Tactical Gaming Teaches Warfighters Real-World Scenarios

By Sgt. Anthony Jones

45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team

Ukrainian army trainers at the Yavoriv Combat Training Center are adding a new tool to their skill set: tactical gaming programming.

A team of instructors from the U.S. Army’s Joint Multinational Simulation Center is at the base in Western Ukraine teaching the CTC’s simulations staff how to build and operate tactical training scenarios using the Virtual Battlespace Simulator 3.

    “Tactical gaming is not here to replace boots-on-the-ground training,” said Carl Lester, chief of tactical gaming for the JMSC and one of the instructors teaching the Ukrainian cadre how to use VBS 3. “It is here to facilitate specific training needs.”

The purpose of the training is to ready the CTC’s simulations staff to build realistic scenarios for the soldiers who will take part in 55-day training rotations where they will train on tasks ranging from individual soldier skills to battalion-level maneuvers.

Lester, a former U.S. Army senior noncommissioned officer, said when units go to the field, commanders can lose focus on training objectives when they have to split attention between training, life support and tracking equipment inventory, and simply cannot see how every soldier is reacting under pressure.

“Using tactical gaming – using real-world training objectives and actual Yavoriv terrain, leaders can train their soldiers without the stress of being in the field,” Lester said.

By training in a classroom with the VBS 3 system, commanders are able to see how every soldier performs. The scenario is projected onto a large screen for commanders and trainers to observe while everything is recorded for accurate after action reviews.

    “Virtual training gives leadership a better tool to access soldiers,” Lester said. “Commanders can see shortfalls if they can see it in a classroom, where in the real-world field a commander can’t see everything. This gives commanders a God’s-eye view.”

By teaching the CTC staff to build and run scenarios, the team is helping the JMTG-U build the Ukrainian army’s capability to train soldiers.

“This gives them the tools to implement training on their own,” Lester said. “They’re learning to assess warfighters to ensure they are getting the best results of the training.”