You're not "sparky", are you?
The author is confusing the Rapid Fielding Initiative (RFI) with the Rapid Equipping Force (REF). RFI provided updated personal clothing and equipment to deploying units. This included improved helmets, body armor, and some electronic kit, but did not include the much broader range of equipment sponsored by the REF. RFI was an accelerated fielding program for equipment that had been through the complete cycle of materiel development.
The REF, on the other hand, introduced new technologies to the theater before it had undergone any extensive development. The result was that some of the kit was a great success, some a great failure, and some were good ideas, but not quite ready for prime time. Both programs demonstrated that if you were willing to take some risk, and were determined to overcome the bureaucrats, you could get things done quickly.
Both efforts are having a harder time repeating earlier successes. The easy stuff has already been done, and the tough problems take more time. The bureaucracy has also played a role, adding weight to the saddlebags whenever they can to slow these racehorses down.
War is like chess, in that if you don’t bring out your pieces fast enough, or if you bring them out too fast, in either case you lose.