News From USJFCOM: Modeling and simulation highlight CIVIC leadership program

Image of Marty Vozzo talking about modeling and simulation Modeling and simulation highlight CIVIC leadership program

The Civic Leadership Hampton Roads program spent a half-day in Suffolk focused on modeling and simulation as it impacts and integrates major U.S. Joint Forces Command mission areas and initiatives.

By Robert Pursell
USJFCOM Public Affairs

(SUFFOLK, Va. – May 1, 2006) -- A group of local business and government leaders received a front row look today at how U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) uses modeling and simulation (M&S) to accomplish its mission to prepare joint warfighters for duties they may face around the globe.

The visit by the CIVIC Leadership Hampton Roads focused on the development and deployment of modeling and simulation (M&S) and its impact on the missions and initiatives of USJFCOM.

CIVIC Leadership Hampton Roads brings together leaders from the across the area to connect with each other and address challenges facing southeastern Virginia.

USJFCOM’s work in M&S has encouraged substantial growth in the area’s industrial and educational sectors and brought the group to the command to learn more.

The program today provided these partners the opportunity to take a look at the latest in M&S through various discussions and simulations conducted by USJFCOM as well as the nearby Virginia Modeling and Simulation Center (VMASC) and the Lockheed-Martin Center for Innovation.

The two organizations are among several which USJFCOM partners with across the Hampton Roads area. These partners include numerous defense and non-defense businesses and industries, local academia, such as colleges and universities, and the state and local government.

According to Gene Newman, former USJFCOM Joint Warfighting Center (JWFC) technical director who currently assists the present JWFC technical director on special projects, the Civic Leadership Institute’s visit represents “the first group that we have presented to that is not primarily military-related. Over the past ten years, we have talked about creating modeling and simulation beyond the Department of Defense. Our discussions here today help carry that forward”

According to Cathy Lewis, executive director of the Civic Leadership Hampton Roads, the organization is a unique one. “It’s a senior-level leadership group, so all of the people that you see here today are either CEOs or very high-level people in their organizations and we are the only organization of its type that draws its membership from both sides of the Hampton Roads harbor,” said Lewis. “The organization’s purpose is to bring all of these folks together so that they can informally network about solutions.”

Today’s program exhibited M&S so that the Civic Leadership Institute can take notice of USJFCOM’s efforts to develop and deploy its capabilities with the hope to create new partnerships. This event was an opportunity to “bring them out, let them see it, let them touch it, and you can already hear them buzzing about it.,” said Lewis.

“I think this is a huge benefit because these are key decision makers for this community. They understand that there is something really exciting going on out here, and they can’t really get it until they wrap their arms around it and that was what was so important about today.”