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Historically, Army acquisition has had difficulty conducting an adequate early assessment of the human dimension in system performance. Proactive research on human performance, however, is vital to achieving the unprecedented alliance of humans and machines anticipated with Future Combat Systems (FCS). This paper summarizes research methods and findings across four exploratory experiments focused on the command group of a small combined arms unit composed primarily of unmanned air and ground vehicles. Results are based on highly detailed objective measures of verbal and human-computer interaction and an array of subjective measures from expert and novice participants. Findings underscore potential problems in training and workload with FCS, and potential solutions through user-based involvement and proactive research to ensure technology complements human performance.