InsIde - PEO STRI - U.S. Army

Inside 

In this 

Issue 

j u n e 2 0 1 1 

Tips on How to Prepare for 

Hurricane Season... Page 4 

Army Birthday Ball 2011 in 

Photos... Pages 6-7 

CIO Accomplishes 

Windows 7 Upgrade... Page 8 

PM ITTS Helps a Ala. 

Hometown Hero... Page 9 

Worth 

Repeating 

At various stages 

the mission has required 

our Soldiers to be scholars, 

teachers, policemen, 

farmers, bankers, 

engineers, social workers, 

and of course, warriors-often 

all at the 

same time. And they 

have always risen to the 

challenge.” 

Robert M. Gates, 

secretary of defense, 

commenting on the 

Army’s 236th Birthday 

in the Pentagon 

Courtyard 

VOLUME XI 

ISSUE VI 

STRI Fields First-Ever Virtual 

Training for Infantrymen 

By Rick Gregory, APEO Business Operations Support Staff 

U.S. Army Photo/Doug Schaub 

The Dismounted Soldier Training System is demonstrated for Maj. Gen. Robert B. Brown (third from left behind 

table), the commanding general of the U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence, during the recent Training & 

Simulation Industry Symposium, held in Orlando, Fla., June 15-16. 

Ever since Captain Kirk uttered 

the famous line, “Beam me 

up, Scotty,” on the popular Star 

Trek television series, people 

have been fascinated with the 

idea of being instantaneously 

transported to another location. 

For U.S. Soldiers, that day will 

soon be here, at least in the virtual 

sense. 

By early next year, a squad of 

up to nine Soldiers will be able 

to enter a nondescript training 

room, each taking their place on 

an assigned 10-by-10 foot pad, 

and within minutes be virtually 

transported together to a geospecific 

combat zone that’s alive 

with the 3-D sights and 360-degree 

sounds of the battlefield. 

They can then carry out their 

assigned mission in a totally immersive 

environment. To add 

to the realism of battle, the system 

will be able to estimate and 

gauge the effects of the injuries 

sustained in the virtual environment, 

either from impact munitions 

such as bullets and grenades 

or explosive effects from 

IEDs. 

Called the Dismounted Soldier 

Training System (DSTS), 

the new device consists of a 

man-wearable immersive system 

that includes: a helmet complete 

with a mounted display, an 

integrated head tracker, stereo 

speakers and a microphone for 

voice and radio communications; 

a computer backpack for processing 

and display of the 3-D 

virtual environment; sensors for 

tracking body positions; and instrumented 

weapons for optics, 

sights and scope. The trainees’ 

weapons will also be equipped 

with buttons in the foregrip to allow 

Soldiers to maneuver inside 

their virtual environment without 

actually moving. 

In addition to all of the other 

“gee whiz” components, the 

DSTS will also accurately simulate 

the movement of ground 

vehicles, aircraft, dismounted 

infantry and guided weapons, as 

well as conforming visually with 

the environment by identifying 

such elements as footprints, disturbed 

soil, rolling terrain and 

dense vegetation. As well, Soldiers 

can train in any virtual environment 

including nighttime, 

daylight, and snow, rain or other 

Continued on page 9

2 

Inside STRI JUNE 2011 

U.S. Army Photo/C. Todd Lopez 

President Barack Obama announced May 30, 2011, he will nominate Gen. Raymond T. Odierno as the next chief of 

staff of the Army. Odierno currently serves as commander of the U.S. Joint Forces Command. 

Article Courtesy of the Army News Service 

President Barack Obama announced 

May 30, 2011, that he 

will nominate Gen. Raymond T. 

Odierno as the next chief of staff 

of the Army. 

Obama also announced he 

will nominate Gen. Martin E. 

Dempsey, the Army’s current 

chief of staff, to be chairman of 

the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 

Dempsey is expected to replace 

Adm. Mike Mullen when 

his term as chairman ends Sept. 

30. The president made the announcement 

in the White House 

Rose Garden just before departing 

to Arlington National Cemetery 

for the national Memorial 

Day ceremony there. 

“I’m announcing my choice for 

their successors today because 

it’s essential that this transition 

be seamless and that we stay 

focused on the urgent national 

security challenges before us,” 

Obama said. 

If the Senate approves the 

nominations, Odierno—known 

Odierno Nominated as Next 

CSA as Dempsey Moves Up 

for overseeing the transition 

from surge to stability operations 

in Iraq from September 2008 to 

September 2010—will replace 

Dempsey as the chief of the staff 

after just five months of holding 

the Army’s highest military 

position. 

