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America's Longest Established Simulation & Training Magazine

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FIRE TRAINING

Training Coordinator Maj. Gen. Thomas M. Murray Commanding General Training and Education Command U.S. Marine Corps

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October 2013

Volume 18, Issue 7

Command Profile: U.S. Army Medical Department

Convoy Training O Training with Industry Virtual Marksmanship

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military Training technology Features

October 2013 Volume 18, Issue 7

Cover / Q&A Special Section: FIRE TRAINING

Virtual Marksmanship Update

The Army’s training requirements for unstabilized gunnery and mixed reality systems are gaining momentum despite budgetary restraints. In addition, Program Manager for Training Systems is on a quest to find the most flexible marksmanship trainer contracts that offer the best value to the government at the lowest cost.

By Erin Flynn Jay

6

Preparing DoD Responders to be Mission Ready

Considered to be one of the best fire training academies in the world, the Louis F. Garland Fire Training Academy at Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, Texas, has trained thousands of firefighters.

By Master Sergeant T.C. Sirmans (Ret.)

24

16 Major General Thomas M. Murray

Commanding General Training and Education Command U.S. Marine Corps

10

12

21

The U.S. Army Medical Department (MEDCOM) controls all Army fixed hospitals (in and outside of the United States). Medical simulation plays a big role in in its successful operation.

By Phil Reidinger

Cultivating higher-level management techniques and developing a better understanding of the relationship between industry and specific functions of the Army.

By sgt. first class Austin Satterla

Convoy operations proved to be essential during the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and will likely assume important roles in future conflicts. The experiences of U.S. forces in those conflicts have proven that the missions of convoys are not as easy to fulfill as they may appear to the outsider.

By Peter Buxbaum

Command profile: medcom

Departments 2 Editor’s Perspective 4 Program Highlights 5 PEOPLE 14 data packets 26 Team orlando 27 Resource Center

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Industry Interview Ron Vadas

President Meggitt Training Systems

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“TECOM touches on all levels of training from entry level and continuous training throughout a Marine’s career, but we need to get back to the basic ethics and values of what it means to be a Marine.”

- Maj. Gen. Thomas M. Murray

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MT2 18.7 | 1

EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE

Military Training Technology Volume 18, Issue 7 • October 2013

Recognized Leader Covering All Aspects of Military Training Readiness Editorial Editor Brian O’Shea briano@kmimediagroup.com Managing Editor Harrison Donnelly harrisond@kmimediagroup.com Online Editorial Manager Laura Davis laurad@kmimediagroup.com Copy Editor Sean Carmichael seanc@kmimediagroup.com Correspondents J.B. Bissell • Christian Bourge • Peter Buxbaum Henry Canaday • Danielle Cralle • Hank Hogan Erin Flynn Jay • Karen Kroll • Cynthia Webb

Art & Design Art Director Jennifer Owers jennifero@kmimediagroup.com Senior Graphic Designer Jittima Saiwongnuan jittimas@kmimediagroup.com Graphic Designers Scott Morris scottm@kmimediagroup.com Eden Papineau edenp@kmimediagroup.com Amanda Paquette amandak@kmimediagroup.com Kailey Waring kaileyw@kmimediagroup.com

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KMI Media Group Chief Executive Officer Jack Kerrigan jack@kmimediagroup.com Publisher and Chief Financial Officer Constance Kerrigan connik@kmimediagroup.com Executive Vice President David Leaf davidl@kmimediagroup.com Editor-In-Chief Jeff McKaughan jeffm@kmimediagroup.com Controller Gigi Castro gcastro@kmimediagroup.com Trade Show Coordinator Holly Foster hollyf@kmimediagroup.com

Operations, Circulation & Production Operations Administrator Bob Lesser bobl@kmimediagroup.com Circulation & Marketing Administrator Duane Ebanks duanee@kmimediagroup.com Circulation Barbara Gill barbg@kmimediagroup.com Data Specialists Raymer Villanueva raymerv@kmimediagroup.com Summer Walker summerw@kmimediagroup.com

All branches of the military have been forced to make drastic cuts due to sequestration, and more cuts are likely to be coming. Training in all areas is taking a hit from these cuts, but military leaders know the importance of training the warfighter and are doing what they can to prevent deploying servicemembers into harm’s way without being properly prepared. Training the warfighter is not something that can be done overnight. It takes time and money to produce the best military possible; military leaders recognize this and have kept training as a high priority when deciding where to make cuts.

“We are working through a deficit right now because of 12 years of war,” said General Robert Cone, commander, Army Training and Doctrine Command. “We’ve Brian O’Shea Editor got 35,000 [non-commissioned officers] that haven’t been to the school that is commensurate with their grade. So the worst thing we could do at this point would be to slow down what we have going in the school house.”

Major General Thomas Murray, commanding general, Training and Education Command, recently told Military Training Technology that training survived this year’s budget process for 2014 not unscathed, but it remained one of the Marine Corps’ top priorities.

“Training and education are something we have to continue to fund, maybe at a higher level than other things, because it’s so important,” said Murray to MT2. “We have to continue to train and educate our Marines even if we don’t have as much funding as we like. When the next war comes, we have to be prepared, and that’s one of the things that takes longer to do and has to be done continuously to keep us ready to go.”

Admiral Bill Gortney, commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command, said reductions will force him to curtail training for sailors and added that while training time will be reduced for many, it will ramp up for those sailors who are closer to being deployed. No one will be sent out until they’re ready, he added.

The same goes for the Air Force when they had to ground aircraft due to budget cuts earlier this year. Funds were moved around and they were allowed to fly again, but as of October 1, more cuts may prevent pilots from being airborne. Yes, they can still practice in simulators, but after being grounded for a certain time period, they need to re-qualify to get back in the aircraft to resume combat training.

Lawmakers need to understand the repercussions of their decisions and spend less time assigning political blame for things that are hurting our nation’s military. If you have any questions about Military Training Technology feel free to contact me at any time.

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PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS Predator and Reaper Aircrew Trainer Contract Awarded CAE recently announced that CAE USA has been awarded a United States Air Force contract to provide comprehensive Predator and Reaper remotely piloted aircraft aircrew training services. Under terms of the contract, which was awarded as a one-year base contract for approximately $20 million with four one-year options, CAE USA will provide classroom, simulator and live flying instruction as well as courseware development in support of the MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper training programs. Training will be delivered at four USAF bases where approximately 1,500 MQ-1/MQ-9 pilots and sensor operators train annually. The contract was awarded in CAE’s second quarter of fiscal 2014.

CAE USA will provide fully qualified instructional staff to conduct academic as well as live flying instruction at Holloman Air Force Base (AFB), N.M; Creech AFB, Nev.; March Air Reserve Base, Calif.; and Hancock Field Air National Guard Base, N.Y. MQ-1/MQ-9 Predator/Reaper aircrews will receive training for initial qualification, refresher/recurrent training, and instructor qualification. In addition, CAE USA will provide courseware development services, primarily at the formal training schoolhouse located at Holloman AFB, as well as implement a new learning content management system.

Ray Duquette; ray.duquette@caemilusa.com

Training Center Graduates Australian Air Warfare Destroyer Students Center for Surface Combat Systems (CSCS) graduated the first group of Australian students from its International Programs’ Australian Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD) Industrial Test Team Overview course during a ceremony at Combat System Engineering Development Site (CSEDS) September 6.

The 12 graduates have the mission of testing and certifying the Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN) new Hobart class of AWDs. The Australian Navy’s AWDs are equipped with the Aegis combat system, and the course was created to provide an introduction and system overview.

The class included Captain Shane Casboult, director, Program Management Office for Test and Evaluation Air Warfare Destroyer, engineers, and engineering and test and activation managers.

“This course covered overviews of ship, combat system, Aegis Weapon System, equipment location, console operations, equipment interfaces, Aegis local area network testing and operation, and equipment installation and testing plans,” Casboult said. “Aegis training for Australian dockyard personnel and ship crew will become much more frequent in coming years with training split between CSEDS in Morristown, N.J., and the Aegis Training and Readiness Center (ATRC) in Dahlgren, Va.” 4 | MT2 18.7

The graduating class will form the nucleus of the AWD’s Shipyard Test Team. In January 2014, the first course for RAN students will convene at ATRC. Sea trials for the first AWD, eventually to be commissioned as HMAS Hobart, will commence in the second half of 2015.

Commander Tony Miskelly, Prospective Weapon Engineering officer aboard HMAS Hobart (DDG 39), also attended the course.

“The Aegis weapon system is on a scale never seen before in RAN warships,” Miskelly said. “This generation of the Aegis weapon system will require our very best operator/maintainers to take on the challenge of introducing the Hobart Class DDG into service, and this course provided them with the tools they need to succeed.

With the ship’s keel section not far from being fully consolidated and training systems now being commissioned, the

rebirth of a guided missile destroyer capability within the RAN is becoming very real in Adelaide, Australia.”

Lead ship Hobart will enter into the RAN’s service March 2016, Brisbane is due to commission in September 2017, and Sydney is expected to be operational by June 2019.

“We share a special partnership with the RAN and CSCS International Programs is focused on facilitating an exchange of ideas, information and training material as we progress with the AWD program,” said Darrell Tatro, director, CSCS International Programs. “While the USN has more than 30 years of Aegis experience to share with the RAN, we are gaining much through lessons learned from this global partner.”

The mission of CSCS International Programs is to provide allied forces quality training to enable them to develop ready teams capable of operations that maintain and expertly employ surface combatants. The directorate partners with U.S. training, readiness and policy organizations, as well as other government agencies and industry to support international missions.

One of the key goals of the Maritime Strategy is fostering and sustaining cooperative relationships with international partners.

Expanded cooperative relationships with other nations contribute to the security and stability of the maritime domain for all. www.MT2-kmi.com

Compiled by KMI Media Group staff

Providing NATO with Ground Reconnaissance War gaming experts at the NSC are set to provide highlevel support to NATO Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) training serials through the provision of synthetic eyes in the sky.

Arming exercising headquarters staff with the ability to conduct detailed ground reconnaissance and track timesensitive targets, the simulation specialists will use the latest in game-based technology to replicate the vital intelligence feeds provided by air and remotely piloted air system platforms on military operations.

The real-time full-motion video produced by NSC’s virtual manned and unmanned aircraft will be generated by personnel via air system stations comprising two screens— one displaying the view from the airframe’s electro-optical and infrared camera and the other a geographical information system.

Operators can use the latter to track the location of the air system and direction of its camera and to plot its course.

Distributed remote viewing terminals will allow users across multiple headquarters to view one or more feeds simultaneously by selecting from the list available.

NSC’s expertise in the utilization of Virtual Battlespace 2 will enable ARRC to conduct its synthetic surveillance sorties above large, customizable 3-D terrains and deliver authentic training without the significant expense of scrambling real aircraft.

Chris Williams, head of simulation at NSC, said: “Over the last three years we have provided ISTAR [intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance] synthetic support to a number of British Army exercises and we look forward to assisting the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps in delivering effective and value-for-money training to its personnel.”

F-16 Iraq Training Program L-3 Link Simulation & Training (L-3 Link) recently announced that it has been awarded a contract modification from the U.S. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, to build the Iraqi Air Force (IqAF) two F-16 Block 52 Weapon Tactics Trainers (WTTs), two brief/debrief systems and one mission observation center. This contract modification follows L-3 Link’s November 2012 award to build two F-16 Block 52 Full Mission Trainers (FMTs) for the IqAF. Plans currently call for the first F-16 Block 52 FMT to become ready for training during the first quarter of 2015.

The remaining training devices, brief/ debrief systems and mission observation center are scheduled to achieve readyfor-training milestones during the fourth quarter of 2015. All of the training devices and support systems will be installed at Balad Air Base in northern Iraq.

“L-3 Link looks forward to providing a comprehensive training system that will enable Iraqi F-16 pilots to enhance their tactical skills over a full range of mission areas,” said Lenny Genna, president of L-3 Link. “The high-fidelity F-16 Block 52 Full Mission Trainers, for instance, will allow pilots to gain training credit equivalent to live training while

conducting either new or advanced skills training.”

Each F-16 Block 52 WTT combines a tactically relevant physical cockpit with a single out-the-window visual display monitor. The WTTs use the same highfidelity computational system, software and models that are integrated on the FMTs. As a result, the WTTs can be networked to the FMTs to support fourship tactical team training.

