Q&A: Representative Randy Forbes
M & S CHAMPION:
Capitol Hill's Proponent for M&S
for the Military and the Nation
Representative Randy Forbes
Founder and Chairman
Congressional Modeling and Simulation Caucus
Ranking Member, Armed Services
Readiness Committee
Randy Forbes was elected to Congress in 2001 and represents the Fourth District of Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives. Congressman Forbes sits on two committees, Armed Services and Judiciary, and serves as ranking member on the Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee.
He is the founder and chairman of the Congressional Modeling and Simulation Caucus and the Congressional China Caucus. He is also co-chair of the Navy and Marine Corps Caucus and the Congressional Submarine Caucus. While serving in Congress, he has received numerous awards, including the U.S. Navy’s highest civilian honor, the Distinguished Public Service Award, for his committed service and leadership in advancing the U.S. Navy.
A native of Chesapeake, Va., he served in the Virginia General Assembly from 1989-2001 He is a graduate of Randolph-Macon College and received his law degree from the University of Virginia.
Q: As founder and chairman of the Congressional Modeling and Simulation [M&S] Caucus provide an update on some of the caucus’s accomplishments during the last 12 months?
A: The scope and influence of the M&S industry is beginning to be realized outside of the defense community, and we’re starting to see some exciting successes in M&S on Capitol Hill. Perhaps most critically, last July the House of Representatives unanimously recognized M&S technology as a national critical technology and acknowledged the impact M&S has had on a breadth of fields, including defense, space, national disaster response, medicine, transportation and construction. The House also declared M&S a technology that provides unparalleled advancements in American competitiveness, develops new and innovative ways to protect our homeland and our warfighters, and brings high-tech jobs and economic prosperities to our communities. This was a huge success for the M&S Caucus and for the M&S industry as a whole. As chairman of the caucus, I introduced the bill and a number of members of the caucus were original cosponsors. We are excited to see M&S permeate other industries following this important recognition by Congress.
After the groundwork was laid in that resolution, another M&S caucus member, Congressman Bobby Scott, introduced a bill to encourage and enhance the study of M&S at institutions of higher education. Right now, a limited number of institutions have M&S programs. This bill was included in the College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007, which passed the House in February, and we are hopeful to see the Senate pass this bill as well. Congressman Scott’s bill will provide critical funding to educational institutions that want to establish, expand or improve their M&S programs.
In addition to these important legislative initiatives, the caucus has continued to see great success through summits and conferences that advocate M&S technology. The M&S Caucus hosted its 3rd Annual M&S Leadership Summit in February. The summit is a watershed event for the M&S industry that is completely devoted to federal public policy. This year’s summit was sponsored by National Training and Simulation Association, and they did a phenomenal job of bringing together government, industry, academia and Congress to address the ways M&S technology is being used within various domains. We’re gearing up for the 3rd Annual M&S Expo, held on Capitol Hill, this summer. With each expo, we see more members become involved with the M&S Caucus.
Q: What are your prime objectives for 2008? What do the services need that the caucus can help with?
A: The caucus is focused on increasing policy awareness of M&S technology in 2008, because M&S is a foreign concept to most members of congress. Capitol Hill has been introduced to the concept of M&S technology through hands-on demonstrations—like the annual M&S Expo—and we continue to hear positive feedback about the technology. It’s time we really begin to increase policy awareness among members of congress who may be interested in the technology, but who may not fully understand the full potential of M&S technology to our defense industry for training and readiness purposes, and the potential it has to a myriad of industries.
The defense industry has made great advances with M&S technology, and they have set a great example of the benefits that come from M&S in terms of saved dollars, time and lives. We’re beginning to see M&S make its way into a number of other industries, and the M&S Caucus is hoping to increase awareness of the use of M&S technology in these industries like medicine, education, climate change and urban planning. M&S can be a wonderful tool to provide simulation-based, hands-on training to medical professionals, thus reducing human error. It can be a valuable tool to model cities with green initiatives to determine what works before implementing expensive programs. This is just the tip of the iceberg in the potential of M&S.
Just this year, I introduced the Enhancing Simulation Act of 2007, which has received bipartisan support. This legislation advances medical simulation by establishing grants to purchase medical simulation technology for training, incorporate medical simulation into curricula at medical schools and to study simulation-based methods in credentialing and accreditation. It also instructs the Department of Health and Human Services to increase the use of simulation technologies and equipment in medical, nursing and dental education and training protocols through different programs.
It is my hope that legislative initiatives, like this one, in 2008 will continue to advance the M&S industry. Servicemembers can help out by contacting their representative in Congress and encouraging them to join the M&S Caucus. The more the caucus grows, the more attention M&S gets here in Congress.
