SOCOM a trailblazer for joint training.

• Author: Tiron, Roxana
• Position: Cover Story

The joint-service approach to training employed by U.S. special operations forces has become a model for the Defense Department's Joint National Training Capability, officials said. Under JNTC, the plan is to increase the amount of training that the services conduct jointly.

Because of the nature of their job, special operators from the Army, Navy and Air Force train and fight together. Therefore, most training and simulation systems have had to be networked to function together in combat exercises, said Michael Vaughn, a U.S. Special Operations Command consultant and the technical lead for JNTC development at SOCOM.

The Pentagon sees SOCOM as a "great foundation for building this JNTC," said Vaughn.

Mirroring this trend, the Army's training systems organization is setting up a program office dedicated exclusively to supporting SOCOM. This will "open the lines of communication" between the special operations forces and the conventional units, so they can share technology and mutually benefit from their combat experience, said Brig. Gen. Stephen Seay, Army program executive officer for simulation, training and instrumentation (PEO STRI).

"We want to leverage the operational experience, techniques and processes of SOF," he told National Defense. "There are lessons from SOF that we can transfer to the force at large."

The special operations forces, meanwhile, will benefit from this arrangement, because they will be able to take advantage of technology that the Army already has funded for conventional programs, Seay noted.

SOF training programs, although managed under PEO STRI, will be funded by SOCOM.

As far as the JNTC is concerned, "SOCOM has a close working relationship with the JNTC development," Vaughn said in an interview. At the same time, SOCOM is watching the developments in JNTC and "their ability to help us while we help them."

The U.S. Joint Forces Command is in charge of developing a plan for JNTC. The Defense Department will provide $1.3 billion for the program over five years. JNTC funds would be used to develop technologies such as double-digit infrared emitters, to simulate ground targets, high-speed Internet connectivity, digital maps and simulated forces. Ultimately, JNTC is meant to close the gap between the services when conducting tactical operations, officials said.

Vaughn said that SOCOM wants to continue improving the training systems and developing an architecture that would allow forces to perform global mission...