NATICK, Mass. -- It turns out that working shoulder to shoulder can lead to a true meeting of the minds.
Scientists and engineers at the Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center and at the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine are joining forces with the 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division and the 82nd Airborne to garner new insights into the cognitive, physical and emotional performance of Soldiers. Conducting research in the environment where the Soldiers live and work and fostering direct communication enables researchers to gain insights not possible from working in the laboratory alone.
The cooperation with the 10th Mountain Division and the 82nd Airborne is part of a larger effort to partner with Soldiers. By immersing their teams in the Soldier's living and working environment, NSRDEC and USARIEM will be better able to focus science and technology, or S&T, efforts on developing more appropriate tools, techniques, strategies, products and technologies for the nation's Warfighters on and off the battlefield. The partnerships will also improve approaches to teaching and learning and will help to identify and create specific content.
The idea to partner with units came after Maj. Gen. Erik Kurilla, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, sought out NSRDEC's expertise to help define what factors contribute to Soldier performance, how those factors change over a tactical timeline, and what decisions a commander can make to ensure optimal performance. NSRDEC then joined forces with USARIEM, since both organizations are longtime experts in studying Soldier capabilities and in finding ways to optimize performance and improve quality of life. An opportunity for an official roundtable discussion to garner Soldier feedback eventually rose with the 10th Mountain Division.
NSRDEC and USARIEM held roundtable discussions and feedback sessions with three levels of command -- company, platoon and squad. As a result of the roundtables, NSRDEC and USARIEM gained insight into challenges and conditions that are common in a mission scenario and how to develop strategies and solutions in response. A few examples of common challenges and conditions include mental fatigue, physical fatigue, uncertainty, monotony, and a lack of clear objectives.
The discussions also provided tangible proof that solutions are born when experts of different fields work together. Members of the 10th Mountain Division visited Natick to learn more about the Center's projects and products. During their visit, Soldiers noted a shelter/shower called TEMPER and converted it into a Tactical Operations Center (TOC), based on the recommendation of Lt. Col. John C. Welsh, 2-30th Infantry Battalion commander.
"Shelter was designed for one thing, Soldier uses it for another -- highlighting Solider ingenuity and creativity," said Dr. John Ramsay, a biomechanics engineer at NSRDEC.
Due to potential threat conditions, Soldiers needed a TOC that could be packed up and moved in 18 minutes. After the conversion, the Soldiers could set it up in 19 minutes, and they are confident they can meet the 18-minute cutoff with practice.
The interaction between the Natick Center and the 10th Mountain Division already demonstrated a very practical solution with the creation of the TOC. The ongoing collaboration has additional aims as well, including measuring Soldier and squad performance metrics during an ongoing, field-based mission timeline, including pre-mission, mission, and recovery.
"The effort with the 10th Mountain Division was in support of proposal development, aimed at defining the metrics used in optimizing performance throughout the tactical timeline and supporting the Soldier and Squad Performance Optimization Strategy," said Bob Tobin, an NSRDEC requirements analyst on the Soldier/Squad Interface Team. "Our goal is to define and measure the metrics, times and tasks important to Soldiers and commanders."
Dr. Erika Hussey, a research psychologist on NSRDEC's Cognitive Science Team, added, "One objective of this cross-disciplinary project is to define successful performance over the course of the dismounted Soldier tactical timeline. This includes identifying measurement tools that are sensitive to changes in performance across individuals and over long stretches of time."
Hussey explained the importance of studying the unit's cognitive performance and understanding how the mind and its processes -- including perception, memory, attention, reasoning, and emotional state -- affect Soldier performance. "Alongside physical and nutritional factors, it's critical to understanding cognitive status in order to maximize Soldiers' sustainability and effectiveness prior to, during and following a mission," she said. "Mental workload, stress and fatigue can negatively impact performance. As a cognitive scientist, it's my job to determine how to monitor for and predict when these states arise and to identify tractable ways to optimize programs despite them."
In addition to the experts from NSRDEC, Ramsay has involved USARIEM scientists in this study investigating performance decrements in Warfighters during a sustained, field-based mission, enlisting Maj. Shannon Merkle of USARIEM's Military Performance Division and Dr. Tracey Smith of the Military Nutrition Division to join the effort.
"As a nutrition scientist, I'm interested in studying performance metrics that are affected by dietary intake," said Smith. "There are many potential benefits of the project. For example, the information we gather will established a baseline for future research efforts to optimize Soldier performance."
According to Merkle, the scientists engaged in direct observational experiences in order to design a study that would identify and track performance differences in a field-based mission. "The collaboration of USARIEM and NSRDEC is an intuitive application of each organization's missions," she said. "We both exist to provide evidence-based solutions to optimize the Warfighter's performance."
During their visit to Folk Pork, NSRDEC and USARIEM also observed sniper training and grenade launching training and were able to gather Soldier feedback. The researchers also had the opportunity to observe mounted operations training and platoon field training, which involved setting up a patrol base and reacting to enemy force.
Interacting with units such as the 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division allows NSRDEC and USARIEM researchers the opportunity to provide direct feedback to unit leadership regarding their observations, which could lead to strategies that optimize rucking under load conditions and cognitive performance. In addition, this feedback could continue to developing optimal nutrition and hydration requirements for performance and strategies for the prevention of, and recovery after, musculoskeletal injuries, or MSIs, in addition to insights into the impact of unreported MSIs on mission readiness.
Merkle explained that through the partnership, unit leadership provides USARIEM researchers feedback regarding the types of evidence-based information that would be helpful for the unit's performance -- i.e., recommendations for boot selection and input to supply officers regarding food and water planning resources available for a given mission timeline.
"The 2-30th is an experienced light infantry battalion and could decide to continue doing business as usual," said Merkle. "However, they are engaged in an improvement process designed to continuously enhance their performance and capabilities. Collaborations with such units are mutually beneficial since units can benefit from our resources to improve their capabilities, and in return they push us to continually evolve our science."
Ramsay agrees that consistent communication benefits both parties. "We ask the Soldiers to tell us everything we need to know, which will help us to formulate not only this specific study, but also all of our science moving forward," he said. "Our mindset is that we want to make our science as relevant for the Soldier as possible, and then through our research, we want to enable them with a foundation to make better decisions based on the science."
For example, the researchers learned in their interactions with Soldiers that a 72-hour time frame is what they should aim to study, because all infantry squads should be self-sustainable for 72-hours. This realization ultimately led the USARIEM and NSRDEC to later observe, participate, and garner feedback from the 82nd Airborne's 72-hour platoon live fire exercise. "The tactical timeline collaboration leveraged existing training exercises from both units to help put together a cohesive research study designed to understand and quantify changes in all domains of the human dimension during a tactical timeline," said Ramsay.
In addition to the illuminating studies gained from this partnership, the benefits of working with both the 10th Mountain and 82nd Airborne have led to the development of a future study, which will likely take place in 2018.
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The U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Centeris part of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, which has the mission to provide innovative research, development and engineering to produce capabilities for decisive overmatch to the Army against the complexities of the current and future operating environments in support of the Joint Warfighter and the Nation. RDECOM is a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Materiel Command.
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U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center
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