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Save time, money, train virtually

  • Published
  • By Sgt. Anita VanderMolen
  • 129th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --  Service members received virtual training on the Reconfigurable Vehicle Tactical Trainer prior to deployment at the National Guard Bureau Joint Training and Training Development Center March 13, 2013, here.

The military is cutting costs by using virtual training for military personnel to experience a variety of wartime scenarios in a cost-effective and time-efficient way as budgets are being cut across the country.

"Instituting virtual training for military personnel to experience a variety of wartime scenarios is a cost effective and time efficient way to experience the real thing," said Sgt. 1st Class Jonnie Horne, 1st Battalion, 307th Infantry Regiment, 174th Infantry Brigade Counter-IED instructor.

Vehicle training was Previously conducted only in the field. Field training requires coordination with other units for fuel, ammunition, personnel and equipment. The simulator is not subject to weather, time or supplies.

"We can train three or four units per day versus one in the field," said Bret Bussman, RVTT principal training and development specialist. "There are no limits."

"For example, getting helicopter assistance for some training requires coordination three months in advance and a lot of money," said Bussman. "We just create air support in the simulation trainer. There is no added cost to units."

Cost is not the only concern for training units. Time is also a consideration.
The virtual trainer can be scheduled from a basic to special-forces-training level for a length of an hour and a half to six hours depending on the type and depth of training requested, said Bussman. Service members can train without the chance of a vehicle accident like they could in the field.

Staff members can create various scenarios to benefit all military branches.

The scenario simulation was a convoy set in Bagram, Afghanistan. Military members practiced spotting and reacting to improvised explosive devices and communication between convoy vehicles and headquarters.

"It requires us to think as a convoy unit," said Capt. Jay Turner, Defense Logistics Agency supply corps officer, Washington D.C.

Convoy members can hear the 'ping' of simulated shots fired at the vehicle in the trainer. They feel their seat jolt during a roadside bomb explosion and the weapon kick when it's fired. Surround screens depict civilian vehicles, people and animals in a 100-square-kilometer radius. Time can be set for day or nighttime operations.

"It is total emersion with surround screens," said Bussman. "The database is as close as they can get to real areas from eastern Afghanistan to the Pakistan border."

"With generational changes, kids understand the virtual trainer," said Turner. "It makes more sense."

"Simulation is the way to go," said Bussman.