The F-16 Block 52 FMTs currently being built will enable pilots to conduct simulated air-to-air and air-to-ground combat exercises. During training exercises, Iraqi F-16 pilots will wear L-3 Link’s simulated joint helmet-mounted cueing system to control sensors and weapons through visual cueing. The FMTs’ visual system solution will enable pilots to acquire and identify targets, as well as accurately deliver a wide range of ordnance over a 360-degree field-ofregard. Pilots will be able to practice takeoffs and landings, aerial in-flight refueling, low-level flight and emergency procedures. All training exercises, which will occur within a virtual, geo-specific database, can be conducted in a variety of simulated weather conditions.

Dan Kelly; daniel.kelly@l-3com.com

PEOPLE The chief of staff, Army recently announced Army Reserve Brigadier General Allan W. Elliott for assignment as the chief, CJ4, International Security Assistance Force, Afghanistan. He most recently served as the deputy commanding general, 108th Training Command (Initial

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Entry Training), Charlotte, N.C. The chief of staff, Army recently announced Army Brigadier General David B. Haight, commandant, U.S. Army Infantry School, U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence, Fort Benning, Ga., to deputy

commander, Regional Command-East, International Security Assistance Force Joint Command, Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan.

CAE has named Raymond Duquette as president and general manager of CAE USA. In this position,

Duquette will report to General Michael E. Ryan, United States Air Force (Ret.) and chairman of the board of CAE USA. Duquette will be responsible for the general management and operation of CAE USA, which is part of CAE’s military business segment and based in Tampa, Fla.

The Wittenstein Group announced that Dr. Anna-Katharina Wittenstein has joined the Wittenstein North America Team as chairwoman of the board, and that Dr. Lars Aldinger is now vice president of production at the manufacturing facility based in Bartlett, Ill.

MT2 18.7 | 5

Studying approaches to enhance

the capabilities of infantry squads.

By Erin Flynn Jay MT2 Correspondent

6 | MT2 18.7

www.MT2-kmi.com

The Army’s training requirements for unstabilized gunnery and mixed reality systems are gaining momentum despite budgetary restraints. In addition, Program Manager for Training Systems (PMTRASYS) is on a quest to find the most flexible marksmanship trainer contracts that offer the best Lt. Col. Mark Evans value to the government at the lowest cost.

The Army’s program of record for basic rifle marksmanship is the Engagement Skills Trainer (EST). The EST is used at units and at training institutions. “EST is an indoor, multipurpose, multi-lane, small arms, crew-served and individual anti-tank training simulation that enables training across three different modes: individual marksmanship; small unit [collective] gunnery and tactical training; and judgmental use of force [shoot/don’t shoot], which includes escalation of force/graduated response scenarios,” said Army Lieutenant Colonel Mark Evans, the product manager for Ground Combat Tactical Trainers.

The EST provides the capability to build and sustain individual marksmanship, squad and team fire distribution and control, and judgmental use of force skills using computergenerated imagery and video. It has also been used by deploying units to maintain skills when not able to conduct live-fire training. Its capabilities include small arms (pistols, rifles, carbines, grenade launcher and shotgun) simulators as well as anti-tank weapons.

Evans told MT2 that a competition for the next generation of EST is under way. Potential product improvements include: • Adding new simulated weapons, such as the M24 Sniper Weapon System, M107 long-range sniper rifle, and

•

•

• •

•

M98A1 Medium Anti-armor Weapon System with the ability to support other emerging weapon systems.

Adding new optics/sights and laser aiming devices (and the capability to mount them to various simulated weapons), such as the M145 machine gun optic, family of AN/PAS-13 thermal weapons sights, and the ability to support changes in weapon optics and other modules.

Adding simulated machine gun tripods, mounts and traversing and elevating mechanisms, and vehicular ring/pedestal mounts to the simulation.

Integrating a simulated call for and adjust indirect fire capability to the simulation.

Adding new and/or revised scenarios to the simulation, across all capabilities of training: marksmanship, collective and escalation of forces.

Adding an enhanced capability to simultaneously operate additional heavy and medium simulated weapons within any given suite, without degrading the performance of those simulated weapons.

Requirements Gain Momentum In the next three to five years, Evans said, training requirements for unstabilized gunnery and mixed reality systems will gain traction despite the austere budget environment. Non-lethal weapons are also likely additions.

The basic marksmanship training currently provided is very capable. “The ability to network the EST systems with other training enablers, such as gaming applications, is strongly desired by Army users. With over 900 systems in use throughout the Army around the world, technologies that will improve reliability and reduce the cost of ownership are as important to this program as any new capability or feature,” Evans concluded. “The Army is studying approaches to enhance the capabilities of infantry squads, and EST will certainly be one enabler to meet those developing needs.”

Flexible Contracts PM TRASYS fields and manages the Indoor Simulated Marksmanship Trainer (ISMT) Program. According to Barbara Hamby, MCSC Corporate Communications, the ISMT is a three-dimensional simulation-based trainer that instructs basic and advanced marksmanship, shoot/

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MT2 18.7 | 7

EST 2000 virtual trainer fielded by the U.S. Army Infantry School. [Photo courtesy of Cubic]

Additionally, Hamby said the ISMT has become more no-shoot judgment, combat marksmanship, and versatile and mobile, which has allowed for training in weapons employment tactics in an indoor setmuch smaller places, including small rooms on ship. ting. Each firing position is capable of operating Lastly, the tetherless option has allowed the Marines to simulated weapons that include AT4, M2 (.50 cal), train and move more freely using Bluefire (similar to M9, M16A4, M16A2 fully sensored, M240G, M203, Bluetooth) technology.

MK19, MP5, SAW, M870 12 gauge shotgun, SMAW, “How can we conduct current business more inexM224 60mm mortar, M252 81mm mortar, M4A1, pensively tomorrow? Can we create more economies of Predator, and Joint Services Combat Shotgun. The scale? What is the return on investment for each of our simulated weapons are used to fire upon the simuM&S solutions/devices? How can we make our prodlated targets with an indication of the round fired. ucts last longer? These are all the types of questions The instructor station controls the training and Ray Oliver that we find ourselves most focused on as budgets conprovides feedback of the results. ISMT also provides ray.oliver@cubic.com tinue to decline,” Hamby concluded. night vision training capabilities in addition to the baseline features, Hamby told MT2. The ISMT/IST systems are used both within the continental United States (CONUS) and outside Cubic Validated as Small Arms Trainer CONUS and are currently deployed on U.S. Navy ships. An operational requirements document dated April 10, 1998, exists validatCubic has provided the only validated small arms trainer, Ening the ISMT requirement. gagement Skills Trainer 2000. Cubic has delivered over 1,000 sysHamby said PMTRASYS is embedded with other PMs within tems and 18,000 weapons worldwide in support of this program, MCSC (PM IWS and PM ICE) as well as with Training and Education said Ray Oliver, senior program manager at Cubic, of the three Command partners in order to capture future emerging requiremodes of training with full after-action review capabilities. The sysments and training needs to prepare and train Marines. “As tactics tem uses fully sensored weapons that meet the form, fit and funcand environments change, so do the training, gear and equipment tion of the actual service weapons with validated ballistic accuracy. of our warfighters,” Hamby said. “Initiatives such as the infantry Cubic has also provided EST 3000, EST Plus systems and Warrior automatic rifle, which focuses on enhancing our rifleman’s maneuSkills Trainer (WST) systems to the Army, Air Force, and internaverability and displacement speed as well as maintaining firepower tional customers that provide individual, collective, mounted and on the enemy, are all examples of adaption and lessons learned from dismounted virtual marksmanship capabilities. our last 13 years of experience in war.”

EST 3000 is a portable system that supports one to five firers The ISMT program has a goal to stay on par with developing simsimultaneously. EST Plus incorporates all of the EST capabilities ulated weapons and scenarios as close as possible to the fielding of the plus an interoperable fourth training mode, which provides an ofactual weapon systems. This provides a simulated training system to fensive (moving eye point) capability. WST provides up to a 360-deprepare and train the Marine when live fire options are not available. gree immersive environment with low/mid/high fidelity vehicles for 8 | MT2 18.7

www.MT2-kmi.com

Demand is high and will continue to grow. multi-echelon training capability, which incorporates With growth in the market comes additional mounted and dismounted operations. Each product manufacturers and products. “This can be good builds off of the high fidelity marksmanship capabilities for our warfighters if the increased competition provided by Cubic. produces better quality products. Unfortunately, There are significant budget constraints within DoD, what can happen is inexpensive products that and the military is having to do more with less. “It is are not truly training tools,” said Shaw. “Lowercritical to maximize prior investments, so vendors need quality but ‘flashy’ products can result in negato provide scalable systems that can adjust to emerging tive training. The tools have to be built with the technologies. Cubic systems are designed for changing regoal of a strong and weapon confident warfighter quirements and [Cubic] provides training systems that are in mind.” adaptable,” said Oliver. “Cubic’s direct involvement with Heath Shaw Meggitt sees the future as a live-virtual-conU.S. military centers of excellence and investments in reheath.shaw@meggitt.com structive mix of training solutions, a kit bag from search and development are critical to meeting future rewhich the user can mold a training solution that fits the requirequirements and new capabilities that can be fielded to the warfighter ment. “Warfighters must be proficient on weaponry and operaas quickly as possible.” tions, and the LVC kitbag will stretch the training dollars in a time The future for virtual marksmanship is going to continue to grow. when military budgets are declining. Virtual training will continue It allows the military to train on new weapon systems in a safe and to grow to balance out the costly alternative of live fire training,” controlled environment while providing feedback that improves trainsaid Shaw. “Enhanced virtual ranges provide the ballistic accuracy ee skills. These capabilities reduce the use of valuable resources such needed for marksmanship training and the immersive environas ammunition, ranges and qualification time. ment that allows warfighters to train in a non-lethal, high-stress “With improving technologies, virtual marksmanship will continenvironment.” O ue to incorporate 3-D game engine graphics creating realistic training conditions. The vast training capabilities virtual marksmanship can For more information, contact MT2 Editor Brian O’Shea provide is enormous,” said Oliver. “The cost savings and training benat briano@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives efit are a proven source of leveraging new technologies to meet the for related stories at www.mt2-kmi.com. ever-changing challenges the military faces.”

Live-Virtual-Constructive Training Mix According to Heath Shaw, subject matter expert-small arms training for Meggitt Training Systems, they are seeing actual battlefield scenarios reflected in weapons training requirements for U.S. and allied forces. Virtual marksmanship ranges and CGI-based judgmental trainers effectively step troops from a state of weapon familiarization to weapon confidence. Fully sensored weaponry is a must for virtual small arms trainers as training will occur at team and squad level in a 3-D environment.

Current and future training systems will require a wider range of weapons, as the U.S. military will increasingly fight as part of a multinational coalition in future conflicts. Meggitt’s fully sensored Bluefire wireless weapon systems use commercial wireless Bluetooth technology to communicate with the virtual marksmanship training system, giving a full range of motion while maintaining true maintaining form, fit and function.

Meggitt Training Systems is the only training systems company in the industry to deliver both small arms training simulators combined with live fire field range and indoor range solutions.

Meggitt’s focus is on infantry and infantry support. “From a technological point of view, the single biggest challenge is generating realistic and natural movement through a virtual environment for a dismounted soldier,” said Shaw. “Despite the technical issues involved, this obviously represents a significant opportunity for the market.”

Trainers are seeing the benefit of virtual training firsthand and are writing requirements to ensure virtual marksmanship and judgmental trainers are part of their training facilities. Multiple studies have shown not only the marksmanship skills value, but also the value of immersion and training warfighters in a simulated environment that creates the same stress they would experience in theater. www.MT2-kmi.com

MT2 18.7 | 9

COMMAND PROFILE

Medical Simulation

Medical training focuses on the use of task trainers.

By Phil Reidinger Army Medical Department Center and School Historically, the cardio-pulmonary resuscitation course during which students had to breathe into and perform chest compressions on a manikin known as the Resusci Anne CPR doll, which became available in 1960, during training is the most frequent association of medical simulation in training. That type of training is not gone, but it has become a much smaller percent of the training done today. Advances in technology, both in computing power and miniaturization, as well as new methods used to create the physical trainers wanted by the medical community, have advanced the types of simulators and simulations. The driver behind this greater need for trainers and training modalities is the search find to the best balance in perfecting individual crafts while promoting increased patient safety.

At the Army Medical Department (AMEDD) Center and School we use human patient simulators throughout our training programs, from taking vital signs to simulated battlefield casualties, to allow students to see the types of injuries they will need to be able to take care of if and when deployed.

