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

TRADOC Pam 525-3-7-01environment. Both teams then complete the intelligence program that runs them through avirtual environment presenting various visual and electronic clues that they must process andreport both individually and as teams. Topping’s assistant squad leader and the vehiclecommander of his second FSV-R, is really quick in getting his crew through the routine.Unfortunately, he skips some clues and reads some others wrong which results in anunsatisfactory. After two more runs through the intelligence gathering routine, both teams inTopping’s squad have passed. Topping is frustrated that it took three iterations, but thankful atthe same time that it was virtual and not in the valley at Irwin.Topping checks his Soldiers’ medical monitors to ensure that they are healthy, hydrated, andready for the next day before allowing them to turn in for the night.The next morning, Topping sets the squad on the east tank trail to head out to the live, virtual,and constructive training site. As the FSV-Rs roll, Topping signs in to the instrumented rangeand sends the confirmation data that activates their systems and loads the current commonoperational picture. They are set up for the RSTA Challenge One program. It is pretty close tothe training routine they’d completed the day before, except this was on the live range and agreat deal more dicey.Topping thinks back over his most recent training and all the times they drilled the idea ofacting independently into their heads. In situation after situation they were forced to make arapid assessment, decide on a course of action, and then take that action. It was tough enoughjust doing the assessment and making a choice. Getting one’s contemporaries to follow yourinstructions really challenged the students. During the training he had practiced adaptiveproblemsolving skills in numerous realistic scenarios and had received excellent feedback on hisdecisionmaking from his peers and instructors, as well as the automated coaches embedded inthe scenarios. Today’s drill was a relevant situational training exercise designed to prepareteams, squads, and platoons for either actual operations or a rotation at one of the CTCs.Topping’s two-vehicle squad was the live part of the exercise. The platoon, company, and otherunits were virtual; meaning he could see their icons and observe their actions, actually interactwith them digitally, and maneuver as part of the larger formation, but without any of them beingthere.“Okay guys,” Topping says on the voice-activated intercom. “Let’s see what we have here.”It’s a battalion insertion by C-17 transports and Condor joint heavy lift aircraft, he sees.One of the major operations they practiced often. His team is XY’d to the point of entry to theAO. 149 The maps adjust instantly, displaying new graphics and friendly and enemy arrays. Onceagain Topping’s squad is a point element charged with scouting the routes for the rest of theincoming combat forces, but, more importantly, deploying unmanned aerial systems and filling inthe gaps in the automated common operational picture. How well he did alongside the virtualRSTA squads would determine how well the line companies saw the situation when they exitedtheir aircraft. “Well.” Topping thought, “they actually see the situation while still in the air,but,” he reminded himself, “it’s our job to populate a large part of that picture.”128