MARINE CORPS NEWS
Marines Reexamining Simulated Training For Young Warfighters
Marine Corps photo
ORLANDO, Florida — The Marine Corps is modernizing its simulated training systems to ensure that young Marines are prepared for the continuously evolving battlefield.
While the service is moving “extremely fast” in developing and procuring new capabilities to fight the next fight, sometimes capabilities outpace training, said Master Gunnery Sgt. Jason Taylor, aviation training systems analyst at Marine Corps Training and Education Command.
“The capability itself is 10 years ahead of what we have today, but the training is still 15 years back of what we have today,” Taylor said during a panel discussion at the National Training and Simulation Association’s recent Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference. “It’s extremely important that we not only advance the training to fit the capabilities we currently have, but advance [in a] way that fits the Marines who are serving today and who will be serving tomorrow.”
Training and Education Command, or TECOM, is currently working on three modernization programs: Project Tripoli, Project Triumph and Project Trident.
Project Tripoli is the Marine Corps’ initiative to “revolutionize” the training and education ecosystem and provide a service-wide live, virtual and constructive training environment that is “persistent, globally available, all-domain and all-echelon,” the command website stated.
Project Triumph focuses on modernizing the learning environment, taking the traditional model of instructors with a particular area of expertise lecturing students and changing it to a student-centric, outcomes-based, asynchronous style of learning. This unconventional and “transformative” approach prioritizes “learner-centric education and empowers instructors to tailor content delivery for maximum comprehension and retention of all Marine students,” according to the site.
Project Trident aims to enable the combat readiness of warfighters by providing individual and unit-level training to “build and close kill webs in a contested maritime environment at all echelons and utilizing assets and capabilities across all domains,” the website said. “Through initiatives such as updating collective skills training and advancing kill web enabling processes, TECOM is equipping Marines with the tools and expertise necessary to excel in modern warfare scenarios.”
Sgt. Maj. Stephen Griffin, the command’s senior enlisted leader, said TECOM’s two main focuses are enhancing readiness and lethality.
“The question always has to come back to, ‘What do we get back in exchange for that investment?’” Griffin said during the panel. “Where is the readiness gain, the lethality gain? … That’s where we put our money, that’s our priority. Saying we want this thing because it’s high speed, we like it, and it makes our job easier, isn’t going to get the resources. But readiness and lethality will.”
Marine Corps leaders think virtual and simulated training systems will improve readiness and lethality for warfighters. Sgt. Maj. David Elliott, sergeant major of Training Command, said modeling and simulation is “always good” for low-cost and low risk to no risk repetitions.
“We can afford for the Marines and sailors to make mistakes without consuming resources, time, people, materiel, and then we can immediately assess and … continue to train until they gain mastery of that specific training skill set that we’re trying to acquire,” Elliott said.
Part of incorporating simulated training is ensuring Marines understand its value. Griffin said educating Marines on the advantages of simulated training is important, and while a lot of them are relatively obvious, like saving money, time and resources, one of the less discussed advantages and one of the “great benefits” is the operational security it provides.
With the modern battlefield and warfighting capabilities evolving rapidly, the Marine Corps must practice its tactics, techniques and procedures in training simulations in order to protect them from potential adversaries’ observation. In the past, the service could conduct large-scale exercises at, for example, the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, California, without adversaries observing those exercises, learning the service’s methods and developing counters to them. That world doesn’t exist anymore, Griffin said.
“We assume that all of our training is observed, because it is observed,” he said. “One of the advantages of conducting training in simulation is [we can] conceal our tactics, techniques and procedures from our adversaries inside a simulation … especially when we’re talking about the service level or the joint level, conducting large-scale exercises in simulation. If they’re on the right networks, [we] can keep them concealed from our adversaries.”
The service must demonstrate the value of simulated training to young Marines, as well as exactly how they can benefit from it. It’s not optional, it’s a “necessity,” Griffin said.
“From a leadership standpoint, it’s developing training and developing your Marines, ... using all the tools that you have available to you,” he said. “If there are tools out there that you’re not using, you’re certainly not setting your leadership example.”