We use simulation and high-fidelity human patient simulators throughout our courses. We begin with very basic instruction on how to take vital signs, pulse, respirations and blood pressure. We can program simulators to have abnormal readings, which students would not see practicing on each other in class. The simulators are also used for patient assessment to learn a systematic method for checking a patient from head to toe. On the battlefield medicine side of the house we have simulators that are designed with the types of wounds that we expect our medics to see in combat.

The Department of Combat Medic Training and the Center for Predeployment Medicine employ scenario-based training using human patient simulators of various levels of sophistication in realistic and stressful training events to “crawl, walk and run” students through individual and team as well as single and multiple casualty-oriented training events. Students are evaluated in daylight and 10 | MT2 18.7

in limited visibility scenarios. These training events were developed using OIF/OEF lessons learned, with students receiving an on-thespot critique of what they performed well and possible alternatives that may produce a more positive outcome.

For hundreds of years, medicine and health care has used intricate models to help teach anatomy, physiology, training in obstetrics and many other surgical disciplines.

According to an article by Harry Owen, titled “Early use of simulation in medical education” in the April 2012 issue of Simul Healthcare, as early as the 18th century, mid-wives and obstetricians in Italy were trained with simulators that could leak amniotic fluid and fake blood to recognize and manage complications associated with childbirth.

Life-sized medical manikins were a standard training aid in Army training hospitals prior to WWI and the establishment of the Army Medical Field Service School in 1922.

Manikins were used to teach basic hospital care such as bandage application, sheet changing, lifting and transport techniques.

In 1943, war wound moulages were developed and standardized for training by the Medical Department but had limited distribution because of the shortage of rubber. With the development of a synthetic rubber, the Army surgeon general ordered them to be massed produced.

In February 1945, the U.S. Army Medical Bulletin announced that standardized sets were being produced at a rate of two sets a week and being made available for “all air, ground and service forces” to inject realism into their training. The kits included two lifelike masks. One depicted a shell fragment to the head and the other, a gunshot wound to the jaw.

When the MFSS moved to Fort Sam Houston in 1946, simulated casualties were the responsibility of the visual aids/graphic illustration department. Staff members were described as being able to prepare plastic, clay and paper mache mannequins and models (including animal parts of anatomy) for use

in the classroom and community outreach events.

One of the highlights of the Army Week Celebration from April 6-12, 1947, was the surgical tent where a realistic “amputation” operation was demonstrated twice daily.

In June 1950, the Medical Department participated in LOGEX 50 at Fort Belvoir, Va. There was very little realism to the exercise considering the point of the exercise was to “afford student officers practical experience, under simulated combat conditions, in planning and conducting operations in an active theater.” Casualties were written on cards and transportation was represented by different sized envelopes.

In the mid-1950s, the San Antonio Light and Evening Express described the use of moulaging during Medical Field Service School field demonstrations.

According to newspaper accounts, the simulated wounds made from plastic looked “shockingly like torn flesh.” The fake wounds would pump “blood” by pressing a ketchuploaded bulb with an attached and the “piercing” cries of the wounded added a realism that spectators did not soon forget.

S.W. Alderson, inventor of the original aerospace crash-test dummies for NASA and the USAF began producing “synthetic casualties” in the 1950s. These included a CPR dummy nick-named “Joe Blow,” blood oozing moulages worn by soldiers during medical training, and human-like figures called medical phantoms used to measure exposure to radiation.

The Management of Mass Casualties Course, initiated in 1956, was designed to present methods for handling mass casualty scenarios generated by thermonuclear war.

The field demonstration portion of the course, Operation Blowup, made a quantum leap in realism once Lieutenant Colonel Vincent Hack came onboard in 1957.

The 1956 field demonstrations simulated casualties were simply given labels and were sorted as either litter patients, walking wounded, or able to assist as litter bearers and treated www.MT2-kmi.com

accordingly. Hack visited England in February 1957 to trade ideas on the use of “training aids” in mass casualty scenarios with the British forces.

As soon as he returned, he convinced Major General William Shambora, commanding general, Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC), to engage as many resources as possible in the staging of Operation Blowup, the field demonstration portion of the Management of Mass Casualty Course. There was a simulated detonation of an atomic bomb and 1,000 tagged and simulated casualties were put into play during the field exercises.

Theatrical make up, moulaging and staging was done in a manner to portray as much realism as possible. The simulated wounds mimicked approximately 60 different types from flash burns to amputations that had been observed in the aftermath of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. In some of the exercises, over 200 casualties were made-up for sorting and first aid treatment, and the wounds exhibited such realism that it caused experienced physicians to think they were actual wounds.

In May 1958, the simulated casualty known as “Bleeding Pete,” a life-sized medical manikin with various “injuries” was used in training at the AMSS and was on display at the armed forces day open house at Kelly Air Force Base.

In October 1958, an experimental head and torso model manikin was developed through a U.S. Army Research and Development contract for the AMSS to teach mouthto-mouth resuscitation.

A December 1957 article in the Fort Sam Houston post newspaper, the Talon, describes a manikin designed for practice inserting a tube into the trachea and a method of artificial respiration, used alone or in connection with the intubation, which appears to more efficient and more adaptable than any method previously used. The manikin was designed by staff members of the University of Buffalo School of Medicine and Roswell Park Memorial Institute and field tested by the AMSS in December 1957. It was an upper human torso with an exact duplication of the structure of the throat with a hinged lower jaw to simulate the mouth and the airway channels branching from the pharynx. The models were used to instruct students in the technique of opening a passage before inserting a tube to ensure an unobstructed airway. www.MT2-kmi.com

A July 16, 1959, Talon article describes a pilot model of an anthropomorphic manikin designed specifically for X-ray technician training arriving at BAMC for testing. Designed out of plastic and other synthetic materials, it was the size of a 160-pound man and could be manipulated into approximately 400 different positions. Embedded in the synthetic flesh were plastic bones that would appear in the X-ray film.

Sometime between 1961 and 1963, Prototype Model 6910-M02-0001 (male body for first aid training) arrived at the MFSS. Designed specifically for the MFSS by S.W. Alderson, the synthetic casualty was the first portable medical training dummy with a variety of simulated wounds. The manikin could be operated independent of a base, allowing it to be placed in the field in about any position and had several interchangeable moulages through which fake blood was pumped.

Simulation training for the U.S. Army Graduate Program in Anesthesia Nursing, ranked the best in the nation by U.S. News and World Report magazine, is perhaps the most sophisticated use of human patient simulators that began in January 2006. The U.S. Army Graduate Program in Anesthesia Nursing developed a simulation program that focused on two main areas—general endotracheal anesthesia and regional anesthesia to be used in teaching and testing sessions.

Today, refined simulation is integrated into didactic curriculum such as basic and advanced airway management, regional anesthesia, machine check, fundamentals of anesthesia, and pharmacology. The program also incorporates student-faculty simulation during monthly counseling and employs distinct categories of simulation: curriculum integration in at least 50 percent of fundamentals instruction; performance counseling; student work groups; and testing.

Human patient simulators and simulations are integrated into medical training, from the classroom to mobile training teams to medical treatment facilities.

The Mobile Obstetric Emergency Simulator (MOES), SimNewB and Noelle are examples of simulators used in neonatal nursing training. Major Amber Pocrnich is currently stationed at Bayne-Jones Army Community Hospital, Fort Polk, La., and recently reassigned from Tripler Army Medical Center where she served as the clinical nurse officer in charge of labor and delivery. She noted that

that the use of simulators vastly improved the students’ desired skills and knowledge. She holds as master’s degree in neonatal nursing and is the nursing consultant to the Medical Command Central Simulation Committee.

She said, “In my department, we used the MOES trainer regularly. We mostly would use it on academic days for the Residency Program. It then evolved into team training, and eventually we used the MOES for our mass transfusion protocol drills as well. My RNs also used the MOES to validate skills needed when the high-risk/low-volume OB events occur such as shoulder dystocia, PP hemorrhage, and prolapsed cord.”

As a Neonatal Resuscitation Program certification regional trainer, Pocrnich utilized the SimNewB monthly for the Skills Stations required for certification. “Nearly all of the participants stated that they learned more from that hands-on portion than they ever had in years before,” she said. She added, “We also conducted mock neonatal codes quarterly—sometimes more often—utilizing the SimNewB. The Pediatrics Residency Department also used the SimNewB regularly.”

In the realm of simulation, the AMEDD Center and School Mission Training Complex provides mission command simulation training for exercising military decision-making skills and digital mission staff training for leaders. The complex provides training support for mission planning and rehearsal and pre-deployment training support ranging from platoon to Combined Joint Task Forces levels. The MTC evaluates live, virtual, constructive and gaming training development for AMEDD/MEDCOM (U.S. Army Medical Command) operational readiness and supports the conduct of distributed simulation.

Simulations and gaming examples include virtual battlespace, tactical language training, tactical combat casualty care, stability and civil support operations, and logistics planning.

Today, medical training focuses on the use of task trainers, both partial and whole, that replicate the human and even veterinary medicine needs in physical and virtual formats; the use of serious games to address patient assessment; and even teamwork required to successfully complete the medical mission. O For more information, contact MT2 Editor Brian O’Shea at briano@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.mt2-kmi.com.

MT2 18.7 | 11

By Austin Satterla, Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army I have been in the Army for over 12 years, during which I have been deployed on multiple occasions. This year, however, I am on assignment with the Training With Industry (TWI) program at Oshkosh Defense, the sole medium and heavy tactical wheeled vehicle provider for the Army.

I came to Oshkosh to cultivate higher-level management techniques Sgt. 1st Class and to develop a better understanding Austin Satterla of the relationship between industry and specific functions of the Army. This amazing opportunity has also enabled me to witness how the other half—those working on the commercial or industry side—lives.

Now, I am used to the Army’s way of doing things—our terminology, training methods and processes for maintaining trucks and other equipment. While our methods are effective, just like any large organization methods, they can always be refined. The Army knows this, which led to the implementation of this program. This work-experience program sends competitively selected warrant officers, commissioned officers and non-commissioned officers into top civilian companies for 12 months. We work alongside the private-sector experts to complement the skills and experience gained through our military and civilian education.

Once the year is over, we spend the next two years working to apply the best practices we have learned into the Army’s own processes.

My follow-up assignment will be with CASCOM Systems Integration Division at Fort Lee, Va., where I will serve as the user training representative in the materiel release process. My primary responsibility will be leading development of training requirements associated with the acquisition of new systems operated and/or maintained by ordnance, quartermaster and transportation soldiers. Oshkosh Defense, as a leading military vehicle producer and provider of operational and maintenance training, is the best place to prepare for this role.

The Road to Oshkosh I have been working with Oshkosh’s Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT) and the Palletized Load System since I joined the military. Despite this experience, I had no idea what the company, Oshkosh Defense, was like. I had never considered there might be an opportunity for me to embed with the actual manufacturer of the equipment I worked on every day. A few years ago, however, a retiring 12 | MT2 18.7

Oshkosh HEMTT A4 LET. [Photo courtesy of OshKosh Defense]

My year listening and learning at the tactical wheeled-vehicle producer in Oshkosh, Wis.

Sgt. Satterla testing electrical and hydraulic solenoids on a M983A4 HEMTT LET at Oshkosh Defense in Wisconsin. [Photo courtesy of Oshkosh Defense]

colleague told me one of his larger regrets was not applying for the TWI program when he had the chance. His interest piqued mine just enough to remember the term TWI. Soon after, I received an email from my branch manager stating I met the requirements to apply. I then began researching the program. The more I read, the more intriguing it seemed. I could receive on-the-job training at a top corporation and learn intricacies of business firsthand. Not only could this make me better at my current role in the Army, but it would also make me a more attractive candidate for more prestigious positions within the military going forward. With these factors in mind, I applied.

Thankfully, I was one of the non-commissioned officers selected this year. When the time came to choose where I wanted to go, the manufacturer of vehicles I had been using for years was at the top of my list.

Trained to Train I spent my first four months at Oshkosh Defense in its training department, fully immersing myself in every class available. Upon mastering the material, I assisted in teaching active duty, Army Reserve and National Guard soldiers. I also helped train Oshkosh field service representatives—the factory-trained experts who move with military personnel, on base or even into combat zones, to help maintain peak operational readiness—and civilians receiving dealer certification for Oshkosh vehicles. The classes cover everything from how to best operate and maintain the vehicles at a rudimentary level to advanced system or platform training. Every instructor I worked with was very knowledgeable on every vehicle platform Oshkosh Corporation offers. www.MT2-kmi.com

After more than a decade of vehicle operations and maintenance in the Army, I was shocked by how much more I was able to learn through taking, and then teaching, Oshkosh training courses. Learning directly from an original equipment manufacturer expert ensures that you get the specific information on the vehicle platforms as well as a factual history of the vehicles from introduction to current state.

