FORT HUACHUCA, Ariz. -- Fort Huachuca was the site of a film set for an interactive media instructional cultural awareness product developed by the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Culture Center and U.S. Army TRADOC Initial Military Training Aug. 19 -- 23.
The media product will include scenes of Soldiers from different eras in history interacting with locals in various environments to include early American, Philippine, and African scenarios.
Commissioned by Maj. Gen. Richard Longo, deputy commanding general for IMT, the instructional video will soon be used as a training tool for all new lieutenants across the Army in every school, so they will get the same foundational corps competency training, said Marilyn Grider, deputy director, U.S. Army TRADOC Culture Center.
"Cross-cultural competency is a critical skill for all Soldiers in today's operating environment," Grider said. "Soldiers are not just fighting; they are also doing reconstruction and civil affairs. They need to be able to interact with people and build or repair relationships to accomplish the mission.
"In order to do that, they need to understand the world view of the people they are interacting with so they can build effective relationships and accomplish mutual goals with the local population" The video will show historically how cross-cultural competency or the lack of cross-cultural competency has affected military operations from the very beginning.
This is a lesson that the Army has to relearn with every major conflict, Grider explained. "The goal is to have cross-cultural competency as a corps skill so that we don't have to relearn this lesson again for the next major activity."
The video was created in response to the success of a cross cultural video for all privates entering basic combat training.
The TRADOC Culture Center provided the subject matter expertise for the culture side of training, and the TRADOC IMT provided the military expertise to blend cross-cultural competency with current military skills and doctrine to ensure a relevant and effective training product, Grider stressed.
All new enlisted and officer personnel in the U.S. Army will have classroom instruction and facilitator-lead culture training through these products.
Tipping Point Solutions, an e-learning company specializing in the customized design, production and delivery of interactive e-learning products, has been involved with the Army delivering culture products for the past three years.
The collaboration between the TRADOC Culture Center, TPS, as well as the TRADOC IMT has been a great experience, said Rick Schmidt, chief executive officer, TPS.
"The cohesiveness of the effort in terms of bringing all that expertise to this product is great," Schmidt exclaimed. "We give the U.S. military kudos for working with industry, being able to integrate the people who are involved in the military, and using the base for locations is just incredible."
From our company's perspective, if every project was like this we would be thrilled. When you look at the final product it's going to reflect that," he said.