Training Rapid Decision-Making Processes Required by the Dismounted Objective Force Leader

Cognitive demands placed on the small unit leader will change significantly as new information technologies are introduced to the Objective Force Warrior (OFW). This proposal describes a Phase I effort to understand those changes and outlines a Phase IIeffort to develop a training method to accommodate those changes even as the information technologies themselves are under development. The training method is predicated on the main insights of our Phase I work that digital technologies will place a demandon the OFW to fuse information from a variety of sources. Moreover, despite the analytic nature of this fusion, experience is still the best way to train fusion skills. We propose to embody these insights in the Simulated Field Exercise Tool (SFET). TheSFET will allow a training developer to author scenarios in which soldiers must pull information from a variety of specified sources before making tactical decisions. Emphasis is on information content and, to a lesser degree, mode of presentation and notthe