These training specialists can answer virtually any question you might have, and then back it up with specific examples.

Such a solid foundation is ideal for my future job in Fort Lee, and crucial as I have moved onto other areas within Oshkosh Defense operations. Now that I had learned the platforms inside and out, it was time to understand how they are designed, serviced, sold and maintained.

To Make a Truck I spent my time at Oshkosh rotating through their various divisions. Each rotation brought with it a new learning experience and valuable insight.

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Logistics Engineering Here, I learned the basics of logistics supportability analysis.

In this process, Oshkosh’s engineers analyze the entirety of each customer’s vehicle, and the reliability of each subsystem and component to find proactive maintenance guidelines that can save the military time and money.

For example, if a piston ring wears out within an engine, is it cheaper for the Army to take the entire component apart and replace the set of piston rings? Or is it cheaper to replace the entire engine, saving hours required for dis- and re-assembly, and reduce the possibility of a misdiagnosis leading to wasted work? Understanding how to execute such a detailed analysis of the total cost for repair will be valuable when I am helping to establish training requirements.

Service and Warranty I had the opportunity to accompany the Oshkosh Defense warranty team on a blind audit of one of the Oshkosh FSRs stationed at a nearby Army base. Each FSR must be regularly tested by Oshkosh to ensure they are properly serving their contract with the military for field support. I saw this specific FSR apply the theory of classroom training to fix the vehicle that was intentionally broken for his test and then fix an additional vehicle that had been giving the local unit problems. Understanding how the company tests its FSRs to make sure training and performance stay fresh provides me with a great example and set of tools as I prepare vehicle-training requirements in my next position.

Parts I was exposed to cutting-edge demand planning in the area of spare- and replacement-parts supply. Instead of using a life cycle approach, in which new parts are ordered when the lives of the old ones come to an end, Oshkosh focuses on long-term demand.

Using this approach, Oshkosh parts managers look at how many parts are ordered in a specific time span—be it months or years—to help predict the military’s supply needs with extreme accuracy. In addition to keeping customers supplied, this keeps inventory costs down for

www.MT2-kmi.com

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Oshkosh Defense, which translates to reduced part costs for customers.

Testing and Development To keep any potential influence out of new vehicle contracts, as Army personnel, I was not allowed to participate in the testing of Oshkosh’s Joint Light Tactical Vehicle offering. I was, however, able to understand common issues a truck can face at any stage of its life cycle. From part obsolescence to testing trucks against new mission profiles, I now know what the Army’s vendors are doing proactively in-house to address real or potential issues. These lessons learned could be applied to future programs or to existing fleets in the form of vehicle upgrades.

Getting Lean While all of these areas have been great learning experiences, one particular division—the warehouse—has offered the most potential for insight for me to bring back to the Army.

Like many successful manufacturers, Oshkosh Defense has adopted lean principles throughout its operations. This philosophy focuses on continuous improvement by seeking out and eliminating all expenditures of resources that do not create value for the end customer.

I took part in a three-day event in which the entire warehouse division gathered to discuss process improvements. This event was exceptionally valuable because it allowed the people who were actually executing processes to point out areas of improvement that upperlevel management might miss because they are not on the floor.

Beyond this event, I witnessed several managers who continually made themselves available to lower-level employees or even visiting personnel, like me, giving me opportunities to observe meetings, discuss managerial styles and ask questions. This sort of openness not only brings new ideas into the fold, but also allows lower-level employees to learn firsthand from more seasoned personnel—providing mentorship that will help them grow into more effective leaders for the organization.

Coming Full Circle I have been surrounded by Oshkosh vehicles for as long as I have been in the Army—they are ubiquitous in almost everything we do.

Despite this familiarity, I had never considered what I might be able to learn by understanding everything that happens behind the scenes at the company where they are produced.

I have seen the processes that drive success in corporate America and learned the importance of seeking out ideas from people at all levels of an organization. I have learned the status quo can be challenged and improvement should be a never-ending goal.

The takeaways I have already gained from the TWI program will enable me to better carry out my day-to-day management of vehiclemaintenance programs with CASCOM as well as future assignment within the Army. They will also provide valuable insight into how I can help operations—military, industrial, or otherwise—be more effective and efficient. O For more information, contact MT2 Editor Brian O’Shea at briano@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.mt2-kmi.com.

MT2 18.7 | 13

DATA PACKETS CBRN/HazMat Detector Simulator

Improved Cybersecurity Training and Simulation Tool New software developed by Boeing for its Cyber Range-in-a-Box (CRIAB) cybersecurity training tool creates more realistic virtual environments up to six times faster than previous versions, making the training more effective while decreasing costs.

The new software—CRIAB 2.0—provides governments and

industry customers the ability to test security solutions and train security personnel in a realistic network environment. CRIAB 2.0’s performance-assessment tools also have been upgraded, allowing users to analyze their solutions more accurately, effectively and efficiently.

Brian O’Donnell; bc.o’donnell@boeing.com

Argon’s M4 A1 JCAD-SIM detector simulator responds to electronic sources that simulate chemical vapors, toxic industrial substances or false positives. This means one no longer need to use simulants that can harm the environment, saturate the training area or pose potential health and safety risks. One can use the sources anywhere, including within public buildings. Most scenarios can be set up in less than 10 minutes, and because the user controls the sources, the scenario will not have changed when it is time for the exercise. The M4 A1 JCAD-SIM is designed to be fully compatible with the Argon PlumeSIM system for instrumented collective wide area field exercise and table-top CBRN training.

This high fidelity simulator for the Smiths Detection M4 A1 JCAD is a training solution for CBRN/HazMat exercises, helping the user to preserve real JCAD detectors for operational readiness and reduce sieve pack consumption. Some of the key simulation features include: the same menu structure as the actual detector; the same language support as the real detector; false positives; effects of wind direction and temperature; depletion of sieve packs and batteries; user changeover of sieve pack; cumulative dose and dose alarms; missing sieve pack; attempted use with storage sieve pack; easily set up CBRN/HazMat exercises and training scenarios; and compatibility with PlumeSIM. JCAD-SIM also monitors correct use of the instrument and provides visual reporting to both student and instructor.

Steven Pike; sp@argonelectronics.com

Expanded Capabilities for User Interface Creation The Disti Corporation recently announced the release of GL Studio version 4.5, software that helps user interface (UI) designers and application developers easily prototype, create and deploy advanced 3-D user interfaces for embedded devices and desktop applications. GL Studio version 4.5 contains graphic rendering features to improve battery life and performance for iOS, Android and other embedded devices. This release also provides options to use either the OpenGL or DirectX API, multi-language support for UI internationalization, expanded compiler support and improved Photoshop document support.

To complement faster and easier development time, GL Studio version 4.5 provides: • The choice of deploying raster glyphs or True Type fonts, thus making all fonts available at runtime • New object types to improve performance and battery life on mobile and embedded devices 14 | MT2 18.7

• Added support for the Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 and Linux GCC version 4.6 integrated development environment to provide a more seamless development • Increased editor and runtime support for DirectDraw Surface file formats to allow developers to freely create content as they see fit • Improved Photoshop Document importer now includes gauge needle behaviors, making it easier to bring these interface types to life.

“The release of version 4.5 provides GL Studio developers with the means to create user interface content that gives consumers the end-user experience they have come to expect in today’s products and devices. We are excited to supply our customers with these expanded features and capabilities and we will continue to provide the latest solutions to our customers as technologies advance,” said Darren Humphrey, chief technology officer of Disti.

Adopted by luxury automotive manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover and visionary specialty aerospace developer Scaled Composites, GL Studio delivers on the panacea of end-to-end user interface development in a single tool chain. These companies, along with hundreds of others across the aerospace, medical, automotive and simulation market segments, choose GL Studio for the following reasons: • 100 percent correlation between the industrial designer’s vision and the end product • Ability to reuse the design all the way through the development process: prototyping, verification and validation, integration, and deployment • Shorter production cycles • Natively supports 3-D OpenGL content • Broad support for desktop and embedded hardware systems.

Scott Ariotti; sariotti@disti.com www.MT2-kmi.com

Compiled by KMI Media Group staff

Create and Edit Real-time 3-D Scenarios MetaVR’s new VRSG Scenario Editor enables the user to create and edit real-time 3-D scenarios to play back in VRSG. This new application, delivered in the release of VRSG version 5.8, extends the drag-and-drop capabilities of adding culture and moving models directly to 3-D terrain. Scenario Editor provides a graphical interface with tools and content libraries that can be used to build dense 3-D scenes with realistic visual characteristics.

Experienced VRSG users and novices alike can work in a flexible manner to increase the realism of terrain easily with rich culture and scripted movements of vehicles and characters. The 3-D terrain in Scenario Editor is the same 3-D terrain seen in VRSG, and the scenarios created can be run in both Scenario Editor and VRSG version 5.8.

The application requires the Windows 7 operating system and supports terrain in MetaVR’s Metadesic round-earth format.

Scenario Editor is ideal for: • Populating virtual worlds with 3-D content quickly • Creating and sharing tactical training scenarios easily • Avoiding terrain correlation and model overlap problems by using the same terrain and 3-D content in the scenario creation tool as rendered in the image generator.

In a networked environment with VRSG, users can run scenarios created with Scenario Editor by visualizing the static culture content and PDU logs of recorded DIS entities using MetaVR’s PlayBack utility. Alternatively, a user can broadcast DIS from Scenario Editor and have VRSG clients view the exercise.

Scenario Editor can be used to perform live updates and create dynamic or static content on the fly. For example, in a classroom setting, an instructor can broadcast an exercise in Scenario Editor and the students can view the exercise in VRSG. The students can immediately see any updates the instructor adds to the exercise.

Scenario Editor was used to create a new UAS simulation scenario video posted on MetaVR’s channel on YouTube. The VRSG video is a simulation of an insurgent disruption of an Afghanistan election polling site and the close air support mission that follows the incident. The scenario was built in Scenario Editor and played back in VRSG by a user in the role of UAV operator. The operator observes the scene through the UAS simulated camera view and interacts with the scenario by switching sensor modes and by using a joystick to move the camera (to pan and zoom the scene and track the target).

W. Garth Smith; wgsmith@metavr.com www.MT2-kmi.com

High-fidelity and Efficient Training in a Customizable Virtual World Virtual Mine Space (VMS) delivers measurable results in operator efficiency and significantly reduces equipment training downtime. Training using VMS allows the team—from vehicle operators to mine managers—to better understand site and operational hazards and improve safety.

Virtual Mine Space is a flexible solution that can be deployed to teach skills that could previously only be taught on-the-job.

VMS provides a training environment, which allows trainees to transition from instructorled classrooms, through to the real thing.

VMS allows for diverse training options on varying mine types, using a wide variety of vehicles on a range of platforms. Any mine type, vehicle or procedure can be represented in VMS using life-like, high-fidelity graphics.

Training is available on a wide range of platforms—from smartphones and tablets through to desktop computers and large simulators.

Virtual Mine Space provides comprehensive, large-scale and realistic mining environments, complete with a customizable library of characters and vehicles.

Virtual Mine Space is portable, easy to use, flexible and cost-effective.

Virtual Mine Space comprises a range of next-generation products developed by Bohemia Interactive Simulations (BISim) that is tailored to suit specific requirements.

VBS2 is BISim’s flagship training product and builds on more than 10 years’ experience of delivering advanced simulation technologies to military organizations all over the world. VBS2 is employed for daily tactical training and mission rehearsal by most western militaries.

BISim customizes VBS2 to meet the needs of different customers and different industries. The mining sector is perfectly positioned to benefit from VBS2’s capabilities and success: • Large geo-typical terrains complete with trees, grass and buildings • Visually and functionally realistic characters and vehicles

• Complex and changing weather conditions, including day/night/ seasonal cycles • Immersive and engaging individual or team-based scenarios, with measurable training outcomes • Scenario editor for use before and during training • Typical/specific environments • Customizable library of characters and vehicles • Multi-player support • After-action review to review and learn from scenario.

Unity is a commercial off-theshelf game engine that BISim modifies according to the requirements. Unity can be used together with VBS2 or for projects that don’t require the full power of VBS2, such as small scale part-task trainers or process and procedure training where training uses nontraditional methods, such as web or tablet delivery.

