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Q&A: Dr. James T. Blake
Written by Marty Kauchak
Ensuring Warfighters Receive World-Class
Training Solutions and Services
Dr. James T. Blake
Program Executive Officer
U.S. Army PEO STRI
Blake retired as an Army colonel after a distinguished military career. In his last assignment, Blake was the Army’s senior uniformed scientist. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, the Defense Systems Management College and the U.S. Army War College. He has a Ph.D. in computer science from Duke University.
Following his military career, Blake held several technical and executive positions in industry before joining academia where he served as a senior research scientist at Texas A&M University. While at Texas A&M, Blake joined the Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Command as the program manager for the Institute for Creative Technologies.
In March 2003, he became a member of the Senior Executive Service. From March 2003 until June 2005, Blake served as the deputy program executive officer for PEO STRI.
Q: Please discuss how PEO STRI is enabling mission- and theater-specific training for the increased number of soldiers deploying to Afghanistan.
A: Although the theater of combat operations in Afghanistan is completely different than that in Iraq, we are reusing and refocusing many of the training technologies.
For example, we have built new training scenarios for the Engagement Skills Trainer 2000 to teach soldiers how to react in sniper situations.
We also added the Afghanistan database—through Synthetic Environment Core—into the Common Driver Trainer because, as you certainly know, the terrain in Afghanistan is much different from that in Iraq. Through this simulation, soldiers learn how to drive on a terrain laden with mountains, caves and narrow roadways.
Furthermore, we’ve added the mine clearing equipment from the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization into our Virtual Route Clearance Trainer so soldiers can train in route clearing operations before they get to Afghanistan.
On top of all that, we’re also equipping soldiers with the necessary tools to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people. While it’s important to defeat the enemy, it’s equally important to protect and save the indigenous population. We accomplish this through two primary training tools: the Vcommunicator Mobile and the Intelligence Electronic Warfare Tactical Proficiency Trainer.
Q: Given the latest Army training guidance, what efforts are being taken to harness the live-virtual-constructive environment for your service’s soldiers?
A: As you well know, we’ve been talking about an integrated live, virtual and constructive training environment for quite some time now. I’m pleased to say we’re now seeing this concept come to reality.
An event that took place at Fort Hood, Texas, this October is one such example. The event ran combat-outfitted squads through a mobile operations on urban terrain [MOUT] facility. Equipped with paintball guns—intended to mimic M16s—soldiers low-crawled to get into the MOUT building. Once inside, their senses were overwhelmed with lighting effects and loud sounds. Enemy role players shot at the squads with paintball guns. They put the soldiers in situations where they had to make survival decisions as a team while under fire.
The event included two PEO STRI training devices: the Engagement Skills Trainer 2000 and the Medical Simulation Training Center. These trainers made the squads decide whether or not to collect body parts, apply tourniquets to fallen comrades, neutralize the enemy and/or quickly move to safety as a team.
This is one such example; we’re starting to see more and more of these integrated training environments. I’m proud of this accomplishment because it affords soldiers the training fidelity they need before they’re put in the actual combat situation.
Q: Please share with us PEO STRI’s recent rapid acquisition success for fielding a training device for the MRAP all terrain vehicle [M-ATV].
A: The first three M-ATV Egress Trainers were fielded to Afghanistan this October. We were able to rapidly deliver these trainers by working in close collaboration with the Joint Program Office MRAP, Red River Army Depot and the Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center.
In order to get both the Common Driver Trainer [CDT] and MRAP Egress Trainer [MET] for the vehicle into the hands of the warfighter quickly, we used some of the M-ATV test assets from Aberdeen Proving Ground. Additionally, we leveraged the success of the existing MRAP CDT and MET programs to rapidly field the M-ATV variant.
Q: Outline your scheduled 2010 outreach efforts and program briefing schedule for industry.
A: In 2010, PEO STRI will continue to support the overseas contingency operations and our traditional customers, the combatant commanders and the other program executive offices, while expanding our outreach to non-traditional customers including the Joint Forces Command, our sister services, the Army National Guard, Army Reserve, the Department of Homeland Security and other federal customers.
Opportunities to support our existing and broadened customer base will be announced in our annual Training and Simulation Industry Symposium June 7-8, 2010, in Orlando, Fla. Like in the past, we will provide individual program briefings of projected contracting opportunities.
We also encourage our industry partners to continually check our Opportunities Portal on the PEO STRI Website [www.peostri. army.mil] for announcements and other industry day meetings.
Q: Discuss your efforts to bolster PEO STRI’s acquisition efficiencies, including staffing the Acquisition Center and streamlining the acquisition process.
A: Over the past year, we’ve certainly made some significant strides in our Acquisition Center.
Of course, nothing would be possible in the Acquisition Center without a fully staffed, highly qualified contracting work force. In the last six months, we’ve hired more than 30 senior and junior contracting professionals. We’re very close to where we need to be with the quantity and quality of our contracting work force.
Secondly, we’ve awarded the three pillar contracts to support the PEO STRI mission: the Warfighter Field Operations Customer Support [FOCUS] contract, the second STRI Omnibus Contract [STOC II], and the Systems Engineering and Technical Assistance [SETA] contract.
Thirdly, we’ve made several organizational changes in the Acquisition Center. We’ve established a cost and price team, a system team and a policy team. These teams help to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our Acquisition Center. Furthermore, we’ll be bringing on three military procurement officers in the near future in an effort to offer our contracting operations an institutional and operational perspective.
Q: A help wanted list: discuss the three top training technology challenges you need support from industry and the academic community to solve.
A: First, I’d like to commend the support that industry and academia continue to provide us, which allows us to be highly responsive to the warfighter. They are receptive in meeting our needs so that we can meet the needs of our servicemen and women.
Of course, we’re always in need of new or improved training technologies. One need would be highly scalable and wireless mobile ad hoc networks and waveforms to support radio communications in the live training and testing environment.
We’re also interested in computer platform virtualization strategies to pool the resources of several applications within a federation.
Lastly, the capability to make terrain changes on-the-fly is on our radar right now. We’re seeking the ability to rapidly distribute terrain and feature data among networked simulators and simulations.
Q; From the Army’s perspective, discuss several shortfalls with the state of DoD joint training. As a follow-up, how is PEO STRI helping to close the gaps in joint training?
A: When you ask this question across the board, I think you’ll find out—from all of the services—that we’re all fully on-board and invested in joint training.
There are a few bumps in the road, however. For one, joint training requirements are not well-defined. And second, declining research and development budgets make it difficult to develop new modeling and simulation capabilities for joint training.
Nevertheless, we can overcome these issues—and we are— because there’s a definite value in joint training.
In June 2008, PEO STRI signed a memorandum of agreement with the U.S. Joint Forces Command to help develop joint requirements and assist with contracting, acquisition and material development support as needed.
We have a dedicated field service representative assigned to U.S. Joint Forces Command to coordinate these activities.
Additionally, we stood up an office, called Joint Coalition Simulation Systems, to manage joint training activities. This office works closely with the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, known as JIEDDO, on a number of crucial projects that support explosive ordnance disposal and counter IED training. ♦