MILITARY LAWYERS USE PLEXSYS PRODUCTS TO TRAIN FOR CONFLICT

February 24, 2014:  601^st Air Operations Center (AOC), Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida is using the PLEXSYS Interface Products, Inc Advanced Simulation Combat Operations Trainer (ASCOT) as a constructive simulation experience to train military legal advisors.  These advisors work on the operations floor of the 601^st AOC, where they can find themselves at any given moment, facing a life or death decision that could change history.  Air Forces North (AFNORTH) Judge Advocate Generals (JAGs) need to be able to make on the spot legal judgment calls to advise the chain of command on the most legally prudent course of action to bring a mission event to a desirable conclusion as quickly as possible.  To assist with the training, Col Michael Guillroy, the 601^st AOC Senior Legal Advisor to the Joint Force Air Component Commander (JFACC) enlisted the use of Distributed Mission Operations (DMO) training events.  DMO allows users to participate in computer-based simulated training scenarios that virtually replicate the circumstances of a real world event.  ASCOT creates this virtual world for DMO to take place.  ASCOT was used by the 601^st AOC to create various scenarios utilizing a crawl, walk run approach of learning.  They developed subtly challenging scenarios proceeding to more complex ones as the student’s progress.  The use of ASCOT and DMO training events provides the most realistic training experienced by the legal advisers to date.  According to Capt Chris Kovach, an active duty JAG assigned to the 601^st AOC, “you’re as close to being in the moment as you possibly can be without participating in a full scale exercise or real world event.  The DMO process really hammers home the divide between merely discussing solutions and actually recommending their implementation”.  This use of ASCOT to train legal advisors is yet another example of its flexibility and fidelity, reinforcing ASCOTs as being the “C” in Live Virtual and Constructive training venues.