While live exercises are still a “necessary” component of training, using a simulator allows Marines to “do steps one, two and three and have those down pat. That way, when you go to the range, steps four and five are seemingly easier, because one, two and three, we don’t have to discuss those things today,” Taylor said.
“If I can get you to get the basics down — and that’s really what the simulators are for, is to hone in on the basics — the more complex tasks become easier,” he said.
Training and Education Command is working to change the way Marines, especially the young ones, are trained, whether it’s in a simulator, in the field or in a classroom.
“Suffice it to say the Marines of today did not grow up with school books like the rest of us young gentlemen did. Now, I don’t think they even give books out anymore, I think it’s an iPad or laptop and things of that nature,” Taylor said. “The young Marines today, they learn different. We have to recognize that [and] provide them with the tools necessary to be successful.”
The number one thing the Marine Corps needs in order to mitigate the challenges that come with simulated training is a qualified instructor with the simulator itself, Taylor said.
“Without doing that, it’s extremely hard to have Marines learn how to not only do the job or the skills that you’re trying to train through the simulation, but also figure out how to operate the simulator itself. Those things have to go hand in hand,” he said.
When it comes to simulators of “substantial size,” there must be a qualified instructor to teach Marines how to use it effectively for two main reasons: first, because they are equipped to operate the simulator itself, and if the technology fails, they can both fix it in real time and teach Marines how to fix it; second, because the instructors can document training progress and then design specific training continuums for individual Marines based on their strengths and weaknesses, Taylor said.
“There needs to be somebody on the outside who’s instructing that entire thing, who’s taking the notes on the side and saying, ‘Hey, team, you did great at these things. We need to work more on these things,’” he said.
This instructor-simulator model is currently in use at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center with the Marine Corps Tactical Instrumentation System, or MCTIS, a system of sensors to detect hits and misses, track movement and location data and provide Marines with customized feedback and information.
Contractors provide the equipment to units, and instructors help Marines learn how to attach it to their person and weapon system before sending them out to operate. When they come back, the instructors collect that information and provide the data for an after-action review.
In the past, Marines had to learn how to use, account for and maintain that equipment, and they “didn’t do it so well,” Griffin said.
“If a Marine is focused on, how do I apply this tool, instead of, how do I apply my [skills] … there’s training value lost,” he said. “I think the way we’re going, in some cases, is that the contractors provide the simulation system, like MCTIS, what we’re doing at Twentynine Palms and a few other locations around the Marine Corps, so that the Marines can focus on what they’re actually there to train.”
Training and Education Command is also rethinking how to train entry-level Marines in the classroom. The service is in the early stages of implementing an asynchronous, 24/7 style of learning, where Marines are assigned to a squad with a squad leader who leads them through the entirety of their training as a mentor, as opposed to the traditional model where an instructor with a specific field of expertise teaches students, Griffin said.
“Instead of a large class of, ‘We’re going to teach you how to throw a hand grenade, OK, now we’re going out to the hand grenade range and we’re going to throw it,’ it’s taught at a much smaller unit level,” he said. “We expect our instructors to know some of the entire [program of instruction] so that they can teach it.”
“It enables a 24/7 style of learning, rather than, ‘Class starts at this time and ends at that time,’” Griffin continued. “They develop a relationship with their squad leader, [who’s] there to reinforce lessons that were learned throughout the day. [They can] ask questions and also learn from each other; rather than a student-instructor capacity, it’s a squad leader-squad level.”
Taylor said everybody wants to improve training in some way, but they disagree on how to achieve that. While the Marine Corps is focusing on enhancing simulated training, there is still work that needs to be done.
“I think it’s also important to understand that homework needs to be done on exactly how you train those Marines to get to that specific point once you buy a training system based upon usage of this training system,” he said. “Whether a simulated or modeling sort of effort, what is the outcome of the training? The Marine can now do what thing better? I think that’s also important as you start to walk down the road: improving your training, no matter what that means.” ND