Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston –
The U.S. Army and a unit of the U.S. Agency for
International Development created a new video game to train Soldiers how to
respond to foreign natural disasters.
Earlier this year, Maj. Gen. Mark O’Neil, deputy commanding
general of the Combined Arms Center-Training, Fort Leavenworth, Kan., approved
the video game, called Disaster Sim, for the force.
“Disaster Sim teaches Soldiers how to be part of a joint
task force, coping with a foreign natural disaster,” O’Neil said. “The video
game shows how the Army is using technology to make training more engaging and
accessible.”
The video game can be downloaded for free from the Army’s
Milgaming website at https://milgaming.army.mil/.
Developing the game involved U.S. Army South; the Army
Research Laboratory; the Army Games for Training Program, Program Executive
Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation; the Institute for Creative
Technologies at the University of Southern California, and
the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, or OFDA.
OFDA, part of the U.S. Agency for International Development,
is responsible for leading and coordinating the U.S. response to overseas
disasters.
U.S. Army South at Fort Sam Houston is responsible for
providing the core of a joint task force headquarters to deploy as part of a
U.S. government response to disasters in Central America, South America and the
Caribbean.
Col. Michael Panko, Army South’s chief of training and
exercises, said Army South saw the need for a capability to provide initial
training about the Army’s role in responding to foreign disasters.
“This software is designed as an instructional tool for personnel
who would serve on a foreign disaster relief joint task force as part of a U.S.
government response led by OFDA,” Panko said.
Tim Wansbury project lead with the Army Research Laboratory,
said OFDA’s representatives provided the expertise in creating the video game’s
content.
“They helped us develop a program to teach Disaster Relief
101,” Wansbury said.
Disaster Sim’s initial scenario challenges a Soldier to
respond to the needs of Guatemalans during an earthquake, said Lt. Col. Greg
Pavlichko. Until taking a new assignment, Pavlichko was the chief of the Games
for Training programs, which is part of the National Simulation Center and
CAC-T.
“In the game, the Soldier has many more requests for help
than resources,” Pavlichko said. “That forces the Soldier to prioritize
resources to meet the most critical needs. If the Soldier doesn’t correctly
address the most serious problems, there are adverse second- and third order
effects.”