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Readying Your Workforce Soldiers: A Lesson From the U.S. Army
November 24, 2009
One of the U.S. Army's learning vendor's, WILL Interactive, Inc., shared with Training the story of how its Virtual Experience Immersive Learning Simulation (55 VEILS) Danger Close aided the Army's warfare preparations.
Challenge
Imagine you are a non-commissioned officer (NCO) preparing for combat in a U.S. military operation and a new and unseasoned officer has joined your ranks. As a leader of your squad, it is your responsibility to be the proper buffer between the platoon and the new lieutenant. However, as you prepare for the upcoming mission, you realize you are going into battle with a variety of problems that were not resolved in pre-deployment. The necessary respect and trust for the platoon to function at its maximum effectiveness simply isn't there—and as a result, things are about to go disastrously wrong. Deaths may occur because this critical relationship between your leadership team is malfunctioning. If you fail to resolve problems appropriately, you may even end up with a suicide in the unit.
The problem
The dilemma above is not an unusual one for a soldier serving in Afghanistan or Iraq. While traditional training programs in bases across the U.S. have prepared young soldiers well for day-to-day tactical and operational functions, there have been learning gaps that have left them equally under-prepared for issues involving leadership, improvisation, cultural awareness, and interpersonal relationships. Aware of this gap in learning, Fort Sill leaders in Lawton, OK, decided to address the challenge of how to teach soldiers to handle delicate situations, where they are forced to make decisions, the consequences of which could cost lives.
The solution
Increasingly the military is turning to virtual experience learning systems and advanced training simulations that stop and allow users to weigh their options at critical decision points, providing a safe environment in which to make choices before facing them in potentially life-or-death conditions. When military leaders at Fort Sill realized the need for their NCOs to enhance good decision making and build leadership skills they turned to WILL Interactive, Inc., a serious games developer that has now produced more than 55 VEILS (Virtual Experience Immersive Learning Simulations) for the Army, the National Football League, the FBI, large hospital systems, and other organizations. The result was a unique motion picture/video game hybrid training tool called Danger Close.
Unique aspects of the solution
To realistically simulate environments and the decisions users face in a multidimensional slice-of-life context, WILL Interactive used video and live actors in Danger Close to increase the realism of combat, thereby preparing users for the realities of a potentially hostile environment as well as teaching users how to think under such circumstances. Personnel from WILL Interactive conducted extensive focus groups at Fort Sill with a broad range of senior officers, NCOs, soldiers and lieutenants, so they could bring different perspectives to the shaping of the training tool.
"The simulation uses a behavior modification platform proven to impact the choices people make, particularly under stress, and improve those decisions," says Sharon Sloane, CEO and president of WILL Interactive, Inc. "The lessons learned in the simulation may not have immediate consequences, but because the role-players remember what decisions they made, and the outcome of those decisions, it personalizes the learning experience and makes it real. It provides a 'reach-back' students will remember and apply, in some cases, years later."
Adapting to the audience
Almost half of the U.S. Military is currently under the age of 25, meaning they grew up playing video games. Fort Sill military leaders recognized serious games address a range of complex critical thinking issues and diplomatic solutions more appropriate for a gamer turned soldier.
"That's the engagement part —the emotional engagement, and it's an area that's not often explored, but the Army with its Army Leadership Program is moving towards that now," says Sandra Pokorny, Fort Sill's Design and Evaluation Branch chief. "We're hoping the research we're doing will help advance that leadership training. It's not just soldiering. It's leading, it's critical thinking, it's more on ethical decision-making."
"The WILL Interactive motto is 'play it out before you live it out,' so students get to back up the simulation and make better decisions to alter the outcome," says Sloane. "There is a continuum of possible outcomes, from the best possible to the worst, and anything in between."
Feedback
Danger Close currently is being used by NCOs at the NCO Academy with second lieutenants in Fort Sill's Basic Officer Leader Course in mind. Fort Benning, GA, and Fort Bliss, TX, use it in their classrooms as well.
"We've had really good results from the field," says Joe Kirby, chief of NCO Enlisted Education at Fort Sill. "Three military transition teams have given it excellent reviews. The NCO Academy instructor who used it as a lesson said he had trouble keeping it to his four-hour block, because students wanted to go on talking about it for up to six hours."
One user noted the VEILS hit on every major problem a leader faces saying, "it covered what most soldiers will do in an environment like Iraq or Afghanistan. The actors portrayed Soldiers in a real way; it wasn't overly politically correct which tends to diminish things like this. The scenarios dealt with both personal and professional issues [that were] accurate for any leader."
Ongoing usage of the product
Danger Close has thus far shown its ability to engage the learner so trainers are working to further develop and enhance their development strategies using the program. The Senior Leader Course and Advanced Leader Course for both Field Artillery and Air Defense at Fort Sill have included Danger Close in a ten-hour and four-hour block of instruction, respectively, since the beginning of this month. Danger Close also will be incorporated in the Basic Officer Leader Course in the Platoon Leader portion of the course to introduce junior officers to issues are faced by senior leaders. As it continues to be rolled out, trainers will continue to use it as a tool for developing young leaders and as a refresher for seasoned soldiers.
"An appreciation for the characteristics of today's 'digital natives' and an understanding of how the video game generation interacts with the world has given us new opportunities to increase efficiency and face problems of an ethical or moral nature," says Sloane. "As educators, we have the responsibility to use these 21st century tools to empower and encourage responsible and productive workplace behavior."
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