Dempsey became the 37th 

Army chief of staff April 11, 

2011. 

While Dempsey will have 

served just more than five months 

as the chief of staff of the Army, 

his term in the position is not the 

shortest among Army chiefs. That 

record is held by Lt. Gen. John C. 

Bates, who served from Jan. 15, 

1906 to April 13, 1906, serving 

just less than three months in the 

position. And, Maj. John Doughty 

served in an equivalent position, 

as the United States Army’s 

“senior officer,” from June 20, 

1784 to Aug. 12, 1784—a stint of 

just 53 days. 

Among those serving in the 

chief of staff position, a title first 

used in 1903, it was Gen. George 

Marshall who held the position 

longest, more than six years, 

from Sept. 1, 1939 to Nov. 18, 

1945. He served in the position 

for the duration of World War II. 

Gen. Winfield Scott served longest 

in the Army’s top position, 

as its commanding general for 20 

years, up through the first months 

of the Civil War. 

Odierno currently serves as 

commander of the U.S. Joint 

Forces Command, which is being 

deactivated no later than Aug. 

31, 2011. He entered the Army 

in 1976 and served as a platoon 

leader with the 56th Field Artillery 

Brigade. 

Gen. David Petraeus, now 

commander of the International 

Security Assistance Force and 

U.S. Forces Afghanistan, served 

together with Odierno in the earliest 

days of the conflict in Iraq 

in 2003. 

During the recent surge in Iraq, 

Petraeus served as Multi-National 

Forces-Iraq commander while 

Odierno served as the Multi-National 

Corps-Iraq commander. 

“His leadership of MNC-I was 

absolutely magnificent; his operational 

vision was exceptional; 

his determination was extraordinary; 

and his drive was legendary,” 

Petraeus said. “It was an 

enormous privilege to have him 

as a key member of the team during 

that pivotal period in Iraq.” 

Odierno assumed Petraeus’ 

position at MNF-I in September 

2008 and was there through 

its transition to USF-I. Odierno 

“continued to make a tremendous 

impact in the land of the two rivers 

as the overall commander 

there for another two years,” Petraeus 

said. 

In October 2010, Odierno took 

command of U.S. Joint Forces 

Command, “shouldering with 

great skill and vision, the delicate 

task of transitioning vital 

capabilities of JFCOM to other 

organizations to enable the disestablishment 

of that command,” 

Petraeus said. 

The president himself commented 

on Odierno’s successes in 

Iraq when making the announcement 

regarding his nomination to 

the chief of staff position. 

“In three pivotal deployments 

to Iraq, he commanded the troops 

that captured Saddam Hussein, 

partnered with General Petraeus 

to help bring down the violence, 

and then transferred responsibility 

to Iraqi forces, allowing us to 

remove some 100,000 American 

troops and end our combat mission,” 

Obama said. 

“After years on the front lines, 

Ray understands what the Army 

must do to prevail in today’s 

wars, to prepare for the future and 

to preserve the readiness of the 

Soldiers and families who are the 

strength of America’s families,” 

Obama said.

STRI Maximizes Better Buying Power Through Teamwork 

By Kristen A. McCullough, PEO STRI Public Affairs Officer 

Even before organizations 

across the Army and Department 

of Defense were asked to “do 

more without more,” PEO STRI 

was realizing savings through a 

simple yet multifaceted concept: 

teamwork. 

“As you know, the Army is a 

‘we’ organization, not a ‘me’ organization. 

PEO STRI is one element 

of the Army team working to ensure 

our military is the best trained 

fighting force in the world,” Dr. 

James Blake, the program executive 

officer for PEO STRI, said. 

Working with other Army organizations 

and with other military 

services toward a common goal 

has produced fiscal efficiencies 

through reduced manpower, elimination 

of duplicative efforts and 

subsequent lower costs, Blake said. 

Different approaches to teamwork 

yield different benefits, yet all can 

lead to high-quality products for 

Warfighters at demonstrably lower 

costs than if the products had been 

undertaken by PEO STRI alone. 

PEO STRI’s egress assistance 

trainer programs are key examples. 

When PEO STRI received an 

Operational Needs Statement July 

2006 to procure a training device 

to limit injuries sustained during 

vehicular rollovers, a joint effort 

was launched to rapidly develop 

the HMMWV Egress Assistance 

Trainer (HEAT), which instructs 

Soldiers how to safely get out of an 

overturned vehicle. Working with 

PEO Combat Support and Combat 

Service Support, engineering assistance 

from the Research, Development 

and Engineering Command’s 

Tank Automotive Research, Development 

and Engineering Center 

and manufacturing capability at 

Red River Army Depot, the HEAT 

was developed in five months and 

deployed around the globe, including 

locations in the theaters of operation, 

by September 2007. 

