An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Article Display

JB-MDL showcases capabilities at Military STEM Expo

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Gustavo Gonzalez
  • 621st Contingency Response Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --  As each rain drop hit the windows at the Joint Training and Training Development Center (JT2DC) at JB MDL, it made a constant tapping sound as a crowd of young men and women were hurried into a small room.

"Lets go, quickly quickly!" shouted Sgt. 1st Class Samuel Grimes, a U.S. Army instructor.

"If I find you shooting each other, you're going to have to explain yourself! This ain't your back home shooting stuff up!"

Grimes continued to brief on a military program called Virtual Interactive Combat Environment (VICE), used to train all services of the armed forces and local police departments on combat using virtual reality. 

The VICE stop at the JT2DC was one of many for more than 400 local middle and high school students from approximately nine high schools during the Military Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Expo here May 3.

The event showcased the technology and capabilities of the Joint Base and included briefings from Air Force, Army and Navy personnel. In addition to the VICE hands on experience at the Army National Guard JT2DC, the students were given a tour of KC-10 Extender and C-17 Globemaster III aircraft, the Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape school, and a capabilities demonstration with the 621st Contingency Response Wing, along with tours of other units.

"We are showing our joint base military capabilities and also using this as recruiting by letting them know what we do to get them interested in the military," said Senior Master Sgt. Michael English, the diversity program lead at the 305th Air Mobility Wing.
According to English, the number of students attending has tripled since last year's event and is largely attributed to the expansion of the number of units involved this year.

"Last year we had about 150 students," he said. "Our big push this year was to push it from just a Wing STEM Expo to a joint base. So this has been on a much larger scale and it will now be an annual Joint Base event hosted by the 305th AMW that will have all of the services involved."

Hubert McQueen, a guidance counselor at University High School in Newark, N.J., believes that learning about the military installation is great experience for the students.

"This is a very good opportunity for our students to learn about the military and all that the military provides in respect to training, support and serving our country," he said.
According to McQueen, this event is also encouraged growth in the students' development.

"The students can learn a sense of maturity, direction and purpose," he said. "There's a lot of decisions they have to make and we have several students that have expressed interest in perusing the military after high school."

After the VICE briefing, the students had to opportunity to try the virtual reality program for themselves. Each carried a made-for-training M-4. When the virtual scenario began, shots fired recklessly at anything and everything that moved, most missing all of the targets.

At the end of their 15 minute virtual reality experience, a student rubbed his arm that he relied on heavily to carry his weapon and turned to an Airman and said, "You must lift weights every day, huh?"

The Airman smiled back and nodded.