JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. — Technology is growing fast and the military is making moves to adapt. Modularity and optimization have become staple talking points amongst innovators. We are seeing emerging private sector technologies popping up into the military training environment.
The future is now.
The 621st Contingency Response Group recently unveiled their new Virtual Reality and Training Facility at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, bringing innovation into the learning environment for the joint base.
“This building, this facility was made with grass roots,” said U.S. Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Roscoe Tamondong, 621st CRG group training superintendent. “[It’s] just a bunch of people trying to make it happen and now we’ve created additional space for learning or training.”
The space boasts a modular classroom layout and a Virtual Reality training room where two service members can do simulated training at the same time.
“VR can be very helpful because you can see how things work, go through it and test some stuff out before actually doing it,” said Senior Airman Isaac Landis, 108th Wing aircraft structural technician and Aircraft Battle Damage Evaluator course student. “It definitely gives you a little bit more of an edge than just talking about it.”
The facility has over 800 VR courses that service members assigned to various career fields can use. The modular classroom was also being put to immediate use to host an ABDE course.
According to Tamondong, the ABDE course is a direct response to lessons learned through studies, tests, wargaming and simulations. By teaching maintainers diagnostic and triage principles, they can decide if we need to recover, repair or scrap an asset, thus creating a force multiplier.
The course provided maintainers assigned to various squadrons with a shared learning environment that began at the CRG VR and Training Facility and ended in the 305th Air Mobility Wing sheet metal shop.
“I think the best benefit is that we are all from other places coming together,” said Master Sgt. John Parillo, 150th Special Operations Squadron crew chief and ABDE course instructor. “We’re not going temporary duty, but there’s enough organizations here to learn from each other.”
Tamondong said the new training space can be utilized by any uniformed member to include joint partners. He said to expect to see more classes hosted, such as Tactical Combat Casualty Care courses, Combat Arms Training and Maintenance courses and many others.
Whether members want to log training hours using the VR environment or take advantage of the 24/7 access to the modular classrooms, the CRG VR and Training Facility is ready to take training a step into the future.