National Guard Chief Information Officer Kenneth McNeill said this week that the long-tested “Bring Your Own Approved Device” initiative is closer to being a reality as a way to speed up Guard mobilizations and that it will be a “game changer.”

The initiative would let Guard troops use their own phones and tablets to perform field functions even if they don’t have government-issued devices.

“This is another tool in the toolkit that will give us an opportunity to allow our workforce, even after the pandemic, to continue to telework and remote work that is critical in the National Guard,” McNeill said at a C4ISRNET event, Defense News reported. “I don’t think we’re going back… everyone in the office. I think this is the future of how we’re going to operate here in the in the government and in the Department of Defense.”

The program, which was first initiative before the pandemic, is in phase three trials, McNeill said.

Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez