted repeatedly by Chinese lasers as planes flew over disputed islands in the Pacific.

Shining a laser at an aircraft is a federal crime.  In spite of this, each year commercial pilots report thousands of incidents involving available laser pointed shined into their cockpits.  These devices can also have commercial applications and protect many.

By Debbie Gregory.

As soon as next summer, the U.S. Marines will start receiving next-generation plate carriers that will be less bulky and lighter in weight, providing a smaller overall footprint than the current plate carrier, all the while maintaining the same soft armor coverage and protection level.

Vertical Protective Apparel LLC was awarded a $62,612,464 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to produce and deliver the Plate Carrier Generation III (PC Gen III). A maximum quantity of 225,886 will be delivered, and the work will be completed by September 2023. The New Jersey-based company will manufacture the new carriers in eight sizes.

Infantry, schoolhouse and reconnaissance Marines, along with vehicle crewmen and combat engineers, will be the first to get the vests when fielding begins around June 2019. All of the plate carriers are expected to be delivered by September 2023.

The PC Gen III comes in three new sizes for Marines of smaller stature. And compared to the current legacy system, the PC Gen III offers increased ballistic protection. Additionally, since it’s lighter than the legacy system, it helps cut down on the fatigue Marines face in the field.

“This new system is more tailorable to fit Marines of various sizes with three new smaller-stature options,” said Flora ‘Mackie’ Jordan, body armor engineer for the Infantry Combat Equipment Team at the Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC). “We wanted to give as much mobility back to Marines as possible by reducing the weight and bulk of the vest without decreasing ballistic protection. We were able to reduce the weight of the vest by 25 percent.”

To achieve that result, excess material was removed from the shoulders and bottom of the plate.

The Plate Carrier Generation III is also made from a laminated laser-cut material, which cuts down on water absorption. The new system takes on about 7 percent of water, compared to the 70 percent absorbed by the current system.

Infantry, school house, and Reconnaissance Marines, along with vehicle crewmen and combat engineers will receive the vests when fielding begins in the third quarter of fiscal year 2019, according to MCSC.