HUNTER ARMY AIRFIELD, Ga. - Building upon lessons learned from a rehearsal command post exercise conducted Feb. 13-17, the "Vanguard" brigade upped the ante to incorporate a virtual full-spectrum operation into its most recent CPX, April 16-20, at Evans Army Airfield.
The exercise was originally designed to test the communication capabilities of the brigade and its subordinate units' battle command systems, said Capt. Reeon Brown, the operations plans officer for 4th Infantry Brigade Command Team, Third Infantry Division.
To add reality and an additional challenge to the exercise, Capt. Brown said a simulated mission was incorporated into the exercise through the use of Virtual Battle Space 2 technology, a training platform delivered through laptop computers and headsets and presented as an advanced video game. The operations plans officer said the use of the VBS2 allowed the brigade staff to disseminate and execute the simulated mission, tasked by a division, and see it through to its completion at the individual Soldier level on the virtual battlefield.
Lieutenant Colonel Joel Smith, commander of 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 4IBCT, said incorporating the virtual full-spectrum operation into the exercise provided important training to his headquarters element as his battalion served as the main effort in the simulated mission.
Lieutenant Colonel Smith said the VBS2 technology allowed his battalion to replicate Soldiers on the battlefield--subordinates whom he could communicate with and whom he could track on the Blue Force Tracker in his tactical operations center--while in reality, his Soldiers conducted platoon- and squad-level training tasks on the ranges and in the training areas of Fort Stewart, Ga.
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