News From USJFCOM: Congressman calls command catalyst for modeling and simulation

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.