VBS2 and Unity are cost-effective and highly customizable alternatives to traditional simulators.

VBS2 and Unity are designed to run on a wide range of devices, including: • • • •

smartphones tablets PCs gaming consoles.

Virtual Mine Space can be used for a myriad of training purposes, including: • induction and orientation training • safety/hazard awareness and risk assessment training • lockout/HAZMAT procedure training • mine operation visualization and monitoring • vehicle part-task and maintenance training • marketing and concept demonstration.

Tess Butler; tess.butler@bisimulations.com

MT2 18.7 | 15

Training Coordinator

Q& A

Developing Training and Education Policy for the U.S. Marine Corps Major General Thomas M. Murray Commanding General Training and Education Command U.S. Marine Corps A native of St. Paul, Minn., Major General Thomas M. Murray graduated from the University of St. Thomas in 1980 with a B.A. in quantitative methods. Commissioned through the PLC Program, he completed The Basic School and Naval Flight Training and was designated a naval aviator in April 1982. After training in HMT-301 he was designated a CH-46E pilot.

In February 1983, Murray joined HMM-165 in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, where he completed three WESTPAC deployments including operations in Beirut, Lebanon. His billet assignments included Flightline OIC, NATOPS officer, weapons and tactics instructor and assistant operations officer. In August 1986, he attended the Amphibious Warfare School.

In August 1987, Murray reported to Marine Corps Air Station Tustin, Calif., where he served with HMM-161 completing two WESTPAC deployments and held positions as assistant operations officer, weapons and tactics instructor and aircraft maintenance officer. In August 1990, he reported to the First Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company at Camp Pendleton, where he served as the operations officer and as a brigade platoon commander during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

In February 1992, Murray served as the operations officer at the Marine Corps Air Facility for five months and attended the Marine Corps Command and Staff College. Upon graduation, he returned to HMM-161 in September 1993, completing two Westpac deployments including the withdrawal of U.N. forces from Somalia. During this tour, he served as the aircraft maintenance officer, operations officer and executive officer.

In August 1996, Murray reported to the Pentagon for assignment to the Navy Staff in Plans, Policies, and Operations. In August 1998, he reported to the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., earning a master’s degree in national security and strategic studies.

Following school, he transferred to Okinawa, Japan, where he served as the executive officer and commanding officer of HMM-262 from August 1999 through December 2001. Reporting to the Pentagon, he next served on the Joint Staff, J8 as the branch chief, Combatant Command Liaison Office.

In October 2003, Murray took command of Marine Aircraft Group 26 and deployed the reinforced MAG to Al Asad Air Base in Iraq. Following the change of command in August 2005, he remained at Al Asad as the deputy commander and chief of staff for 2D Marine Aircraft Wing Forward. In July 2006, he returned to the Joint Staff, J8 as the branch chief for the Joint Requirements Oversight Council Secretariat. From May 2007 through August 2009, Murray served as the commanding general, Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory. On December 20, 2010, Murray was assigned as the commanding general, Education Command and president, Marine Corps University.

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Murray’s most recent deployment was as the deputy commander, Regional Command South, CJTF-6, ISAF from October 2009 to November 2010. On June 27, 2012, Murray assumed command of Training and Education Command, Quantico, Va. Murray’s decorations include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal, Navy Commendation Medal, Navy Achievement Medal, and the Combat Action Ribbon.

Q: Can you describe the roles and responsibilities of Training and Education Command [TECOM]?

A: Our formal answer is that we’re here to develop, coordinate, resource, execute and then evaluate the training and education programs that we put in along with the policies and plans we use. The real bottom line is we have a couple of direct missions that we’re responsible for within TECOM. The first and foremost is our entry level training. It’s bringing civilians into boot camp and transforming them into Marines.

Putting them through their MOS [military occupational specialty] schools, and as they advance in their unit we give them more advanced training to keep them moving on and learning more and more. It’s not just a one-time shot at the beginning; most MOSs www.MT2-kmi.com

come back throughout their career for more advanced training.

Paralleling that on the education side, we do the same thing. From lance corporal all the way through general officer, there is a specific professional military educational program that we have worked very hard on over the last couple of years to revamp and make more meaningful. Instead of just giving a blast of information at a certain rank, it is designed to be more of a continuum throughout a Marine’s entire career.

More broadly, we have what we call home station training. For all those units at their home stations, whether it’s Lejeune, Okinawa or Camp Pendleton, there are the assets there for them to do the training that they need to do, what we call Block I, II and III. Whether it’s for an individual Marine, a small unit, or for a larger unit, we set it up so that they have all the resources that they need and help them design and coordinate their training as they go through it. Then at Twentynine Palms [Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, Calif.], or other areas at points throughout the year where a large exercise may take place, we have a venue for them to go, where our MAGTF TC [Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command at Twentynine Palms] is set up to take them through an exercise where they are doing live fire and maneuver. It’s very realistic. This is one of the only places where we have the ranges and the people in place to allow them to maneuver with live fire, go through this very realistic training, and [be assessed] at the same time.

Q: What programs or initiatives do you plan to implement in 2014?

A: On the education side, a lot of the work we’ve done over the past couple of years is going to come to fruition in 2014. For the enlisted Marines, we are now putting together and finishing up their PME [professional military education] courses from lance corporal to sergeants, majors and master gunnery sergeants.

A lot of it used to be a “box of books” type of thing, where it was learning on their own, and now we’ve really turned it into distance learning programs where a lot of it is online and collaborative. It’s designed to be a thinking process instead of just memorizing a bunch of stuff, even though it is still in the education venue. All of the schools now have a curriculum that is continuous and follows one grade right to the next. Some of it has become mandatory, where they have to attend in residence, but a lot of it is a distance education piece that is a pre-requisite for attending the residence course. Both the commandant and the sergeant major of the Marine Corps really want to get everyone to do a residence course.

We’re in the process of working through the details and logistics of doing that. At some of the lower ranks, where the bulk of the Marines are, we only have the capacity to put 47 percent of those Marines through a residence course. So we’re looking at options to expand that residence course, and as we’ve made the distance learning better and much more equivalent to residence education, we’re coming up with a combination of the two that will satisfy that requirement.

We’re doing a lot of the same with the officers; we’ve expanded the captain’s level schools, the Expeditionary Warfare School, and for the majors, Command and Staff College. The commandant wanted to double the input of the Command and Staff College and triple the throughput of EWS [Expeditionary Warfare School]. It’s difficult to do that, especially with the captains, because we can’t www.MT2-kmi.com

afford to have that many captains out of the fleet and marine force away from doing their jobs. So for both, what we’ve come up with is a blended seminar program where they come together for a few weeks at the beginning of the course. We’ll have foreign officers, sister service officers and interagency folks as well, and after that initial number of weeks—depending on which school you go to— there will be an online portion as well. [It will be] up to 28 weeks for Command and Staff, and then you come together again at the end for six weeks to finish up and graduate and have a capstone exercise. So people can remain in their original geographic location in the middle of the course.

Right now this first year, they’ll come to Quantico for the collaborative pieces the weeks in the beginning and the end, but not too many years in the future we’re going to have it set up so you do that from your home station as well. This will give us the opportunity to put much greater throughput and reduce the cost of TAD [temporary additional duty] and separation of families, so it should be very beneficial. We currently fund the five-week portion at the beginning and six-week portion at the end, so they can temporarily come here to Quantico to do that and then go back to their home station. It’s a significant cost to lodge someone during that time and then send them back home. In a few years we’ll be able to do this at satellite campuses at major stations like Lejeune, Pendleton and Okinawa.

On the training side, we’re looking at the home station training piece, and what’s really coming to fruition this year at what we call training support centers. These are groups of individuals who are at the MEFs [Marine expeditionary force] and the major bases, and they’re there to help get the best utilization of all the equipment and all the resources that are available at that base. Whether it’s the training ranges at that base or the simulation devices at that base, they help them coordinate the use of that and design their training plans, and then help them execute those plans. So that battalion operations officer and his people can spend the time training and working within their unit rather than trying to go out and find these resources and put it all together and timeline it.

We’ll do all that for them.

Then back at Twentynine Palms, we’ll put them through an exercise to get an assessment of how well they’ve done and how ready they are to deploy. We started it this year and we have some work to do to make it better, but it’s called the integrated training exercise [ITX] and consists of two infantry battalions—a composite of Marine aviation and a composite of logistical assets at the battalion level. Once they get there, we talk with the commanders and assess where these folks are in their training and help tweak combined arms fire and maneuver on the ground out there. It’s one of the few places we can do it to that realistic of a level, where all of the instructors out there are very much trained and aware of the safety requirements that doing something like that entails.

In 2014 we will conduct a constructive exercise, but it will be a LSE [large size exercise] based on the MEB [Marine expeditionary brigade]. As we continue to grow, we’re going through a land expansion at Twentynine Palms, and we hope to do the first LSE on the grounds after we expanded it somewhat in 2016. That’s going to be a MEB level exercise, so we’ll actually have three maneuver elements on the ground and then have aviation and logistics to support that. That’s going to be a big deal. We did one last year, again constructive, and we’ll do another one this year. There are live, virtual and constructive pieces to this LSE as well.

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We had a foreign force that operated from their country; we used some of our reserve aviation throughout the United States and some of our sister services on their own ranges at home and did the headquarters piece from Twentynine Palms. So we had pieces maneuvering on the ground out there, and others maneuvering in concert on their own real estate, and we connected all that together at the command level. We’d like to continue to do that in the future because it may be required of us on the battlefield.

Q: What are the top three challenges TECOM will face in 2014?

A: TECOM touches on all levels of training from entry level and continuous training throughout a Marine’s career, but we need to get back to the basic ethics and values of what it means to be a Marine. We inject that in boot camp and we’re going to make sure we’re doing a really good job of that at all of the schools in their career. We really want to get back to that because there have been some issues of sexual assault, with hazing and all those things. And it’s nothing new to the Marine Corps; it’s [a matter of] going back and just resetting and reigniting that basic way of thinking of what it is to be a Marine, our ethos and our values, and we really have the ability to do that here at TECOM. That is one of our top priorities of this year and several years into the future.

A couple of other things are meeting the training and education requirements that we foresee for the future in an era where we are going to be undergoing declining budgets and ongoing fiscal uncertainty and dropping in people throughout the entire Marine Corps. TECOM has been one of the commandant’s priorities, and we survived quite well through the budget process, but there are cuts that were made.

Training and education are something we have to continue to fund, maybe at a higher level than other things, because it’s so important. We have to continue to train and educate our Marines even if we don’t have as much funding as we like. When the next war comes, we have to be prepared, and that’s one of the things that takes longer to do and has to be done continuously to keep us ready to go. As we’ve gone through this year’s budget process, it was a priority to make sure requirements were met. When TECOM was designing the budget for 2014, Programs and Resources [at Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps] asked TECOM what it costs to train the Marine Corps, and we really laid that out. It was too large a number for the cutbacks that are coming in the future. We had to trim that down, and we did—to about two-thirds of what that larger number is. It was called an affordability option. It’s not everything we’d like to do, but it’s everything we need to do and in the right priorities. So that’s hopefully where we’ll function next year.

We just went through the process of POM [Program Objective Memorandum] 15 and that’s where I mean that we survived fairly well. The Marine Corps and the commandant feel that it’s an important thing for us to keep doing. That’s the kind of budget we’re operating under right now, and that’s why we’ve gone out and worked closely with the operating forces within the Marine Corps to make sure we have that prioritized well.

The third priority as we’re finished in Iraq, we’re coming out of Afghanistan on the president’s schedule, is trying to balance for the future as well as develop and refine the ITX and LSE. We need to match between our core capabilities, including amphibious, 18 | MT2 18.7

expeditionary, combined arms operation, responding to crisis, and have a forward presence in the future. The Marine Corps is America’s 911 force. Our special MAGTF crisis response have moved forces forward to be able to respond quickly, and its public knowledge that they’re there for North Africa and the Middle East. Our MAGTF is always that ground element, air element, logistics element and a command element. MEU [Marine expeditionary unit], MEB and MEF are the three we normally operate in, and when we readjust them to focus more on a special mission then we’ll call that a special MAGTF; this one is focused on crisis response.

Q: What are some of the methods TECOM analyzes and evaluates training in order to support integration across the T&E [training and education] continuum?

A: Everything we do is based on a requirement. We’re not out there shooting from the hip on how we do things or what we’re doing.

