Mobile simulators give soldiers early roadside bomb training.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: Countering IEDs

* FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- High on a simulated hilltop in Afghanistan, a team of four Taliban fighters wait to spring an ambush using a roadside bomb. Their objective is to kill as many U.S. soldiers as possible.

As the wind blows, and a sheep herder passes by in the valley below, the sound of two armored humvee engines can be heard winding their way up the mountain pass.

In this interactive game, four U.S. soldiers play the part of a typical improvised explosive device emplacement team. There is a leader, a triggerman, a security man who wields a rocket propelled grenade launcher, and a cameraman to record the attack for propaganda purposes.

As the humvee comes into view, the triggerman hits a red button and the humvee is destroyed.

This all happens in the mobile counter-IED interactive trainer, a four-trailer system of lessons that are designed to give soldiers a first look at the world of roadside bombs. It's one of two new simulators that expose ground forces to the hazards they may face before they arrive in Afghanistan or Iraq.

When the soldiers playing the parts of insurgents managed to destroy the humvee, they earned points on their final score. Unfortunately, there were four soldiers in another part of the trailer who were in mock humvees driving up the mountain pass. They lost points when they failed to spot the warning signs of a roadside bomb. If the second humvee had been following too close and had been caught in the bomb blast, that driver may have had more points knocked off. If they had panicked and shot the goat herder, they would have lost more points.

"It teaches them muzzle awareness and trigger control. Because there are goat herders in this scenario all over the place," said Lance Pylant, a trainer for the system. The Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization and the University of Southern California's Center for Creative Technologies developed the trainer. There are currently three versions of it at different training facilities with another seven being built.

Although funding comes from JIEDDO, it was not an idea pushed from the top down, said Dave Saffold, deputy director of JIEDDO's joint center of excellence. It was noncommissioned officers from the 1st Army who came up with the concept. They wanted a training environment that could be quickly adaptive. New lessons can be downloaded via satellite on a secure military network.

"If you are going to a certain sector in Afghanistan, we will tailor a...