"..We must improve our cultural awareness…to inform the policy process. Our policies would benefit from this not only in Iraq, but…elsewhere, where we will have long-term strategic relationships and potential military challenges for many years to come.”

-Ike Skelton, in a letter to Donald Rumsfeld, October 23, 2003

(An expert in cultural awareness speaking to a student at the Functional Area 30 Qualification Course during their two-week multi-echelon at the Battle Command Training Center. Click on the picture to view the website and learn more)

Cultural Awareness is a hot topic in today’s Army, but are there any more effective ways of learning about foreign cultures rather than “death by power point” or a long fact sheet such as the one below published by Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC)? FA 30 (Information Operations) personnel in the picture above attended classes, but what about mobile training for all MOS's and the troops on the ground?

Arab Cultural Awareness: 58 Factsheets

The U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) G-2 Intelligence Support Activity (TRISA), in conjunction with the University of Texas at Dallas, has developed a virtual Iraq cultural awareness simulation.


(This simulator uses the same engine as America's Army, but is no video game. Click on the picture to visit the website and learn more.)


The above picture was taken during the early stages of development, and the complexity and the graphics have improved. The entire program can fit on a single DVD, which will allow for mobile training for troops "down range". Not only is the system mobile, but it is comprehensive and up to date. Dr. Marge Zielke, the professor leading the student development team states, “Much of the cultural data is being developed in real time by the military. By having it in a systems-based approach that is composable — in other words, we can generate culture in certain aspects of the game on the fly — we can respond to the data as soon as it becomes available. We could change it overnight if we needed to.”

The effectiveness of such simulators still lack substantial studies, but virtual training is employed in many commercial sectors, and has effectively reduced training time in Wall Street from 2.5 years, to 1 year. No classroom or simulator is a perfect substitute for first hand, real world experience. Yet, the very point of training is to provide a mock environment to safely demonstrate key principles that may be "fine tuned" out in the field. There are ways to potentially increase effectiveness even further through technological means.

(Transcranial magnetic stimulation can temporarily knock out a brain function or artificially stimulate one, and has recently been FDA approved. Click on the picture to visit the website and learn more.)

Learning performance enhancing drugs such as Adderall, are legal with a prescription, but may contain adverse physical affects for the general populace. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a safe, non invasive means of effecting the brain. While the technology has not yet sufficiently progressed to specifically target all the areas associated with learning, exciting the frontal cortex causes the patient to feel more intense about their current experience. In fact, there are many investigations currently studying the use of TMS in depressing the frontal lobe to treat veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD).

Though there are currently no such plans to compliment virtual simulators with TMS, such a combination might increase effective training by making the experience seem that much more, "intense, realistic, or memorable." Virtual Environments and Brain Computer Interfaces are a growing field so expect to see more of their use in the future in both the military and commercial sector (and in this blog).