U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Alpi ReyesCruz, a native of the Dominican Republic, reflects during a helicopter flight from Combat Outpost Herrera to Forward Operating Base Salerno Dec. 3. ReyesCruz, an infantry soldier by trade, was finishing up a seven-month deployment as the Army Research, Development and Engineering Command's science and technology advisor for Regional Command East. The assignment took him all over the region, usually by himself, to document improvements soldiers wanted in their equipment. "I fill the gap between the civilian developers of these products and the soldiers who actually use the stuff," he said. Once documented, he would relay the soldier's suggestions back to the United States where prototypes would be made and sent into theater for real-world trials before being mass produced and officially issued.