We have training and readiness manuals out there for every MOS. We regularly look at those to make sure they are current, that the operating forces feel that they are right. We make adjustments to those all of the time. The way we do that is through the systems approach to training. It’s an actual program that was designed here and set up to walk through in an analytical way. We make sure we analyze, design, develop, implement and then evaluate these training and readiness requirements on a continuous basis. Whether it’s a program of instruction or just the base standards that they have to meet, it is a very structured way of going back and looking at this on a regular basis.

That’s all set into these training and readiness manuals that we use. It is a methodical process and it works well for peacetime, but as we’ve learned in the last 12 years, we don’t always have the time to do things that way. So over the last 10 years we’ve learned to adapt very quickly to some of these things and make a very pointed effort of getting it out there in the field. Even in the pre-deployment training, while they’re deployed and then when they come back, to talk with them and have a continuous process to react to what they’re learning and what their needs are. It’s the same as you would do for a piece of equipment to procure it and get it to them in the field.

We have developed a process to do that in a very rapid way, to get it out to their pre-deployment training at Twentynine Palms, which was called Mojave Viper, and then later an Enhanced Mojave Viper. It was the predecessor to what we’re now doing with the ITX and LSE, where you have all these deploying units out there together and put them through a very significant training and assessment evolution to get them ready to go. So we get that stuff back and inject it in there. Then we have the MCCLLs [Marine Corps Center for Lessons Learned]. That’s a more deliberate and methodical way of getting those lessons learned and making sure we understand them and integrate them on a more deliberate basis into the training and education for the future of the Marines.

Q: How will training requirements change as conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan come to a close?

A: That’s kind of the impetus behind redesigning what’s going out at MAGTF Training Center in Twentynine Palms. On the training side, it’s figuring out that balance between combined arms, expeditionary, www.MT2-kmi.com

amphibious and then being able to cover a whole range of military operations where we might be required to respond to a crisis or to a humanitarian assistance. It’s a mix of those three out there, and in their home station training as well. Where we are right now is in the redesign of that big training exercise out there. It’s about a 30-day exercise. About three weeks of it are focused on that combined arms, live fire and maneuver portion, where we are putting our skills together from the amphibious and expeditionary point of view. We need to be able to go into wherever we are sent and have the ability to sustain ourselves, and then come back out when the mission is completed as a combined arms force. We’re putting on the back end of it about a week to 10 days worth of a lot of what we’ve learned over the last 12 years in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we label that as stability operations. Crisis response will go in there as well.

From the education standpoint, we’ve learned a lot about our education and turning it more toward teaching someone how to think rather than what to think. In the past, we would focus to some degree on history, using it as a lesson, and we’ve gotten away from how important the date of an event was or what the specific chronology of that event was. Overall in a case study event, they’ll learn what were the primary causes of the event, what were the effects of it and how did it turn out. We’re just kind of learning those high points and a way to think about things so that when we encounter situations, whether it’s a corporal or a colonel, they have exercised how to take the available information that they have, balance it against everythiwng they don’t know, and work through a thought process to come to a reasonable conclusion that will get them moving forward in the environment they’re in.

Q: How do you train Marines to operate in environments that are unforeseen?

A: We go back to our core capabilities—combined arms, amphibious, expeditionary—and make sure through the home station training, and what we call service level training out at Twentynine Palms, that they know their mission essential tasks and can execute them at that level. Then we bring in crisis response and humanitarian assistance, because that covers the whole range of military operations of our middle weight force size. That’s the way we’ve done it. We design those exercises in the home station training to do that.

On the education side, over time we are putting into place a program where every single Marine, even at the rank of sergeant or as a second lieutenant for the officers, will basically adopt a culture.

They will learn a culture and the languages that go with it throughout their career. This is something that takes time, and there are milestones for them throughout their career, but they are going to learn a part of the world and its culture. It’s not going to be easy, especially with cutbacks. We have a place within TECOM that is specifically focused on culture and operating within those cultures and its language. But we feel it’s really important, and this is something we can do. It doesn’t preclude a Marine whose focus is in an Asian country with an Asian language from being deployed elsewhere— it’s not going to restrict a Marine or stovepipe them. It will really give us a wide variety of cultures and languages. We’re going to focus on the culture piece, especially at first, because we’ve learned you can do a lot better operating in a culture that you understand, even if you don’t understand the language, than you can just knowing the words and not understanding the culture. Another thing is www.MT2-kmi.com

changing the mindset of teaching people how to think through a situation rather than looking for the book answer.

Q: How does TECOM utilize LVC and simulated training?

A: Simulation is really a big piece of where we want to go in the future. Marine Corps aviation has been very successful in this. Over the last couple of years we wanted to get our ground combat and logistics combat element more focused on using simulation in similar ways to what aviation does. We started out with the infantry immersion trainer out at Camp Pendleton a few years ago and now Lejeune and Okinawa have them as well. The idea is to immerse individuals in small units into a specific environment that is very realistic. We add in role players that speak the language and understand the culture, and they’ll have to deal with them throughout the exercise.

The great thing about it is that you can repeat things. You can do it over and over again. With simulation you don’t have to be as concerned about injuries to people and paying for everything that goes with it—live ammunition, aircraft, other vehicles, everything.

It’s like a quarterback getting snaps in practice. You can put them out there and do it over and over again, and we have the audiovisual capabilities within these things to record it. So you get back in after you’ve been through it that day and sit down and go through a debriefing.

You can see it; there’s no argument about whether you did something or not, it’s right there. You can talk through it and understand why someone did something and why there may be a better way to do it.

We want to get more and more into those types of things; we’ve been working with Office of Naval Research [ONR], DARPA [Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency] and the other services to advance this. We really feel that this is the way of the future for training. You gain so much. We’re trying to move it as rapidly as we can, despite the fact that we’re going to be limited on where we want to go for the future because of the fiscal situation we’re facing here in the next few years.

Then back to the LSE, with tying in units, other countries, other agencies, we want to do that in the live, virtual and constructive world as well. We’re doing it at the individual level, at the collective level and at the staff level. A lot of the training that we do to prepare staffs for deployment at the higher levels is all done through virtual or constructive training. It’s done off the many simulation assets that we have tying people together the same way.

Q: What are the benefits of using this type of training?

A: It allows us to get the efficiency that we’re looking for and the proficiency out of the Marines or that small unit. It really gives us better combat readiness. The thing we’re really struggling with is where the balance is between live and simulation training. Is there a trade-off somewhere? Do we have to make sure that simulation will only take us so far and then it has to be live? From the [Government Accountability Office] point of view, they look at what is the efficiency of it financially—how much we’re spending or saving. We’ve been working on that for a while and we’re continuing to work on it. We have to give them an answer and we have to give them the best answer we can. We want to continue to show that it’s worthwhile so that we continue to get funding for it.

Q: What are the top three things that TECOM needs from industry to meet its objectives?

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A: We have what we call training, education, science and technology objectives, and that is where this would come from. It’s what we work on with ONR, DARPA and the other services. The main ones that we’re really looking for now and in the future come from what we call SITE [squad immersive training environment]. Then there is FITE [future immersive training environment], so it’s being able to advance that type of training. The three specific top areas are warrior decision making, small unit learning and performance assessment, and warrior resilience. These are the top three that we’re working with industry right now to try and move forward.

Q: How important is TECOM’s relationship with industry?

A: It’s extremely important. We don’t have the ability to produce all these things on our own. It’s the interface that we need. We’re back with the operating forces understanding what their needs are, and then we translate those into training and education objectives, and then we go to industry to find a way to procure those things.

We do most of that through our MARCORSYSCOM [Marine Corps Systems Command] and PM TRASYS [Program Manager for Training Systems]—they’re the ones that we go to work with industry to develop those things. But it’s also through our war fighting lab in the Marine Corps, ONR and DARPA and the other services. If we didn’t have the partnership with industry, there are a lot of things that industry presents to us that we may not have even thought of on our own. They’re here and I talk quite regularly with folks from industry. They listen to where it is where we want to go in the future and they’ll come back sometimes with some really good ideas on how we can do that. Whether it’s a piece of gear or a concept that we can use, we may not have thought of that on our own.

Q: How do you see TECOM evolving over the next decade?

A: I would say we are in a mid-point in the maturity of this organization. It was only created around 2000, and the goal was to pull all of these different organizations together in the Marine Corps to provide the training and the education the operational forces needed in a more collected way. It was a little bit scattered before—we needed to pull all of this together to be more effective and efficient.

We can do a lot better here getting a contract from PM TRASYS or SYSCOM to provide a piece of gear, or people to work ranges, whatever it might be. It’s much more efficient for us to do it for the entire Marine Corps than it is for people all over the Marine Corps to have to do it for themselves.

It also gets everybody together and thinking about training and education in the same way. There’s going to be specific needs. One size doesn’t fit all, but it is a service-level organization to make sure all the mission-essential task items are being met for the Marine Corps. We just reorganized TECOM headquarters to hopefully make it more efficient in getting through the bureaucracy with what we’ve learned from the operational forces. We’ve put together a council called the Training Education Command Requirements Oversight Council; this makes sure, since the organization is so large, that everybody’s aware of what the different arms of the organization are working on and that we are moving in the same direction. We have the directors come in for briefs and vote on some of the major allocation of funding that we do here to make sure that it’s being moved most efficiently and most effectively.

And we’ve done this off of a campaign plan that my predecessor 20 | MT2 18.7

wrote, and I’m putting it into action here. We’re mid-stream in that change. What I see in the future is us being more responsive to the operational forces for what they need and making it easier for them to have us resource and design the meeting of their requirements.

Q: What are the biggest lessons learned from operations in Iraq and Afghanistan?

A: The biggest lesson we learned was the need to be adaptable at both the individual and the organizational level, to be a learning organization. We had a system approach to training that was a little too slow for the environment that we were in: to be able as to train and educate the Marine Corps and quickly capture the things they’re learning out there and create a database of that information, analyze it and turn it around for them to learn and apply.

There are a number of ways that we’ve done that.

It’s important because the environment that they’re operating in changes. I think that’s one of the big lessons learned from Iraq and Afghanistan. You had young corporals and sergeants who are out there and they were in an environment with their squad or platoon that didn’t really have any boundaries like we’re used to in the past, where there was a front line. It was really a company or battalion commander who is responsible for that real estate, and now it could be a corporal or squad leader or a platoon sergeant who’s out there and has to deal with a village. That’s his area of responsibility. He’s dealing with the local population and the leadership in that village, and he doesn’t have time to go back on the radio or the FOB [forward operating base] and discuss with the company commander how to do these things. They have to make those decisions out there on their own. They have done that extremely well, but it’s our responsibility to help train and educate them to be able to do that.

On the training side, we immerse them in that environment as realistically as we can before they deploy. But [we] also [develop] the critical thinking piece of helping them learn how to think through the problem with the information they have, because they have to act. There’s no choice; they can’t call a timeout. You have to give them the tools to be able to do that.

Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?

A: Overall, in both the training and the education realms, we have learned a lot in the last 12 years, and we’re trying to adapt that into our future training and education to the degree that it’s necessary.

In the fiscal environment that we face, there are some of those things that we have killed completely. There are things that were good in the past couple of years, but we don’t see them as necessary for the future. There are not many of those. There are a number of things we have put on the backburner on stand-by mode, because it’s not something we can afford to be spending money on to constantly keep it perfectly updated, but it’s something we want to update at a level that we can pull it off the shelf very quickly and put it back into the training and education environment. Then there are some new things—ITX and LSE, home station training, the culture and education—that we are really going to focus on for the future to include simulation. Even though the funding isn’t there at the level we’d like right now, we’re looking for ways to get it and keep it moving forward at a pace that we’d like. O www.MT2-kmi.com

Convoy Training Transporting and protecting cargo for mission success.

Convoy operations proved to be essential during the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and will likely assume important roles in future conflicts. In an era of asymmetrical and unconventional warfare, where there are no front lines and no area behind the front lines can be assumed to be secure, United States warfighters will have to continue to train on the skills required to safely bring convoys to their destinations.

The experiences of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq have proved that the missions of convoys are not as easy to fulfill as they may appear to the outsider. “Most folks think you just get in the vehicle and drive, but it’s not so simple,” said Lieutenant Colonel Mark Evans, product manager for Ground Combat Tactical Trainers at Program Executive Office Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation (PEO STRI). “You have to have security built into the convoy to protect whatever you’re carrying, whether it is cargo or personnel, to get from Point A to Point B. That’s the only way you accomplish the mission.”

