Senior DOD leaders share perspectives on future warfighting

  • Published
  • By Derek Kaufman
  • 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
ORLANDO, Fla. (AFNS) --  A panel of senior Department of Defense and service component leaders acknowledged that an uncertain, fluid international security environment demands new thinking and approaches to meeting training and simulation requirements for future joint warfighters.

The panel met during the Interservice/Industry Training Simulation and Education Conference held here Nov. 30.  It is the largest annual international gathering of modeling and simulation technology experts from U.S. and foreign governments, industry and academia.

While each service has its own unique training and education requirements, there was universal agreement that the nation's military must be ready to respond jointly to the full spectrum of threats ranging from counterinsurgencies, international terrorism and failed states, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, environmental threats and pandemic diseases, to large force-on-force conventional conflict and cyber attack.

Along with these challenges exists the imperative to balance many competing priorities in a constrained budget environment, possibly on a downward slope. Operations and maintenance, training, personnel programs, healthcare, research and development, modernization and BRAC implementation are all important. Ongoing and new efforts to replace aging equipment, to refresh systems to keep pace with rapidly changing technology and the need to meet DOD energy goals to reduce demand for petroleum all combine to require new questions to be asked, and new approaches and solutions to be discovered.

Some may be found, leaders said, through tapping into the talent, personal and professional experiences of the new digital generation of young Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen. Incorporating innovative approaches in their training and education, advanced computer-based training, integrated immersive simulation and advance gaming technologies require focus and investment today, with potential for huge payoff in joint capabilities tomorrow, panelists said.

The leaders also were in agreement that solutions will certainly require close collaboration between government, industry and the academic world.

Participating on the panel were: Frank DiGiovanni, director of readiness and training policy and programs in the Office of the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Readiness; Rear Adm. Joseph Kilkenny, commander of the Naval Education and Training command; Rear Adm. Vincent Atkins, the assistant commandant for capability for the U.S. Coast Guard; Marine Maj. Gen. Raymond Fox, commanding general of the Training and Education Command for the Marine Corps; Army Maj. Gen. Stephen Layfield, director of the Joint Warfighting Center at Joint Forces Command; Gordon Ettenson, acting director of operations at Headquarters Air Force; and Army Brig. Gen. Richard Longo, the deputy chief of staff for the Army Training and Doctrine Command.

Here are some of the panel observations:

DOD

Mr. DiGiovanni said the services need to make a "human capital development" investment and create new tools to educate a cadre of "soft power warriors" to more dynamically address counterinsurgencies. Armed with skill sets in culture, language, cross cultural negotiation and civil affairs, they can work with local populations and other government agencies to win hearts and minds. He also challenged industry to develop "post-conflict tools" to smoothly prepare the transition of combat veterans to civilian society.

In an uncertain world, DOD officials are focusing on adaptability and how to move from a construct of lessons learned to lessons anticipated, he said.

The concept is akin to outthinking the enemy, rather than outreacting and can be applied across the full range of military operations.

It is very much an effort to "deny the adversary the ability to adapt to you," Mr. DiGiovanni said.

U.S. Army

"We are changing the model," General Longo said. "We know we have to do it differently...We must learn faster than our enemies."

General Longo said traditional instructor and materiel delivery of briefings is no longer the preferred way to develop future masters of Army doctrine.

"We are going to be learner centric," he said.  "Some students will learn best by reading, some students will learn best by computer, others may want face-to-face tutoring."

He added a need to deliver to the "gaps of the individual learner so that every student has met the doctrinal objective before he or she ever enters the classroom."  Then instead of the instructor preaching via PowerPoint, he or she "throws a problem on the table and asks them to solve the problem just as they would in the real world."

Army officials have learned a lot in ten years of counterinsurgency operations, General Layfield said. "We have evolved...We have achieved a certain level of joint operational maturity right now, in these 10 years." The service needs to capture and retain that knowledge and use translate it to develop other core competencies to strengthen full spectrum capabilities, he said.

"We cannot leave ten years of learning, ten years of growth, ten years of evolution, ten years of technological advance, ten years of consortium building, we cannot leave that behind," General Layfield said. "It has to go back to the corners of training at home station, technology, (Combat Training Centers), wherever we train."

