Personnel from 30th Medical Brigade train for transporting casualties in a virtual "wrap around" environment as part of the U.S. Army in Europe's Full Spectrum Training Environment exercise. (U.S. Army)
- Filed Under
The United States Army in Europe’s (USAREUR) Joint Multinational Training Command (JMTC) is moving away from the restrictive training paradigm of the past decade.
In October 2011, the Grafenwöhr, Germany-based command conducted a new exercise, referred to as the Full Spectrum Training Environment (FSTE). The exercise used various types of training based upon live events, with the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team operating in the field, other units such as the 30th Medical Brigade participating in a virtual “wrap around” environment, and constructive elements thrown into the mix as well.
The FSTE was designed to simulate the variables of operating in the Caucasus region, the geopolitical designation for the countries at the intersection of Europe and Asia. The region was chosen for its terrain, and fictional nations were superimposed on the topography. In total, the FSTE trained nearly 9,000 U.S. and allied troops at several German locations.
“What we’re really trying to showcase is that by using these sorts of simulation tools we can train a lot more units with a live training event,” said Lt. Col. Rob Young, chief of the Operations Division at the Joint Multinational Simulation Center.
The FSTE leverages live, virtual and constructive capabilities in a synchronized environment to support the integration of multiple brigades and command posts for higher echelons, Young added.
The exercise marks a significant shift away from the brigade-level exercises of the past decade, which almost exclusively focus on replicating one specific piece of an operational environment for one unit, against one specific threat. In recent years, these have largely been used to train for counterinsurgency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The FSTE was designed to involve multiple units, facing multiple threats and tasks, such as armored vehicles, information warfare and unmanned air systems.
The 30th Medical Brigade, for example, trained for several scenarios, ranging from humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to providing force health support in conventional and defensive operations.
“The most important thing that came out of this exercise was really that the Department of Defense is going to get smaller, but we’re still going to have to provide the American people with trained and ready forces to provide a wider array of tasks,” Young said. “This exercise shows how we can take a live brigade training event and can train multiple brigades.”
Cost was also a key contributing factor to the new exercise, Young said. With $500 billion in cuts to the U.S. defense budget set to take effect over the next decade, and many European nations also struggling with financial problems, the need to make the most cost-effective use of training is greater than ever.
“As fewer resources are available we have to figure out how to train an array of units in a more efficient manner,” Young said. “In this exercise, not only could we train a medical brigade, we could have inserted a military police, sustainment or aviation brigade, or our multinational partners.”
Young said the U.S. has built strong relationships with its European allies in Afghanistan and hopes to sustain those ties moving forward with the aid of such exercises as FSTE. Allied nations have already expressed interest in a follow-on FSTE exercise in October 2012.
“I wouldn’t be surprised to see the U.K. involved in the next round of these exercises,” he said.