The security piece is what makes convoy training different from other training soldiers may receive. “It’s not just driving cargo trucks, buses, or fuelers,” said Evans. “We don’t have

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By Peter Buxbaum, MT2 Correspondent

units that are convoy units. Any unit can be tasked to take stuff from Point A to Point B, so soldiers have to learn how to do it.”

PEO STRI began to develop trainers that focused on convoy security beginning in 2004. “One thing we learned in Iraq and Afghanistan is that the bad guys get a vote,” said Evans.

“They would litter the roads with improvised explosive devices, so we have to train soldiers on how to clear roads.”

“A wide range of vehicles that represent operational equipment are replicated in convoy training,” said Brad Baker, a product and capabilities specialist at Raydon Corporation, one of the developers of the convoy training suites for PEO STRI. “Convoy training can be conducted on simple desktop trainers, medium fidelity training systems, and very expensive high-fidelity trainers that accurately emulate operational equipment.”

The virtual convoy training system developed by PEO STRI and Raydon provides a mechanism for repeatable crew and battle drills in a stressful, contextually appropriate environment with evaluation and feedback, noted Baker. The skills developed include mission planning; coordination and

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A soldier tests the vehicle simulator at the Virtual Convoy Operations Trainer during the Golden Coyote training exercise in the Black Hills of South Dakota. [Photo Courtesy of DoD]

HMMWV three-dimensional model leading a convoy through realistic virtual terrain [Photo Courtesy of Saab Training USA]

communications procedures; vehicle operations; execution of techniques, tactics and procedures such as vehicle interval security procedures, weapon orientation and immediate action drills; following rules of engagement; action on contact and engaging friendly, neutral and threat forces; and after-action review of convoy operations and mounted combat patrol.

“This training is intended to build a cohesive unit through the practice of repeatable crew and battle drills,” said Baker.

Lt. Col. Mark Evans Units can build scenarios into the system, such as driving a Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck carrying food or water to various locations that match the missions they are training to perform. “Drivers and gunners are immersed in the scenario through a head display so that they can perform tasks such as clearing roads or returning fire at bad guys,” said Evans. “They also learn how to properly deal with traffic. Sometimes when they are operating in a rural area the convoy may not be so concerned with the spacing of vehicles. It can be different in urban area Brad Baker where vehicles have to be closer together. The crew learns different scanning techniques on bbaker@raydon.com how to search for possible enemies. Everyone in every vehicle has to be scanning. You can’t have guys sleeping in the back like they’re going on a family vacation.”

Crews can also use the virtual convoy trainer to practice skills on robotic systems. Soldiers often use the Talon robot system to dispose of explosive materials they may find along their route. “Operators learn how to use the robot in the virtual world,” said Evans. “They use the same controller to operate the robot as they Bob Clydesdale would in the field. The trainer mimics what the system actually does.” bob.clydesdale@saabtraining.com

22 | MT2 18.7

These training systems are computer-based, but that doesn’t mean the solider is sitting at a desk looking at a screen. “Many virtual systems are immersive,” said Evans, “which means that the trainee is something that looks just like a vehicle with a driver’s compartment, gunner’s station and other features.”

Virtual reality training differs from live training in several respects. “Like live training, virtual reality is used for the acquisition and sustainment of knowledge and skills,” said Baker. “Virtual reality can be used to imprint virtual experiences in place of actual experience to assist warfighters prior to combat. VR training is frequently used as a predecessor to live training.”

Saab Training has provided live convoy training for 30 years using the company’s several hundred live-fire and 28 instrumented laser simulation ranges. “Reactive targets, shoot-back systems, portable instrumentation and simulated IED devices are some of the many ways we provide a full range of live tactical training for convoy operations,” said Bob Clydesdale, manager of special projects at Saab Training USA. Saab is now expanding into the virtual training segment with a new commercial off-the-shelf system fielded in Europe and the Middle East that provides realistic presentations and feedback during training exercises. “The driver compartment is typically a full-scale lightweight replica with functional instruments and applicable controls, active steering, switches and buttons,” said Clydesdale. “A panoramic high-resolution visual system gives a photo-realistic environment with a wide variety of terrain data bases. Typical areas such as urban, desert, mountains and jungle are programmed. The virtual environment supports full simulation of lighting and weather conditions as well as night vision optics viewing.”

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A soldier calibrates the .50-caliber simulator for another soldier at the Virtual Convoy Operations Trainer during the Golden Coyote training exercise. [Photo Courtesy of DoD]

Warfighters in an Afghan convoy training scenario. [Photo courtesy of Raydon]

V-Xtract was developed through an Army Small Business InnoA gunnery simulator provides training for individual weapon vation Research grant. Among the innovations included in the sysengagements and collective unit training. The crew compartment tem are the reusable doors and the cutable and reusable seatbelts. is a full-scale mock-up with replicas of different sights and obserThe project has proceeded through a concept phase to a second vation systems using high resolution displays and realistic control prototype phase to the current third phase of a fieldable vehicle. functions. “Wraparound screens display a complete 360-degree Oden expects the V-Xtract to be available in April 2014 and a new, view of the battlefield,” said Clydesdale. “The simulator is made towable version of the system to be available in to fit training in different types of armored vehicles January 2015. and trucks with mounted machine guns to include Important to the future of convoy training weapon stations. The training performance data is is the ability to network a mix of trainers, such recorded and stored on the system for replay, scoras armored fighting vehicles, route clearance ing and after-action review. The instructor has full vehicles, helicopters, and UAVs controlled by control of the exercise.” an instructor and overseen by the unit’s comThe importance of convoy training has given mander. The greatest challenge in networking rise to specialized trainers as well, such as Design different trainers, and in developing pre-inteInteractive’s Vehicle eXtraction Trainer. V-Xtract, grated trainers that will plug and play, is fundas it is called, simulates vehicle rollovers, allowing ing, according to Evans. medics and other personnel to extract victims from Razia Oden, Ph.D. “There needs to be a decision at a higher the wreckage and treat them on the spot. razia.oden@designinteractive.net level,” he said. “Do they want more training sys“Personnel can practice cutting the doors off tems or do they want integration?” the trainer after an IED blast,” said Razia Oden, As it stands now, the Army is trying to satisfy the wants of loa senior research associate at Design Interactive. “The simulacal commanders, some of whom focus on basic skills and some of tor emits smoke and has other effects to replicate a combat whom want their trainees to be able to interact with each other. environment.”

“But we are rapidly moving toward establishing an Army-wide The unit is the shell of a HMMWV connected to support bracbaseline,” said Evans. es and a frame so that it can rotate to one of four orientations: on Virtual training can be used as a key component in preserving its wheels, on the roof, or on either side to simulate a rollover. military readiness and act as a cost saver, according to Baker. “A “When a vehicle rolls over the doors could get jammed, so you virtual reality infrastructure can displace many of the cost drivers have to cut them off,” said Oden. “We include that as part of the associated with training while enhancing proficiency,” he said. “It training, as well as applying care to victims.” is not a matter of developing the most advanced, state of the art A manikin accompanies the simulator and records perforand consequently the most expensive thing out there. The quesmance of medical procedures such as the application of a tourtion becomes what is effective, affordable and available right now? niquet, when, where and how fast it was done, whether it was A strategy with virtual infrastructures as a key component can enapplied correctly or incorrectly. Performance of victim extraction hance readiness and reduce overall training costs.” O tasks is likewise measured and viewed by an instructor.

“The instructors can set the scenario to go through the front For more information, contact MT2 Editor Brian O’Shea driver-side door,” said Oden. “If the crew goes through the back at briano@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives passenger door, that information is collected and fed to the infor related stories at www.mt2-kmi.com. structor in real time on a screen by way of two cameras.”

www.MT2-kmi.com

MT2 18.7 | 23

Special Section: FIRE TRAINING

Preparing DoD

Responders

to be Mission Ready

Reshaping firefighter training at the Louis F. Garland Fire Training Academy at Goodfellow Air Force Base.

By Master Sergeant T.C. Sirmans (Ret.) Considered to be one of the best fire training academies in the world, the Louis F. Garland Fire Training Academy at Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, Texas, has trained thousands of firefighters. Established in 1993, the academy specializes in training firefighters from all branches of the Department of Defense, including Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and civil services. International fire protection specialists also come to train at this facility. The training program is based on rigorous DoD and International Fire Service Accreditation Congress standards, and the academy institutes a curriculum that meets 100 percent of the line items involving training requirements published by the National Fire Protection Agency.

Trainees complete the course ready to command and control incidents involving fire, hazardous materials, rescue, CBRNE events, accidents, or acts of terrorism.

The program’s goal is to develop fire officers and incident commanders proficient in the skills needed to mitigate dangerous 24 | MT2 18.7

situations and prevent or minimize loss of life and damage to property. The mission statement of the Fire Officer course is “Developing the Fire Officers of Today to Command the Fire Service of Tomorrow.”

The Louis F. Garland Fire Training Academy uses the Advanced Disaster Management Simulator (ADMS), developed by ETC Simulation, in their course curriculum. ADMS is an immersive virtual reality training system that allows students to experience true-to-life emergency situations and apply what they have learned in a practical way. Trainees are faced with multiple scenarios that they need to respond to, and the decisions that they make will either escalate or mitigate the incident. The consequences of their decisions are visualized in real time, providing immediate validation of their actions, right or wrong. If they make the wrong decisions, they will see the fire spread, the damage increase and people die.

The training academy spent a lot of time and a lot of money looking for a system that would meet requirements. The

ADMS system stood out because of the level of realism and the accurate portrayal of so many important details. When a responder arrives at a scene in the exercise, the scene looks like it would in the field. It is extremely vital to get the small things right in every detail, because that can make a big difference in identifying hazardous materials or properly handling a missile on a plane.

But ADMS goes beyond impressive graphics—the level and accuracy of the details goes beyond what you physically see, and that’s actually where it really matters.

Aircraft burn accurately, fires spread correctly, plumes spread based on wind speed and direction, and the fire trucks will even run out of water or foam like they do in the real world. This gives students a training experience as close to the real thing as they can get.

The fire academy received their first ADMS system delivery in 2011. The customized ADMS-Airbase system virtually recreates a table top model of a fictitious Air Force Base known as Norma Brown. www.MT2-kmi.com

The Norma Brown model, originally developed and used at Chanute AFB in Illinois, has been used for over three decades. The virtual environment is complete with hangars, runways, flight lines, military-specific aircraft—including the F-16, C-130 and C-5—and residential areas. Additional areas in the virtual environment include an air traffic control tower, ammunition depot, water treatment area, and camping ground.

ADMS will be used together with Norma Brown for training. Adding simulation to the course challenges the trainees in a way that requires them to make immediate, real-time decisions under stress, and complements the training gained in the classroom and with the table top. The chosen simulator is a portable system. This allows the academy to take the training directly to the students. Trainees no longer need to travel to Texas.

Mobile travel teams, called MTTs, are planned to take the portable system and train DoD firefighters across the globe.

With a portable system, they have the opportunity to train DoD firefighters at military bases worldwide and ensure their first responders are properly prepared. The more people trained, the more people will be ready to handle emergency situations, and that is the ultimate goal of the program.

In 2012 the academy expanded their system to include additional scenarios. A third expansion to the training system was just delivered in March 2013. The newest delivery included the addition of four student training stations, one driver training station and three new custom scenarios.

This will allow for more trainees to participate in exercises. The ADMS-Drive station opens up a completely new area of training to the academy. Trainees will now be able to train operational skills for fire vehicles.

The newly added scenarios include a fire in a residential area, a trailer park and a bowling alley that involves a building collapse and search and rescue operations.

The academy staff is looking forward to the new ADMS capabilities and the benefits that the students will realize. They will now be able to provide a more inclusive training curriculum, including driving operations.

The new scenarios will help the students learn to perform in environments they might not have previously had experience training in. Overall, this will only enhance the program. www.MT2-kmi.com

F-16 pilot rescue simulation. [Photo courtesy of ETC Simulation]

Simulation is considered a standard DoD training method and is only expected to continue growing. The benefits of ADMS have been clear since trainees first started using it. Exercises in the simulator force trainees to react in real time to what is happening. Prime recognition decision making, or what is called PRDM, is the ability to quickly determine the problem, find a solution and institute that solution based on previous experiences. We as fireground commanders use our previous experiences to determine our strategy and tactics all the time. By using ADMS, students receive the benefits of those realworld experiences, but firefighters aren’t getting hurt, there’s no equipment to pick up, and there’s lots of time to debrief after the exercise. With live training, they would be spending an enormous amount of time cleaning up after one exercise and preparing for the next. ADMS allows them to be much more time efficient. Simulation absolutely enhances the training process, increases learning retention and improves performance of on-scene first responders.

