FEATURE ARTICLE

April 2006

Deploying Marines Tell Vendors How to Make More Useful Wares

By Grace Jean

Camp Pendleton, Calif.—As chief of staff of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force during two tours in Iraq, Col. John C. Coleman processed more than 400 “urgent needs requests”—ranging from computer equipment to protective clothing.

As he surveys a recent military hardware exhibition here, Coleman, who now is the commander of the base, notices that many of the technologies on display are items he would have appreciated during his time in Iraq. “I’m seeing answers to things we were describing two or three years ago that we didn’t have,” he says.

He points to Oregon Aero Inc.’s Kevlar helmets as an example of an answer to one of those requests.

“If you look at the suspension system that was in the original Kevlar helmets we had, it transferred a great percentage of the shock the helmet absorbed to the cranium. They designed a system that significantly reduced that shock from the helmet to the brain. I can tell you I wore one of their systems for the few years I was in Iraq, so, that’s one small example. But a very valuable one,” says Coleman.

A large display housing MPRI’s “virtual convoy trainer” attracts a long line of Marines eager to climb into the Humvee cab for a turn at driving down the streets of Baghdad, shooting from the rotating gun turret or defending the vehicle by firing handheld weapons out the windows.

“Everything in there is like the real thing,” says Cpl. Adam Jaworski, who spent seven months in Ramadi, Iraq. During his turn in the turret, the gun jams on him, just as it might in actual combat.

“Whatever they need, we’re able to simulate that very accurately,” says Gregory Nelson, senior software engineer for MPRI.

The cab of the vehicle sits in the center of four large screens that display the scenario. Side-view mirrors that “reflect” the unfolding scenes add another dimension of realism.

A Windows-like interface allows simulation designers to click and drag what they need on a computer desktop, which dramatically reduces the time it takes to develop training scenarios. The system can replicate small Iraqi villages in a seven-by-seven kilometer area and can also do geo-specific environments for mission rehearsals, says Nelson.

The simulators are used widely by the Army, but the Marine Corps has not yet acquired any.

Jaworski says his convoy training encompassed several classes and participation in mock convoys. But none of that preparation contained the level of realism that he saw in the MPRI trainer.

“I’m really impressed by this system. I can see how this would be really useful to us,” he says.

In several tractor-trailers parked nearby, Raydon Corp. also has a Humvee convoy trainer. But the more popular attraction is a virtual door gunner trainer found in one of the central trailers.

At first glance, the four metal structures standing inside resemble stouter and elongated versions of the walk-through metal detectors found at airport security checkpoints. Upon closer inspection, they turn out to be mock-ups of Black Hawk helicopter doorways with guns mounted on the sides.

Donning a helmet attached to a head-mounted display and a communications link submerges a player into the helicopter gunner environment. A Raydon representative who has flown real-life missions in Iraq pilots the Black Hawk off the ground and begins flying through the digitized urban environment. As the landscape flies by, he chats while navigating beneath Baghdad’s crossed sabers monument. His voice pipes up clearly inside the helmet. He searches the streets below for enemies and calls upon his two gunners to fire upon an insurgent truck speeding toward the convoy he’s trying to protect.

Raydon has built its trainers so that they are transportable, says Brian Hunt, director of marketing. The Daytona Beach, Fla.-based company leases the simulators to its military customers.

The National Guard has been using these systems for some time, and the Army’s 4th Infantry Division was the first to employ the door gunner trainer several months ago at Fort Hood, Texas, he says.

Marines who stop by to try out the system tell Raydon representatives that they want a Chinook version and seat belts that make it easier for them to hang out the doors and shoot.

“Virtual training is an enhancement. It’s not a replacement for actual training with weapons and vehicles and so forth,” says Coleman.

Perhaps nothing is as urgently needed as technologies to help defeat the threat of improvised explosive devices, several Marines observe.

Applied Marine Technology Inc., a Virginia Beach, Va.-based company whose services and technical products include IED training and explosive ordnance disposal, displays several shelves of small electronic gadgets—such as cell phones—that are used by insurgents to trigger IEDs.

These devices are designed so that troops can use them in training to defeat IEDs, says Erik Strautnieks, a sales associate.

“They use the same frequencies and everything,” he says.

Bud Fultz, vice president of Applied Marine, says company representatives travel overseas to find the electronic devices acquired by insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We go to great lengths to ensure our products use all the pieces, parts and components as those used by the enemy to make them as realistic as possible,” he says.

The company also is producing 2,000 small remotely controlled robots that help find and destroy IEDs.

Although an untold number of technologies are being developed and deployed to counter IEDs, industry and military experts agree that none has yet fixed the problem.

“My personal opinion is there is not a pure technical solution to that challenge right now,” says Coleman. Rather, it’s a combination of things, from electronic warfare all the way down to the simple protective measures and visual observation—the skills that war fighters learn in country—that reduce and mitigate both the frequency and results of the IED problem, he says.

Beneath one of the large outdoor tents, a small carousel of rifles pointing to the sky catches the eye. Each rifle is outfitted with self-luminous targeting sights. The Corps just purchased 104,000 of the TA-31 rifle combat optic gun-sights, says Curt Monnig, manager of Trijicon, which supplies the devices.

Designated as the service’s first official rifle combat optic, the gun-sight allows Marines to identify multiple targets faster, he says. A small tube of fiber optic wire affixed to the top of the scope captures light and transfers the energy into a small red glowing dot located in the center of the eyepiece. At night, there’s backup power to accomplish the same task.

A group of Marines stop to check out eye protection wear made by Eye Safety Systems. They are looking for goggles and sunglasses that fit beneath their helmets better and can keep out the sand and wind. Eric Dobbie, a company representative, points out that the Advance V-12 goggles recently have become standard issue for the British forces. He says Eye Safety hopes that U.S. forces will follow suit.

The expo reveals a trend of traditionally civilian-focused businesses attempting to bring modern day conveniences to the battlefield, such as Bose Corp., with noise reduction earphones modified for military helmets, and Camelbak Products, with its hands-free water backpack in a variety of camouflage prints.

Several weapons wrapped almost completely in camouflage stand out among the water purification tablet packs and micro-fiber towels lying on a counter at the McNett Corp. booth. Sales vice president Tanya Brooks takes out a roll of Camo Form, the reusable cotton wrap that the Army is issuing to all soldiers, and begins winding a portion of it around a rifle. It clings to itself without leaving a residue, she says. It can be wrapped around firearms to reduce signatures, and can also be used as a compression wrap in emergencies.

“It’s a great survival tool,” she says.

Stationed beneath a small tent just outside the main entrance of the show, Robert Bonin, of Potomac Field Gear, holds up a lighter to a green t-shirt. The fabric at the flame site turns several shades darker and shrinks away slowly. It smokes but never catches fire.

Master Sgt. George Schweitzer stops by the Rite-in-the-Rain display in search of waterproof pens that will write on the company’s small waterproof notebooks, which he carries in his uniform pocket. He is leaving for Iraq in a week and a half, and is disappointed to learn there aren’t any he can buy right there. A pencil will have to suffice. He takes the opportunity to make a quick suggestion to the company representative: produce notebooks with covers that have a strap on them so that they’re more accessible.

He tells National Defense that he’s been wandering around the expo mostly to give feedback to companies about the problems he’s had in the field using particular products.

“The operators, who have knowledge of what they need that they may not have, come in here and exchange information, dialog with vendors who could potentially help fill those needs,” says Coleman. That dialogue often translates into products that can help address new deficiencies, he adds.

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