Q: How has M&S impacted U.S. military training readiness?
A: As Ranking Member, Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee, I understand the importance of maintaining a military that is fully ready. At all times, but especially in times of war, it is vitally important that we utilize the resources available to us in the most efficient manner to ensure our troops are fully trained and ready.
Just recently, Admiral Timothy Keating took his Pacific Command staff through a rigorous training exercise utilizing M&S technology, and they had great successes. They were able to conduct full spectrum training. Just ten years ago, a training session that might have required fleet rotations can now be simulated without having to move ships. It allows training in real world scenarios without wear and tear on equipment and to simulate dangerous situations that could not have been practiced without the use of M&S.
Through M&S, our military is able to conduct full spectrum training without extensive temporary duty assignments and permanent change of station moves—strategy, policy, intel—they can all be executed in an M&S training session.
Q: During your overseas and stateside visits with U.S. service men and women, what training technologies or capabilities have you seen that increase the operators’ training readiness?
A: Last December, I visited Fort Lee, Va., with Secretary of the Army Pete Geren to tour the installation as they prepare for growth as a result of Base Realignment and Closure. In Fort Lee’s Warrior Training Center they are using an Engagement Skills Trainer [EST] 2000 simulator to teach weapon handling, static unit collective gunnery and tactical training, and rules of engagement. It’s a highly realistic system that adapts to mission requirements. There are over 400 different scenarios available and all EST 2000 training scenarios are U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command validated. Results from the use of the EST 2000 have been great—all basic noncommissioned officers course students receive eight hours of EST training mostly focused on crew-serve weapons and shoot/don’t shoot scenarios, and Fort Lee has seen immediate improvement from soldiers who use the training system after even a few rounds. Training technologies such as this allow our troops to train more efficiently and build their combat skills more proficiently than before. This is just one example at a logistics school—there are countless examples across the Army and the other services.
Q. What are your top concerns about the services’ training readiness?
A: The biggest concern in troop readiness today is time for training and time with their families. Being on constant deployment cycles like we are today leaves little time for our troops to get the R&R they need and to train effectively before they have to re-enter theater. M&S technology allows troops to train in a variety of situations, in a number of environments, without traveling from military base to military base. It also saves money. One of my priorities as the ranking member on the HASC Readiness Subcommittee is to see that our troops serving overseas have the funding they need to accomplish the missions required of them. M&S is just one way to allow our troops to continue to train for full spectrum operations whether it is counterinsurgency operations or open tank warfare.
Q: What are your observations about the services’ progress in moving beyond traditional jointness to “train as they operate”— with intergovernmental, interagency, multinational and industry partners?
A: The United States Joint Forces Command, Suffolk, Va., has done a stand up job in setting an example of moving beyond traditional jointness. They are continually transforming our military capabilities in joint training, experimentation and joint capabilities development. They have been the leaders in getting the services, the State Department and other federal agencies to run through scenarios together so that commanders and senior leaders are experienced in crisis decision-making before actually confronted with a crisis. They have put us on a good pace towards solving many of our interoperability challenges, and they really have the tools to help us do this better. But while we’ve seen great strides in this area, we need to continually be doing more.
I have introduced legislation that would create an Interagency Cooperation Commission to examine the long-term global challenges facing the U.S. and to develop proposals to improve interagency cooperation. We are in a new time, with new implications for national security, but we are still operating under an agency structure that was established over 50 years ago. We need to find a structure that works for the 21st century, and interagency reform will push us in that direction. As Secretary Gates said before Congress:
“We are operating under a structure that was created by the National Security Act of 1947 that helped us fight and win the Cold War, but it is not—it is not an appropriate structure for the 21st century… and on a bipartisan basis—and at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue—people are going to have to think about how to restructure the national security apparatus of this government for the long term, in terms of new institutions and new capabilities.”
Q: Describe how M&S has migrated beyond the U.S. military onto the national stage and how this technology is being embraced in medicine and other U.S. industries.
A: The traditional typecast of simulation training is slowly being broken as a myriad of industries have not only have caught on to M&S technology, but have tailored it to make it work for them in their unique industries. As I mentioned earlier, the medical industry is using technology to reduce medical errors, and the result has been lives and money saved. M&S is also being used in the medical research field. Just recently, scientists have been able to simulate the efficacy of drugs for life-altering diseases like HIV.
In regards to homeland security, M&S has allowed federal, state and local emergency responders to train for disaster response, including hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding and even pandemic flu outbreak. Such hands-on training has not been available to us before M&S.
Our military has taken the lead on this important technology, and the military’s example is clearly catching on across the world. It’s an exciting time for M&S. ♦