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FORT RILEY, Kan. (April 11, 2012) -- As current and future
enemies attempt to adapt to the Army's tactics, techniques and
procedures down range, counteraction seems to be a critical aspect
of the training mission stateside.
Soldiers training at Fort
Riley have the advantage of one of the Army's first computer-based
mission training complexes. The MTC is integrated with other
training capabilities that form the digital training campus that
opened in June 2009.
April 10 2012 - Using the Virtual Battle Space 2 program in the mission training complex Gaming Lab, Soldiers create personal avatars and enter into a realistic virtual mission scenario, tailored to meet their unit's training needs.
Photo by Pamela Redford, Fort Riley Public Affairs |
The 160,000-square-foot Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design gold-certified building is just one of
many resources at Fort Riley's Regional Training Campus -- a
major facet in the new Forces Command Regional Collective
Training Capability concept. Fort Riley was identified as an
RCTC-host installation in July 2011, one of 27 in the Army,
because of its centralized location and efficient training
capabilities.
The MTC plays a vital role in the RCTC
initiative because it provides an integrated training
environment where skills are built with cutting-edge
technology in support of the Army Digital Training Strategy
-- all before a Soldier ever sets foot in the field.
"In this era of budget constraints, one of the key
efficiencies in training is virtual, constructive and gaming
training before doing it live," said Tim Livsey, director,
Fort Riley's Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization
and Security.
It's efficient, Livsey said. Soldiers
can use the MTC's many computers, individually or
collectively, to set up simulations based on their unit's
training needs. Simulations also can be linked to unit
components in widespread locations for large scale training
or can be limited to a squad or platoon.
On an
individual level, the campus's Engagement Skills Trainer
allows Soldiers to qualify with a weapon in an arcade-type
system before actually going out on the range. This
pre-training, or gated training strategy, allows Soldiers to
build their skill sets on virtual trainers at a pittance of
taxpayer dollars rather than the expense of training on the
range with real bullets, Livsey said.
"It's
efficient, saves money, saves time, and the Soldier enters
the live-training phase at a higher level of training than
if he entered at square zero," Livsey said.
On a
collective level, Unified Endeavor 12-01, a three-week joint
and combined command post exercise last January, allowed
Soldiers with the 3rd Infantry, 1st Cavalry and 101st
Airborne divisions; contractors, observers, trainers and
senior mentors with the Mission Command Training Program,
Fort Leavenworth, Kan.; select leadership with the Afghan
national security forces; Soldiers with the Polish and
French Armies and Soldiers with V Corps in Germany to
participate in the training event from remote locations in
preparation for the "Big Red One's" Headquarters deployments
to Afghanistan in 2012.
Active and Reserve components
have used the MTC, as well as ROTC cadets, SWAT teams and
other groups in the region, Livsey added.
"By
leveraging this technology, you're not shooting as many
bullets and burning as much fuel in the training area," said
Bill Raymann, chief, Training Division, DPTMS.
And
not only is the MTC efficient with time and taxpayer
dollars, the training is the best in the Army, Livsey said.
Based on a unit's training needs, the MTC can:
- Provide contract and resource management
- Provide training for low-density Battle Command Systems with
22 separate classes
- Provide "train the trainer" assistance for new simulation
equipment training, software version releases and contract
instructor certification on Battle Command Systems
- Provide technical subject matter experts relating to
simulations, training infrastructure or Battle Command Systems
training
- Coordinate for and provide additional personnel to support
training and exercise events
- Perform configuration management for software and integrate
equipment and systems in classrooms, work cells and other
activities
- Coordinate for the maintenance of simulation and hardware
- Provide representation at the program management review and
training-related venues
- Provide gaming and convoy training at map sites at Fort
Riley; the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, Calif.; Joint
Readiness Training Center, Fort Polk, La.; Korea, Iraq and
Germany
- Provide staff training at company, battalion, brigade and
division levels.
All of the MTC's facilities are linked by an internal local area
network and are re-configurable to support a multitude of
multi-echelon training scenarios, said Randall Curry, chief, MTC.
Using the Gaming Lab's Virtual Battle Space 2 program, the
Army's approved off-the-shelf training game, MTC staff can replicate
every vehicle and aircraft in NATO's inventory, versus buying
separate simulations.
"Just about anything you can imagine,
we can do in here. It's constantly evolving," Curry said.
Curry and his staff set the training conditions to be as specific
and realistic as possible to try to replicate the environment
Soldiers will face during deployment, he said.
"Because it's
a game, you can make it do whatever you want. You can load in your
personal statistics, your (physical training) test, marksmanship
skills -- and your avatar in the game will react like you do," Curry
said.
Using this technology is so effective, Curry said,
because young Soldiers already love gaming; they do it daily.
"It's like Soldier Disneyland," Livsey said. "We have a great
suite of live-training capability currently on Fort Riley. We have
state-of-the-art, best in the Army, virtual training capability. We
are cutting edge right now."
Along with the Warrior Skills
Trainer, the Virtual Battle Space 2 serves as the primary convoy and
improvised explosive device trainer, said Anthony Dokes, digital
system integration manager, MTC.
Another virtual training
program Soldiers can use is the Intelligence Electronic Warfare
Tactical Proficiency Trainer, or IEW-TPT. Before a deployment,
Soldiers must learn cultural awareness and be prepared to
communicate with an interpreter. These skills can be vital to the
mission.
With the IEW-TPT, Soldiers learn how to ask the
interpreter good questions so they can gather information from
community leaders and take it back to the convoy to complete a
mission, Curry said.
The MTC also has reconfigurable
classroom space, up to seven rooms, to teach all the different
battle command systems utilized by commanders and their staff to
create an up-to-date common operating picture of the battlefield,
Dokes said.
The Unit Command Post of the Future Trainer,
Fixed-Reconfigurable Vehicle Simulator and Reconfigurable Tactical
Operations Center also are facets of the MTC that units can tap into
to fulfill their training needs.
The MTC has many components,
but what they have in common is they all allow for multi-echelon
training, Livsey said.
Training at the MTC is enhanced
because units can multitask by training Soldiers working on
different levels on the same scenario at the same time frame.
A Soldier can stair step his training by working on an
individual skill set, then mix with others in a crew-training
device, eventually building toward a company-sized element, while
commanders simultaneously move units and monitor the battlefield.
This Blended Integrated Training Environment concept allows
Soldiers to "see" each other through tactical systems and work
together for the same purpose, while saving the Army time and money
in the process, Raymann said.
"They are achieving training
objectives just the way they would be operating out in the field ...
where it would take you all day to do one live-fire iteration, you
could go through it eight times (during the same time period) at the
MTC," he said.
The MTC is used to not only train Fort Riley
Soldiers, Livsey said, but it also is truly a Regional Collective
Training Capability for the Joint, Interagency, Intergovernmental
and Multinational partners in the region.
By Army Pamela Redford, Fort Riley Public Affairs
Army News Service
Copyright 2012
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