U.S. Navy

"Our training enables the Navy to be a global force for good," Admiral Kilkenny said. "The demand for exemplary training has never been higher."

The admiral said the investment in innovative education and training is needed, but it must be done smartly.

"No matter what the cost, the realities of today are we must make some difficult budget decisions...When we buy a system, we must ensure training is developed in parallel. Life cycle costs: We have got to get better at looking at that."

Admiral Kilkenny underscored the unpredictability of threats today and into the future, noting there are "multiple foes, that are not only difficult to find in the field, they might not be on the field at all. They might be in cyberspace." Cyber security and network operations training are important and growing mission areas and Navy officials are partnering with companies like Cisco and Microsoft to ensure their cyber warriors are up to the task.

U.S. Marine Corps

General Fox told the story of a platoon of Marines on patrol that suddenly faced a sophisticated, well-coordinated ambush by Taliban fighters. The Taliban have proven to not only be tenacious and resilient fighters, but highly adaptable to coalition tactics. Despite the Marine's discipline, training and advanced technology, the odds are that not every Marine will come out of that fight unscathed.

"Every time it happens, I wonder, did we do enough training, and the right training to make sure that they would be successful on that patrol," General Fox said.

Looking to the future, Marine officials are planning for what comes after Afghanistan. They are asking industry and academic specialists to research and explore deeper into human behavior, understanding how to make better leaders and disciplined fighters that are more resilient to the stresses of combat.

"Why is it two individuals in the same situation seeing something horrific happen... and one person comes back showing signs of PTSD and the other does not? How do you train individuals to be more resilient, to accept the horrors of war when they see them first hand? Can we identify and recruit that Marine squad leader who will be resilient from day one, or can we recruit and train one who is not resilient and make him resilient," General Fox asked.

Marines have become very good at fighting counterinsurgency, but that is one of many mission areas and combined arms warfighting skills are perishable. Looking ahead, they must be ready and trained to fight across the full range of military operations.

Ultimately, "is there enough hours in a day to train that squad leader and platoon commander to fight in every spectrum of warfare? That will be our challenge," General Fox said.

U.S. Air Force

The migration of training in airspace to the "synthetic battlespace" already is well underway, Mr. Ettenson said. It needs to happen for a number of reasons.

"Flying-hour reductions, airspace and range limitations, restrictive engagement envelops, fuel-saving initiatives, weapon-system advancements, shrinking budgets" are some of the challenges Airmen face. "So it is imperative that we train and prepare and present forces faster and smarter because we simply cannot afford not to," he said.

Efficiency requirements necessitate that Air Force leaders look for more cost-effective ways to train and prepare, he said.

Air Force officials already are incorporating complex distributed operations and simulations which bring together joint and coalition forces from many different locations for highly realistic training. The advantages of training in the synthetic environment are many. It can be done securely and without being observed by potential adversaries. It doesn't put flying hours on actual airframes or burn fuel. And it allows systems be employed to their full operational capabilities virtually.

"Now our next step is to integrate the live piece. We are bringing together the virtual and constructive training environment," he said.

The concept places live aircraft flying in actual training ranges with others at distributed locations around the world flying along virtually.

U.S. Coast Guard

Having responsibilities in both the warfighting and law-enforcement domains presents unique challenges for the Coast Guard, Admiral Atkins said.

"Law enforcement, search and rescue, environmental enforcement, environmental regulation, safety... How do you take all of those lessons learned in a wartime setting and transition them here home," he said. "If you think it doesn't apply, you only have to read (the) newspaper (account of the) young man up in the northwest who (tried) to blow up a Christmas celebration in a downtown environment. The war is here."

"How do we prepare our maritime security in advance of that war and how do we anticipate the threat? the admiral asked.  "How do we calculate the risk and how do we balance our limited resources in terms of meeting the threat here at home? That is the challenge."

Modeling, simulation and gaming tools are needed for Coast Guardsmen to address missions ranging from a Hurricane Katrina-like response, or spill response in the Gulf of Mexico, or a container ship with suspect WMDs, or a fast boat approaching a high-value Navy vessel being escorted to its port, Admiral Atkins said.