Tactical Engagement Simulation Training A Method for Learning the Realities of Combat
Information
Date
August 1979
Summary
Training of combat arms units requires a different approach from conventional instructional system development (ISD) practices. From a systems perspective, unit performance may be more than the sum of individual performances. In battle, subunits interact, and unit and subunit behavior is contingent on the behavior of an intelligent adversary. Conditions that initiate complex combat behavior can rarely be specified in advance. The idea of emergent rather than ''established'' situations provides a framework for considering situationally determined unit behavior. The empirical approach called engagement simulation involves the detailed observation and recording of "naturally occurring" tactical behavior in what military experts agree is a valid, if incomplete, representation of combat. The simulation procedures provide for data collection and analysis. From the data collection and analysis, critical combat behaviors should stand out, to be used to describe the full range of tactical behaviors for which training must be provided. The patterns of occurrence of critical combat behaviors may be useful in explaining how or why a particular outcome came about in a given situation. This identification of critical combat behaviors in the emergent situation represented by combat may be able to provide improved specification of training content (documented in improved Army Training and Evaluation Programs), improved training diagnosis, and improved determination of unit readiness.
Tactical Engagement Simulation Training A Method for Learning the Realities of Combat, Hoover Institution Library & Archives, https://wargaming.hoover.org/view/ark:/54723/h3bk1700n