Simulated training urged for new wars

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Simulated training urged for new wars
By Kevin Baron, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, December 18, 2008

WASHINGTON — As the Defense Department prepares to expand the U.S. mission in Afghanistan by tens of thousands of troops, the Pentagon wants to provide more computer simulation training and online education for small units of joint combat ground troops who are expected to engage small bands of decentralized enemy fighters, a top official said Tuesday.

"I think it needs to be a substantial investment," Vice Adm. Robert S. Harward, the new deputy commander of the U.S. Joint Forces Command, said at a media breakfast in Washington.

"Our forces need to be prepared to fight and win in both a conventional fight and in irregular warfare, even hybrid warfare."

The comments echo those of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who, amid a shrinking economy, is emphasizing that Defense spending should meet the rapidly changing nature of warfare over big-ticket budget items intended for traditional conflicts between nation-states.

Harward said that the Pentagon was drawing from combat experiences in Sadr City, Iraq, which until earlier this year was the stronghold of fiery cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and the 2006 fighting between Lebanon and Israel. In those battles, small bands of insurgents and Hezbollah who operated among urban populations used "technologies that were only available to state actors previously," Harward said, citing such things as sophisticated rocket attacks and listening communications.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=59482