Tuesday, February 20, 2001

By Marni McEntee
Bosnia bureau

Ivana Avramovic / Stars and Stripes Soldiers from Company A, 1st Battalion of the 64th Armor Regiment work on their skills by shooting at targets projected on a big screen. The latest technology enables them to keep up their warfighting skills while serving as peacekeepers in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

EAGLE BASE, Bosnia and Herzegovina — In a darkened room at Eagle Base, the Army is queuing up the latest in computerized weapons training for its peacekeeping troops.

To the casual observer, soldiers using this virtual trainer look a lot like people shooting a fake gun at a video game parlor.

Army officials say, however, that this virtual trainer can actually keep soldiers’ heads in the war-fighting game, even if the training does look and sound like a whole lot of fun.

"It is a big game, but that’s not a bad thing," said Sgt. Michael Hallman, who loads the computer discs into the system, then coaxes the training troops through the exercises. "Without realizing it, they are learning. You can still learn, even if you are having fun," Hallman said.

True, troops waiting their turn lounge about while other platoon members are lying on a carpeted deck with weapons blazing at a movie screen. When one virtual scene rolls, showing no fighting or enemy troops — only green rolling hills dotted with trees, one soldier yells out: "This must be the peacekeeping scene."

The trainer uses exact replicas of Army-issue M-16s and M-249s, along with an anti-tank AT-4. The weapons have 75 percent of the recoil of actual weapons. Some of the scenarios are computerized, such as those where troops must help clear enemy bunkers and stop an enemy advance of ground troops.

Others are actual videotapes of training exercises in Grafenwöhr, Germany, where real soldiers encounter hostile people as they search vehicles or pull gate guard duty.

Soldiers pepper the screen with virtual bullets when a search goes awry.

Spc. Tysonn Shivers, who had his turn with an anti-tank AT-4, said: "It’s kind of like a Super Nintendo game. You are seeing a real scene and actually firing the same size weapon we actually use. You get a little bit of hands-on experience in here," said Shivers, of 3rd Platoon, Company A, 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment.

2nd Lt. Alejandro Sante agreed: "I think it’s pretty good, to tell the truth. It’s a good change of pace for the guys. It gets their minds back in the game. It’s so much calmer here than what we trained for, so this gets them thinking again."

Troops at Eagle Base have been using the trainer for two months. It replaced an older version that used a slower laser-disc system. While Hallman and others say this machine isn’t going to replace other essential readiness training using real weapons and live fire, the virtual trainer is one way to maintain at least somewhat of an edge.

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