Using the same construct and 

design premise for the HEAT, 

PEO STRI soon after developed 

the MRAP Egress Assistance 

Trainer (MET) to teach Soldiers 

how to properly exit a rolled-over 

MRAP vehicle. 

“By adding the additional design 

capabilities of the eight different 

MRAP vehicle cabs to the 

already proven HEAT system, the 

team provided a training capability 

in nine short months from concept 

development to the first fielding 

location at Camp Buehring, Kuwait,” 

Frank Schlemmer, project 

director for the HEAT and MET 

devices, said. 

The HMMWV and MRAP 

egress trainers, both of which are 

Army solutions for Army problems, 

not only train Soldiers, but 

Warfighters from the other services 

that are getting ready to deploy to 

the combat zone. 

“A U.S. Central Command 

message from April 17, 2010 requires 

all troops, civilians, contractors 

and foreign nationals that are 

required to ride in an MRAP vehicle 

to go through the training drills 

on the MET,” Schlemmer noted. 

Back in November 2010, the trainers 

at Camp Buehring alone trained 

100,000 service members prior to 

their deployment to Iraq. To date, 

each of the military services has 

the following number of MET devices: 

Army – 47, Air Force – 20, 

Marine Corps – 18, and Navy – 10, 

each training thousands of combatbound 

personnel worldwide. 

“We know we are not in this 

alone. Just like our Soldiers are 

working hand-in-hand with their 

fellow Marines, Sailors and Airmen 

in Iraq and Afghanistan, we 

in the simulation and training community—military, 

contractors and 

academia alike—are one force supporting 

the strongest armed forces 

in the world,” Blake commented. 

Much like PEO STRI’s teaming 

with other Army groups, the organization 

also partners with those in 

the modeling and simulation industry 

to ensure our Warfighters are 

receiving the best possible training, 

even in this era of budgetary 

constraints. Although government 

partnering with industry is not an 

efficiency in and of itself, it certainly 

proves to be a wise way to 

do business. 

For instance, PEO STRI—in 

partnership with its industry stakeholders—enhanced 

the Common 

Driver Trainer program to include 

the MRAP All Terrain Vehicle (M- 

ATV). With guidance from the 

Department of the Army, and the 

expertise from industry, PEO STRI 

was able to field M-ATV driver 

trainers quickly and affordably. 

The M-ATV variant for the Common 

Driver Trainer allows Soldiers 

to drive these vehicles before they 

get to Afghanistan and under a 

number of hazardous driving conditions 

like narrow roadways and 

inclement weather. 

“The M-ATV Common Driver 

Trainer was tasked to PEO STRI 

June 26, 2009 and we fielded the 

first system November 19, 2009,” 

Maj. Cassandra Forrester, the project 

director, said noting a mere 147 

Continued on page 10 

U.S. Army PEO STRI Photo 

The HMMWV Egress Assistance Trainer (HEAT) teaches Soldiers how 

to quickly and safely get out of an overturned vehicle. Using the same 

construct and design platform as the HEAT, the MRAP Egress Assistance 

Trainer instructs Soldiers how to properly exit a rolled-over MRAP vehicle. 

Since April 2010, all Warfighters, civilians, contractors and foreign nationals 

are required to train on the egress trainer before deploying to theater. 

U.S. Army PEO STRI Photo 

U.S. Soldiers use the Intelligence Electronic Warfare Tactical Proficiency 

Trainer to practice their tactical questioning skills. The Department of 

Homeland Security also utilizes this system to hone their law enforcement 

students’ interviewing skills. By using the technology, the Department of 

Homeland Security saved time and money; the saved resources were used 

to create new scenarios to hone the skills of both Army and law enforcement 

personnel. 

Inside STRI JUNE 2011 3

Lively Hurricane 

Season Means 

Preparation is Key 

By Gina Guerzon, APEO Business Operations Support Staff 

Charley, Frances, Ivan and 

Jeanne. If you didn’t live in 

Florida during 2004, these names 

probably sound harmless to you. 

But if you did, you know that 

these were the names of the four 

devastating hurricanes that occurred 

within 44 days of each 

other. Each of these storms is still 

ranked among the top 10 costliest 

hurricanes in the U.S., according 

to the Insurance Information Institute. 

The 2004 hurricane season reinforces 

the need to be prepared, 

and June 1 marked the official 

start of this year’s hurricane season. 

