AFCEA's Terry Rogers and Ben Smith Receive Brevet Colonel Award

In recognition of their work supporting the U.S. Army through various events, AFCEA’s Terry Rogers and Ben Smith received the Signal Corps Regimental Association’s Brevet Colonel award at TechNet Augusta 2025.

The Brevet Colonel award honors individuals who make significant contributions to the regiment or the association over time. Both Rogers, director of national security and defense events, and Smith, manager of events, were honored with Brevet Colonel titles for the many years they have helped organize and run AFCEA’s events, especially TechNet Augusta, which is organized by AFCEA with assistance from the U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence.

“AFCEA and TechNet Augusta have made significant contributions to the growth of the Signal Corps Regimental Association,” said Ken DeMars, Signal Corps Regimental Association vice president of awards.

Rogers has worked for AFCEA since 2000 and has been the event lead for TechNet Augusta since its inception in 2013. Before then, he worked with the Army Signal Corps community while planning AFCEA’s former LandWarNet conference. He said he’s proud of how much TechNet Augusta has grown over the years, including the relationships between the Army, regional AFCEA chapters, Augusta University and the convention center staff.

“It’s an incredible honor. I’ve spent two decades of my AFCEA career working extensively with the Army on first LandWarNet and now TechNet Augusta. It’s been a very rewarding journey, personally and professionally,” Rogers said. “To be recognized as one of under 200 individuals who have received the Brevet Colonel award since its inception in 1985 makes me very proud of what we [AFCEA] have accomplished in support of the Signal Corps over those two decades.”

Smith has also supported AFCEA events for more than two decades, holding several different responsibilities over the years, from overseeing the main keynote space and its audio and visuals to serving as a Q&A facilitator for most plenary sessions. He said his favorite part of supporting TechNet Augusta has been curating the music program for sessions and working with every planning team.

“It is a huge and unexpected honor that I am truly humbled by, and it is definitely shared with the rest of our team,” Smith said.

Rogers and Smith have also both supported the Army through their involvement with AFCEA’s Continuing Education (CE) program, which offers cybersecurity professionals the opportunity to attend in-person and virtual sessions that will satisfy the certification requirements they must maintain to perform their jobs within the U.S. Department of Defense.

The program was launched in 2012 and supports the Department of Defense Cyberspace Workforce Qualification and Management Program through partnerships with CompTIA, GIAC and CertNexus.

Sheila McCoy, AFCEA’s director of Continuing Education until her retirement in December 2024, said Rogers and Smith were both instrumental in growing the program by getting the event sessions approved for CE credits. She said TechNet Augusta continuously brought in participants looking to fulfill their CE requirements.

McCoy said Smith had a knack for combining shorter event sessions to meet the usual 60-minute requirement for CE sessions, and Rogers helped improve attendance documentation and promotion of the program.

“They absolutely have made a difference for the Army,” McCoy said. “That award is so perfect for them because they have certainly professionally helped many, many Army people by building a strong TechNet Augusta that can support continuing education.”