Accountability software tracks troops in combat zone.

The new Deployed Theater Accountability Software (DTAS) System, developed by the Army Human Resources Command (HRC), provides U.S. commanders with up-to-the-minute headcount information on the 170,000 Soldiers, Marines, Government civilians, and contractors serving in Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Iraq. DTAS allows users to retrieve information generated days, hours, or minutes earlier by tactical units on the battlefield. Fielding of the system began in October 2004. Partnering with the Army, the Marine Corps' 2d Expeditionary Force in Iraq is also using DTAS; Navy and Air Force units in the area of operations may follow suit soon.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Terri Campbell, head of the Design and Development Branch of the Adjutant General Directorate's Field Services Division of HRC, DTAS was designed with "the absolute bottom line that accountability is the foundation for any support or service that the deployed commander needs to succeed operationally. If you don't know who you've got, where they are, and what skills they have, then you're on shifting sand."

DTAS interacts with other data systems so that information used for pay, personnel, and other command activities is kept current. Accountability data are entered into the system daily at the battalion S-1 level and synchronized with the theater personnel database in Kuwait as well as with the Enterprise Datastore at the Pentagon. Information is passed through the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNET), which is used by the military to communicate classified data. When a tracked service member returns from a deployment, the Enterprise Datastore has a complete record of every place he has been and every duty position he has held. The system has also proven invaluable in tracking personnel requiring Red Cross message notifications.