"What these virtual enactments do is to provide our junior first line leaders a bridge into the experience and judgment part of decision making," says Major General Boles. "Specifically, it enables our leaders to see the impact of their decisions and, most importantly, learn from the experience of making a bad decision. This is true learning."
Not only do live-action virtual experiences give soldiers a better idea of the actual environment they will face, but they emotionally engage users, thereby increasing the retention and effectiveness of the lessons. Further, these immersive learning simulations compress experience by allowing learners to "play it out before they live it out."
"The Army does a magnificent job in training leaders," said Olszyk, "but it's tough to teach the experiences. You don't want them to get to Iraq and have to experience the learning through mistakes. Outside the Wire allows them this safe environment to make wrong decisions and understand what the second- and third-order effects are."
The importance of these second- and third-order effects is part of SFC's Mike Decker's dilemma in A Day in the Bam. Can he leave Blair, age 19, in his position of responsibility as a gunner? Or is the kid's confidence shot, and therefore a risk to the platoon? If he sits Blair down, the platoon might be safer today, but that would undermine Blair's confidence in the long term and worsen the emotional impact of the event. Also, by sitting Blair down, would he send the signal to other soldiers that following standard procedures for escalation of force could still land you in trouble with the platoon sergeant? You can't have an emotional wreck making life or death decisions as a gunner, but would sitting Blair down cause other gunners to hesitate, with deadly results?
Dawn is coming. SFC Decker has perhaps a minute to talk to Blair and decide to get him back up on the gun or sit him down. The chain of events in war is complex and unforeseeable; this could be a decision of no consequence or one that determines life or death. What would you do?
Sharon Sloane, CEO of WILL Interactive Inc., has helped revolutionize the virtual experience and interactive gaming industries. She holds the patent for Virtual Experience Immersive Learning Simulations (VEILS®), a unique blend of live action feature films and videogames, and has developed 25 serious games in use by the United States Military.
