TRADOC Pam 525-3-7-01 - TRADOC - U.S. Army

TRADOC Pam 525-3-7-01increases confidence and proficiency. Thus, realistic training is essential for the reduction of riskon the battlefield.In the future, live training will remain a cornerstone of realistic training for individuals andunits. While constrained resources and training environments will continue to place limitationson live training, the increasing availability of virtual and constructive simulations will bothaugment and enrich the live training experience. The purpose of the Army and joint future forcesranges concept is to enable the Army to “find new methods (increased range efficiencies,technology enhancements, andexpansion of range/maneuver areasto accommodate new capabilities)to foster dynamic and realisticground force training in a jointcontext. 138 A major objective is toincrease accessibility, quality,deployability, and jointness ofArmy range and maneuver areas.The concept calls for the creation ofnetworked and interoperable live,virtual, and constructive trainingenvironments that are robust,scaleable to the size of the trainingevent, flexible and mobile. At thecenter of the plan is the selection ofviable options for evolvingrange/maneuver areas into joint andArmy future force ranges that link to the emerging joint national training capability. Otherelements of the future plan include the development of home station joint training rangecomplexes and the integration of virtual and constructive simulation and DL capabilities into liveranges. By enabling future leaders to incorporate virtual and constructive components into thelive training environment, (such as unmanned aerial systems, joint effects, and other friendlyunits) the new ranges will enable leaders to train as they fight.In the future, through advances in Army S&T and improvements in commercially availablegame technologies, virtual training will provide realistic training environments that closelyapproximate the OE and the necessary “suspension of disbelief” to optimize learning.Accessibility, re-configurability, and usability of virtual training will greatly increase, as will theapplications of virtual simulation, from low overhead applications of gaming technology forlearning of cognitive tasks, to higher end fully immersive simulations for learning ofpsychomotor and cognitive tasks. Virtual trainers will become more widely available, in part,because they are capable of providing an immersive environment for intensive experientiallearning that may result in accelerated learning of complex cognitive tasks. In their discussion ofthe need to improve training productivity, Wass de Czega and Biever suggest that, “…increasedinvestment may be necessary, particularly in simulations that allow individuals, teams and unitsto increase proficiency levels without asking for greater time sacrifices than the present.” 139 Asdiscussed a little later in this chapter, learning theorists have proposed that well-designed guided119