Growth Area

Defense officials have begun ramping up efforts to include simulations in home-station training that could help prepare U.S. forces for Afghanistan- and Iraq-like missions, Joint Forces Command Deputy Commander Vice Adm. Robert Harward said during a phone call with reporters yesterday.

He said these new efforts to simulate the conditions of irregular warfare would particularly benefit ground troops, who account for the vast majority of casualties in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

So far, he said, "We've done very little simulation training for those individuals."

JFCOM officials sponsor the Future Immersive Training Environment (FITE) Joint Capability Technology Demonstration. The project aims to recreate the complex environment of irregular battlefields.