Training for Irregular Warfare
Written by Jasmin Hughes
MT2 2009 Volume: 14 Issue: 5 (September/October)
In May, 2009, the U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) released the new irregular warfare vision designed to help develop our joint forces to be as effective in irregular warfare as they are in conventional warfare.
In mid-September Team Orlando hosted the Irregular Warfare Training Symposium in Orlando, Fla., to help communicate some of the new irregular warfare concepts for training. The symposium included a mix of about 200 military operators and trainers from the Services, Joint Staff/OSD, SOCOM, JFCOM, Canada, and a wide variety of cognition/decision making/small unit training experts from industry and academia. Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya, U.S. JFCOM, provided the keynote address on the first day and discussed the military's need to improve small unit training. BG Sean MacFarland kicked off the second day with a Warfighter’s perspective derived from his BCT Command tour in Ramadi (2006). Following his presentation, other speakers and attendees at the symposium outlined the current state of small unit training and identified goals for the future.
Experts in military, science and research offered information on developments in their respective domains. One of the focal points was the need to develop military small unit training to be equivalent to the already successful simulation and training programs for individual and larger team training. A panel of noted professionals in the technology industry provided insight. Attendees heard discussions about progress in virtual human programs and how that technology is beneficial to simulation training, and how virtual humans can respond verbally; use limited facial and nonverbal gestures, and track user’s movements.
The study of human behavior and team performance is also gaining recognition as it continues to improve small unit training methods. The symposium drew on the deep local talent within Team Orlando at UCF, NAWCTSD and ARI in this low density field of study to enhance the discussion and further JFCOM’s vision. Human Behavior specialist Greg Williams spoke on training soldiers with non-technical solutions based on cognitive sense-making. He explained that using cognitive problem solving is cost efficient and greatly reduces the number of casualties in irregular warfare.
Participants formed into groups focusing on: team decision making; joint enabling capabilities; mission rehearsal; and measurement, assessment and evidence based training. The two day symposium fostered discussion among the groups which may lead to expanded training programs for our joint military small units. More information is available at: http://www.teamorlando.org/conference/index.shtml.
About Team Orlando
Team Orlando is a unique, collaborative alliance formed by the leading military modeling, simulation, and training commands in Central Florida. The military alliance is supplemented and supported by academic, government and industry leaders with one common goal: to improve human performance through simulation. www.teamorlando.org