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HOHENFELS, Germany — Behind the wheel of a 55,000-pound M2A3 Bradley tank a Soldier approaches his objective. Timing is a matter of life and death. He takes enemy fire. Lives are at stake. He positions himself to provide suppressive fire for his platoon. Artillery fire rains down stopping him dead in his tracks. Game over. But with the click of a mouse, he’ll have another chance.
The Army is faced with an age-old problem. It must downsize and feel the pain of fiscal constraints. Regardless, the Army must find a way to train despite dwindling resources. So the Army turns to the next best thing: simulation.
“Pretty much it’s just a big game,” said Pfc. Chandler Stover, an infantryman and one of the participants in the simulated scenario involving a battalion, or about 500 Soldiers.
It’s called the Joint Conflict and Tactical Simulation, or JCATS for short, and it brings virtual reality to an adapting Army. Seated inside a warehouse, Stover sits at the levers behind a battalion’s worth of combat power.
The JCATS software program is a constructive battlefield simulation involving multiple vehicles and weapons all within the fingertips of Soldiers of every rank.
Stover’s explanation of the simulation seems simple, but the system encompasses Combined Resolve III in its entirety — a multinational exercise taking place out of Hohenfels and Grafenwoehr, Germany, involving more than 4,000 troops from 18 different countries.
What’s more, the exercise and the simulation include Soldiers approximately 7,000 miles away in Fort Hood, Texas.
An online virtual chatroom makes communication between Fort Hood and Germany possible, said Cpt. Reed Timme, an armor officer with 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division in Fort Hood.
However, communication across the pond hasn’t been without its challenges.
“Even though the mode of communication changes, the elements of mission command do not change,” said Timme. “We still need to know information mentioned before: location of the enemy, location of friendlies, what the enemy is doing and what we are doing in relation to both time and space.”
With the Army downsizing and money becoming slim, training opportunities on the ground become scarce, said 1st Lt. Jeremiah Cioffi, and intelligence officer with 1st Sqdn., 7th Cav. Regt.
“This brings us new hurdles that need to be overcome, which will make it more seamless in battle and when we go and do training out in the field,” said Cioffi.
By providing the elements one brigade cannot supply on its own, the simulation possesses the capacity to simulate an entire war. This becomes especially important when considering the upper echelons of brigades.
However, units are limited by equipment and money. Even though a brigade comes to Hohenfels to train, they may only have one or two battalions available to them, said John Kroeker, the director of simulations for the Joint Multinational Training Center.
“That is where our design comes from, to facilitate those desires and those needs that cannot be filled by live bodies,” said Kroeker. “We make the fog of war, we make the sizeable enemy that creates a complex training environment, a difficult learning curve the staff personnel at various echelons need.”
The simulation provides multiple elements of battle. For example, in a training exercise, the use of something similar to artillery or an Apache Helicopter, would not only be expensive, but would also present several safety problems.
With the use of the JCATS, adding artillery fire to a battle becomes a possibility because it can interact with the people in the exercise.
In the exercise, all of the Soldiers and vehicles are equipped with Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System gear, similar to laser tag. Soldiers and role players are synced into JCATS via a GPS signal, which means they can simulate taking fire in a battle.
In addition to the Soldiers participating in the exercise receiving training, many of the Soldiers running the simulation get the opportunity to train as well.
By placing Soldiers in charge of varies various aspects of the simulation, many Soldiers learn skills they wouldn’t learn in the military occupation specialty.
“Being a [communication] specialist I don’t really know a lot about field artillery,” said Cpl. Nikcole Shay a signal support systems specialist with the 1st Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. “But working with my [field artillery automated tactical data systems specialists] I’ve learned not only a lot about my field artillery guys and how much work go into a fire mission.”
Along with cross training, junior enlisted Soldiers get the opportunity to step into leadership roles.
Many of the junior enlisted Soldiers working on the simulation are stepping into the roles of battalion commander and have to make decisions from a different perspective.
“It’s something every Soldier should get the chance to do,” said Spc. Lathan Fann a field artillery automated tactical data systems specialist with the 1st Bn., 82nd FA. “You get to see how things work on a different level.”
| Date Taken: | 11.06.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 11.06.2014 15:18 |
| Story ID: | 147231 |
| Location: | HOHENFELS, DE |
| Web Views: | 93 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, The Simulated Story, by SGT Marcus Floyd, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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