 Congressman
calls command catalyst for modeling and simulation
During
recent remarks, the Congressional Modeling & Simulations
Training Caucus chairman touted U.S. Joint Forces Command
as a catalyst for the modeling and simulation industry.
By Jennifer Colaizzi
USJFCOM Public Affairs
(SUFFOLK,
Va. – Feb. 7, 2006) -- Congressional Modeling & Simulations
(M&S) Training Caucus chairman, Rep. J. Randy Forbes
(R-Va.) touted U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) as a
catalyst for the modeling
and simulation industry.
“USJFCOM has had a huge impact on this region and
what we see taking place in M&S. But it’s not
just this area; what USJFCOM does in M&S is hugely
important for national security of the country,” said
Forbes.
“One of our big concerns is that we get constantly
better and better in our (military) training – because
five seconds can make the difference between one of our
sailors or soldiers living or dying,” said Forbes
who was referring to USJFCOM’s use of M&S for
experimentation and enhanced military training.
The
remarks came during an interview conducted at the Modeling & Simulation
Leadership Summit, held yesterday at the Hilton Garden
Inn here.
Government
officials and industry and academia representatives from
24 states gathered at the summit to discuss major
issues facing the national M&S industry.
“Our big goal is to bring the best minds in M&S
- from around the country – and ask ‘what do
we need in terms of policy issues to help aid this industry?’” said
Forbes. “How do we jointly move forward in a collective
manner that’s going to benefit the whole country?”
USJFCOM
has laid the foundation and now the M&S “industry
can absolutely just simply catapult into areas that we
are all excited about,” said Forbes. “One of
the big ones is what we can do with urban planning around
the country.”
“We can do a better job of preparing for natural
catastrophes, such as we saw with Katrina, and so we don’t
make the kind of logistical mistakes we saw taking place
after the hurricane,” Forbes said.
In
terms of partnering and moving forward in the area of
M&S, Marine Corps Maj.
Gen. Jon A. Gallinetti, commander
of USJFCOM’s Joint
Warfighting Center and the command’s
director for joint training, was pleased to see so many
members of industry, government, and city representatives
in attendance.
Gallinetti
said that USJFCOM has an important role in interacting
with representatives from so many
states
because active
duty, reservists, members of the National Guard, and
interagency representatives are nation-wide.
Based
on lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina, USJFCOM
has extended its training beyond military members to
include “all
the National Guard Bureau and the National Guardsman
states because they are standing up joint task force-like
headquarters
to be better prepared and more efficient for national
disasters” and
in support of national security, the general said.
“We are getting more involved with Homeland Security,
and other agencies – the State Department, the Commerce
Department, the Treasury Department. I see a lot of good
capabilities in connectivity with them in the future,” said
Gallinetti.
During
his opening remarks, Forbes called the summit attendees
to action, saying that he expected to have “actionable
items” that he could take back to his caucus, following
the four workshop sessions planned for the morning.
Working discussion groups focused on the areas of: industrial
development, technology, business practice, and professional
development.
The
industrial development focus group recommended a non
DoD-led federally funded initiative to research, define,
and brand the potential that the M&S industry offers.
With
its recent announcement that it will embark on a project
with Virginia Modeling and Simulation Center (VMASC)
to fully model Suffolk, city officials clearly see the
incredible capability M&S offers.
“We know there is potential for other industries
to tap into M&S and this is the city of Suffolk pushing
the industry into other dimensions by saying, ‘hey
we can use M&S for municipal government and urban planning’,” said
Kevin Hughes, senior business development manager for Suffolk
Department of Economic Development.
According
to Hughes, M&S can help with traffic flow,
local emergency first response, and all utility infrastructure.
“We’re the fasting growing city in the state,” said
Hughes. “With a population growing ten percent each
year, we don’t have the infrastructure in place to
handle that. M&S can help provide the services we need
to for our citizens.”
One point Forbes reiterated is that he wanted the nation
to be aware of the capabilities that M&S offers,
so how does the City of Suffolk’s decision to model
itself relate to the entire nation?
“With USJFCOM and so many defense contractors being
located here, we are trying to embrace the industry. USJFCOM
is the reason that we’ve had such a growth of modeling
and simulation in northern Suffolk. Without them, these
companies wouldn’t be here,” said Hughes.
“Suffolk is stepping forward to show the nation
that we are willing to take this technology into the future
and hopefully other cities will do the same thing,” said
Hughes.
Other recommendations, which surfaced during the working
groups, included:
• Establishing a National Advisory Council in support
of M&S workforce development
• Supporting labor code establishment
•
Establishing and endorsing an agency for accreditation
of M&S programs
•
Stimulating demand and supply – i.e. tax breaks or
insurance discounts
•
ISO 9000-like process for industries outside DoD, in requirements
generation and use of M&S
•
Reuse - National repository for M&S products and incentives
for contribution and use
• Standards in the areas of software application interactions
and data exchange
Forbes is expected to brief summit outcomes during the
USJFCOM Industry Symposium, scheduled April 4-5.
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