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Battlefield commanders face many scenarios requiring fast
decisions—attacking an enemy position, evacuating injured
warfighters, navigating unfamiliar terrain. Each situation
pushes leaders to make quick yet informed choices.
To
enhance these decision-making capabilities, especially for
small-unit leaders, the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines (2/6)
—“The Spartans”— recently held a weeklong exercise called
Spartan Emerging Technology and Innovation Week at Camp
Lejeune, North Carolina. The event, also called Spartan
Week, featured various training technologies—from
quadcopters to augmented reality—developed with support from
the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to accelerate the
development of decision-making skills.
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November 16, 2016 - Marines test out the HoloLens during a training
exercise geared towards the development and strengthening of small
unit-decision making at Camp Lejeune, NC. The HoloLens is an
augmented reality system designed to overlay digital information on
top of the real world. The Marines that tested the new equipment are
with 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. (U.S.
Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Kaitlyn V. Klein)
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“We are
working with 2/6 to develop a suite of new training tools
that are easy to implement, tailorable to Marines' needs and
include the ability to assess decision-making skills.” said
Dr. Peter Squire, a program officer in ONR's Expeditionary
Maneuver Warfare and Combating Terrorism Department.
“Exercises like Spartan Week enable the Marine Corps to
better examine the use of training technologies to improve
tactical decision-making at the small-unit level.”
During Spartan Week, Marines used several ONR-sponsored
technologies. These included the Interactive Tactical
Decision Game (I-TDG) with an associated augmented-reality
headset, the Augmented Immersive Team Trainer (AITT) and a
quadcopter-based system for surveying and modeling terrain
quickly.
I-TDG is a web technology-based application
that allows Marines to plan missions and conduct “what if”
tactical-decision games or simulation-based exercises. It
supports maps and multimedia tools and links to ONR's
HoloLens augmented-reality headset.
AITT comprises a
laptop, software and battery pack, and helmet-mounted
display—and can support forward-observer training in live
field environments. It employs augmented reality technology,
which inserts virtual objects into a real environment, to
create realistic tactical scenarios—including friendly and
opposing ground vehicles, aircraft and battlefield effects
such as explosions from mortar shells and artillery.
To rapidly develop terrain models to support these
technologies, Marines were trained to operate a prototype,
quadcopter-based terrain-mapping system. Two Camp Lejeune
training sites were flown over and mapped out, and the
resulting imagery was used to build terrain models for the
training systems.
“Small-unit leaders are tasked
with making big mission decisions in an extremely short time
window,” said Natalie Steinhauser, a senior research
psychologist at Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems
Division in Orlando, Florida who took part in Spartan Week.
“These decisions not only impact the success or failure of a
mission, they affect life and death. With technologies like
I-TDG, Marines can perform simulated missions in a safe
classroom environment, carry out multiple missions and even
use I-TDG as an after-action review tool.”
Steinhauser said Camp Lejeune's Spartan Week was a success
and that another event will be held at another location in
early 2017. Perhaps the real measures of success, however,
are endorsements from Marines who participated.
“For
me, the best part of I-TDG was recreating simulated battles
we conducted during past field exercises and using the
system as a debrief on what we did wrong and how we could be
better,” said Lt. Andrew Veal. “Like athletes watching game
film, you really experienced that ‘a-ha' moment.”
“The Spartan Week technology enabled all Marines, from squad
leaders to riflemen, to evaluate their ability to make fast
decisions,” said Cpl. Fredrick Zuberer. “Marines tend to
focus on using their bodies as weapons, but the most
important weapon is the mind. Spartan Week helped sharpen
that weapon beyond just pulling a trigger.”
By Navy Warren Duffie, Office of Naval Research
Contractor for
ONR Corporate Strategic Communications
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2017
The U.S. Marines
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