Training with simulators like ADMS also provides a significant cost savings.

One of the top reasons they chose ADMS was the opportunity to travel with it. It is much more cost effective to send two instructors on the road than to bring students to train on the base. The cost savings extend to in-residence training at the base as well. It is very costly to have the firefighters use resources such as trucks, fuel, and water or foam. There is also a high cost associated with using propane or diesel fuel to start the training fires.

Using ADMS saves $3,000 to $4,000 per student. Based solely on the number of students MTTs trained, the academy will save at least $192,000 a year. Ultimately, ADMS will save millions of dollars and help save lives. O Master Sergeant T.C. Sirmans (Ret.) is a Department of Defense Fire Academy Instructor.

For more information, contact MT2 Editor Brian O’Shea at briano@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.mt2-kmi.com.

MT2 18.7 | 25

UCF Opens Long-Awaited ROTC Building

By Terri M. Bernhardt On November 8, the University of Central Florida (UCF) will host an open house in honor of the new facility for the Army and Air Force ROTCs. The new building, Classroom II, is three stories high and approximately 80,000 square feet with lobby seating, wide hallways and large class space to accommodate the demand of students enrolling in the ROTC programs. In addition, the facility will include a first-floor military history library and recruiting office, while the second-floor will have a 1,533-square foot virtual battle lab. Outside, the building will have a beautiful courtyard with student seating, which connects to the Classroom I building.

“This has been a long process since 1972, living in trailers [and] pre-fabricated buildings, to now [having] a state-of-the-art facility with 80,000 square feet in partnership with both UCF Army and Air Force ROTC programs,” said Jovanna Nelson, Army Reservist, UCF Army ROTC. “Truly a proud moment [that] builds excitement within the cadet ranks. The building is centrally located on campus and is also located next to the veteran’s memorial, which is very fitting. A true inspiration to all students who pass by, but also adds an extra special meaning to our cadets, who are part of the few Americans that raise their right hand to protect and defend our nation.”

UCF’s ROTC program has been in place for over 15 years with the mission to motivate young people to be better Americans.

They call themselves the “Flying Knights,” and the “Fighting Knights Battalion,” and the programs offer a challenging in-college program to develop quality leaders for the United States Army and Air Force.

As cadets, the students are trained in military customs and courtesies while being introduced to all of the rewarding opportunities the Army and Air Force present. The instructors do their best to ensure the cadets grow as individuals and leaders.

Throughout the program, they are mentally and physically prepared for the demands of military service and are taught 26 | MT2 18.7

The Air Force ROTC color guard participants from UCF supporting the AFAMS Change of Command ceremony in August 2013.

[Photo courtesy of Team Orlando]

the leadership skills necessary to succeed as an officer in the U.S. Army or Air Force.

Army ROTC graduates take courses that cover management, ethics, tactics, law, military history and the Army society.

These courses address military organizations, equipment, weapons, map reading and navigation, management skills, grade structure, communications and leadership.

The advanced courses cover specialization in small unit tactics, how to prepare and conduct military training, the military justice system, staff procedures, decision making, and leadership. Students get the opportunity to take these methods learned in the classroom to semi-annual exercises at local training areas.

The Army ROTC program organizes special events throughout the year including ski trips, rappelling and an annual formal. One the students’ favorite events is called the Ranger Challenge. The Ranger Challenge Team competes with other schools throughout Central Florida in physical fitness events and military skills they have learned.

The Air Force ROTC graduates are commissioned as active duty second lieutenants and serve as pilots, combat systems officers, engineers, intelligence officers,

logisticians and aircraft maintenance officers. The program offers training in as many as 40 different career fields.

Up until now, UCF’s ROTC has been housed in trailers located near the Recreation and Wellness Center.

“We are really excited about getting into our new offices and can’t wait to show them off,” stated Ellen McDade, office manager, UCF Air Force ROTC. “The opportunity to move into a permanent facility that allows for growth is very promising. It allows the students to be more centrally located on campus and demonstrates a tangible commitment from the university and the state in supporting the Army and Air Force.”

The program is designed to be executed over four years. However, depending on circumstances and different majors, the programs can be compressed to three years, or extended to five years to accommodate certain situations.

Graduates of UCF’s ROTC programs are prepared for success in any Army or Air Force career. However, participation in the ROTC program does not obligate a student to serve in the Army or Air Force unless he/ she becomes a junior or accepts an ROTC scholarship. With UCF being highly ranked nationally, ROTC cadets have access to many different academic degrees to choose from as well as an award-winning leadership development program.

The Classroom II building was designed

by Bill Martin of Schenkel Shultz Architecture, the same firm that has designed other UCF campus buildings. Classroom II adheres to the leadership in energy and environmental design standards for energy efficiency. This means the facility has better air quality, water usage and energy efficiency and saves 20 to 40 percent of energy and water consumption compared to other buildings.

The open house will be held at Classroom II on Friday, November 8 from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. UCF leadership and local company representatives will attend, along with students and potential ROTC candidates. O www.MT2-kmi.com

The advertisers index is provided as a service to our readers. KMI cannot be held responsible for discrepancies due to last-minute changes or alterations.

MT2 RESOURCE CENTER Advertisers Index Calienté . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 www.calientellc.com/thermaltargets Design Interactive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 www.designinteractive.net Digimation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 www.digimation.com DynCorp International. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 www.dyn-intl.com L-3 Link Simulation & Training. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 www.link.com Meggitt Training Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C2 www.meggitttrainingsystems.com Raydon Corporation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C4 www.raydon.com

Calendar October 21-23, 2013 AUSA Annual Meeting Washington, D.C. www.ausa.org

April 7-9, 2014 Navy League Sea-Air-Space National Harbor, Md. www.seaairspace.org

December 2-5, 2013 I/ITSEC Orlando, Fla. www.iitsec.org

May 12-15, 2014 AUVSI Orlando, Fla. www.auvsi.org

January 29-30, 2014 Marine West Camp Pendleton, Calif. www.marinemilitaryexpos.com/ marine-west.shtml

May 20-22, 2014 ITEC Cologne Messe, Germany www.itec.co.uk

February 19-21, 2014 AUSA’s ILW Winter Symposium & Exposition Huntsville, Ala. www.ausa.org

September 23-25, 2014 Modern Day Marine Quantico, Va. www.marinemilitaryexpos.com/ modern-day-marine.shtml

Captain Karl W. Cirulis L-3 Link Simulation & Training is proud to salute Capt. Karl W. Cirulis.

Capt. Cirulis is a T-6 Instructor Pilot with over 800 instructor hours, who is assigned to the 434th Flying Training Squadron. In 2012, Capt. Cirulis volunteered for MC-12 combat deployment to Afghanistan, where he provided watch for ground convoys, conducted IED route scans, identified potential targets and had zero friendly force casualties.

He received six Air Medals for flying 128 combat sorties and saved four civilians by calling off incoming air support. He has also improved MC-12 squadron training through his work with Special Forces teams. He dedicates this recognition to the four MC-12 airmen that were lost while deployed—Capt. Brandon Cyr, Capt. Reid Nishizuka, SSgt. Richard Dickson and SSgt. Daniel Fannin. We salute Capt. Cirulis and all of the brave men and women who are helping to keep our nation free.

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MT2 18.7 | 27

INDUSTRY INTERVIEW

Military Training Technology

Ron Vadas President Meggitt Training Systems Q: Can you describe Meggitt’s history and evolution?

A: Meggitt Training Systems, a division of Meggitt PLC, is the leading supplier of integrated live-fire and virtual weapons training systems. Following the acquisition of FATS virtual training systems and Caswell International’s live-fire ranges and services, we have continued to grow our capabilities based on the legacy of these two industry leaders. Over 13,000 Meggitt live-fire ranges and 5,100 virtual systems are fielded internationally, providing judgmental, situational awareness, tactical and marksmanship training to armed forces, law enforcement and security organizations.

We employ more than 400 people at our headquarters in Atlanta and at facilities in Orlando, Canada, the United Kingdom, Netherlands, UAE, Australia and Singapore. Service personnel can deploy anywhere in the world for instructor training, system installation and maintenance.

Q: What are some of your key products in the DoD training and simulation industry?

A: The FATS M100 simulator series supports multiple training modes using a flexible system architecture that allows the integration of hardware and software components such as third party advanced gaming engines.

Our BlueFire wireless weapon simulators provide the highest level of realism in simulation by maintaining form, fit and function. BlueFire weapons use Bluetooth technology to communicate with the training system, giving the same control and sensor capabilities as tethered weapons but without the associated movement restrictions.

The Indirect Fire-Forward Air Control Trainer supports training for Joint Terminal Attack Controllers, Joint Forward Observers, Naval Gunfire Observers and Fire Support Planning. Training objectives are achieved through a variety of solutions including classroom and laptop-based 28 | MT2 18.7

in technology that looks beyond today to future possibilities. As a result of this approach, we feel we are well-positioned to support the training needs of not only today’s military, but the armed forces of tomorrow.

Q: What is Meggitt’s connection with the defense community?

systems as well as options that can be bundled with our FATS M100 based Small Arms Trainer.

Our Next Generation Live Fire [NGLF] product line, which includes lightweight target lifters coupled with advanced networked control systems for both infantry and armored applications, has recently been released. Our solutions are scalable allowing for the same user features to be implemented on small ranges as well as in larger installations. Specialized target systems for applications such as entry control point training are also available.

Q: What are some of the new training/ simulation technologies Meggitt Training Systems is developing?

A: Building upon the FATS M100, we have developed several innovative products to enhance the training programs of our customers worldwide. To enrich the training experience, we are integrating 3-D enhanced lanes [marksmanship] training, as well as through-sight simulation capabilities into our systems.

Q: How are you positioned for the future within the military?

A: Because we are part of a large international corporation, we are able to invest in future training capabilities. Over the past few years we have completed a number of internal R&D initiatives including the FATS M100 and NGLF projects. At Meggitt, R&D is a continuous process based on customer input and advancements

A: Approximately 80 percent of Meggitt Training Systems’ current business is in partnership with U.S. and allied defense forces. We also have significant relationships with several of the defense industry’s largest tier one primes and work to foster ties with small businesses that support the defense community.

Q: What is an example of your success in the military, and what are some of your goals [specific to the training/simulation industry] over the next year?

A: We have always viewed success through the eyes of our customers. We continue to see expanded contracts, system upgrades, new range design and development. We work with customers to stay ahead of their future needs and ensure they are equipped for tomorrow’s training challenges Q: How do customers benefit from Meggitt’s varied resources and expertise?

A: Our successes are rooted in virtual and live fire programs that are adaptive, advanced and feature state-of-the art equipment and processes. We understand the training needs of today’s defense forces and can adapt quickly as requirements evolve.

Q: How do you measure success?

A: The long-standing relationship that we enjoy with many of our customers and their ability to train effectively is how we define success. Our commitment to customer service and technological advancement shows in our products and our longterm partnerships. O

rvadasmtsi@meggitt.com www.MT2-kmi.com

I/ITSEC Issue NEXTISSUE

December 2013 Vol. 18, Issue 8

America's Longest Established Simulation & Training Magazine

Cover and In-Depth Interview with:

Dr. James Blake PEO PEO STRI

Special Section NAVAIR Who’s Who A look at the leadership and top 10 contracts of one of the Navy’s largest commands, Naval Air Systems Command. Also includes an exclusive interview with Captain John P. Feeney of the Naval Aviation Training Systems program office (PMA-205).

Command Profile: United States Army Special Operations Aviation Command

Features 2014 Look Ahead Industry leaders discuss how the market for model and simulation training solutions will evolve over the next year.

MOUT Training

Embedded Training

Simulator Upgrades

Military operations can take place all over the globe, so warfighters need to be prepared for any environment for mission success— including urban settings. The U.S. military has some of the most sophisticated military operations on urban terrain training facilities in the world.

Systems that are currently being fielded sometimes have training systems embedded within them to train the warfighter while deployed. These training systems are crucial to maintaining combat readiness.

When funds are not available to purchase new simulators for training, it is vital for military commands to update or upgrade simulators in use to maintain the highest fidelity possible to train the warfighter.

HMMWV Gunnery Ground vehicles such as HMMWVs are key components in almost any ground operation, and warfighters need to be trained to defend or assault a position when the situation arises.

Insertion Order Deadline: November 4, 2013 • Ad Materials Deadline: November 11, 2013