“Recent events including the 

deadly tornadoes in the central 

U.S. and southeast, flooding 

along the Mississippi [River] 

and other emergencies serve as a 

reminder that we should be prepared 

to address all hazards, including 

hurricanes,” said Craig 

Fugate, administrator for the 

Federal Emergency Management 

Agency. 

The Atlantic basin is expected 

to see an above-normal hurricane 

season this year, according to the 

seasonal outlook issued by the 

National Oceanographic Atmospheric 

Administration’s Climate 

Prediction Center, a division of 

the National Weather Service. 

With 12 to 18 named storms, in 

which three to six are predicted 

to be a Category 3 hurricane and 

above, people should consider 

being more prepared than just 

filling up bathtubs with water and 

putting duct tape on the windows. 

Individuals should also have 

an emergency plan, store an 

emergency kit and stay informed 

of alerts and messages from local 

emergency officials such as the 

Florida Division of Emergency 

Management or the American 

Red Cross. 

A personalized family disaster 

plan can be created, printed and 

saved for future emergencies at 

http://www.floridadisaster.org/ 

family/. The plan will include 

recommended amounts of food 

and water based on your family 

information, contact information 

for your local emergency responders, 

maps of local evacuation 

zones and checklists of 

important steps to take before, 

during, and after a disaster. 

In addition to home preparation, 

having an emergency operations 

plan at work is also important. 

PEO STRI senior leaders 

take emergency operation procedures 

seriously and a solid plan is 

in place. 

It is important that employees 

ensure that administrative personnel 

have their latest mobile phone 

numbers, BlackBerry numbers, 

BlackBerry Personal Information 

Numbers (PINs) and home phone 

numbers for the emergency phone 

notification procedure. 

In the event of a hurricane, the 

notification process will provide 

the PEO information on personnel 

injured, those needing assistance 

or those not contacted. 

It is important that each employee’s 

photo is on file in the 

Enterprise Business System in 

case of an emergency. In fact, this 

is mandatory; employees without 

a photo in EBS should contact 

PEO STRI’s in-house photographer 

at 407-380-8352 to schedule 

an appointment. 

In addition to providing administrative 

personnel with 

phone numbers and a photo, employees 

will be responsible for 

protecting their computer equipment. 

Plastic bags will be supplied 

by the PEO STRI Corporate 

Information Office and placed in 

a central location in each building 

for employees to obtain and safeguard 

government property. 

PEO STRI will provide a duty 

status announcement should the 

office close at any point during 

an emergency. Employees should 

call the facility status line at 407- 

380-8501, and select option 2, to 

hear the announcement. 

Planning, preparing and staying 

informed are three simple 

ways to keep safe in the event of 

a hurricane. Let’s all do our part 

to protect ourselves, our families 

and each other. 

4 

Inside STRI JUNE 2011

Leader Development Vital to 

the Army’s Future Success 


One of PEO STRI’s very own 

recently completed the Acquisition 

Support Center’s program 

to develop the next generation of 

government leaders. The course, 

called the Competitive Development 

Group Army Acquisition 

Fellowship, allows participants to 

serve in assistant product manager 

and Army headquarters positions, 

and partake in the Darden Business 

Courses. 

Todd Pesicek, who after completing 

the program returned to 

PEO STRI as PM Field OPS’ 

project director for the Sustaining 

Ranges Program, completed a 

number of developmental assignments 

throughout the fellowship. 

His first assignment was right 

here at PEO STRI serving as PM 

ITTS’ assistant product manager 

for systems integration where he 

supported the acquisition reviews 

for many testing programs. 

Pesicek then completed one of 

Darden’s Business Courses on 

“Leading Innovation: Thinking 

like America’s Greatest Inventive 

Genius.” He said he gained a great 

deal of knowledge from this and 

all of Darden’s courses. 

From there, Pesicek completed 

a six-month assignment with the 

Army Materiel Command where 

he managed the pre-positioned 

stock for Japan, Korea and Hawaii—an 

effort that helps to rapidly 

equip troops for a crisis. 

He was then selected to be a 

fellow in the “Excellence in Government” 

Leadership Development 

Program that helps to mold 

the government’s up and coming 

leaders through innovative 

coursework, hands-on projects 

and detailed coaching. Also an 

important characteristic of leadership, 

Pesicek said he “gained a 

government-wide network of leaders 

to share experiences, ideas and 

best practices.” 

Pesicek’s final duty assignment 

was back at PEO STRI serving 

as PM CATT’s assistant product 

manager for the Route Clearance 

Training Suite program. And, his 

three-year fellowship culminated 

with a Darden Business Course on 

“Leading for Extraordinary Performance.” 

“The program provided great 

opportunities to learn and meet 

many people from various government 

agencies,” Pesicek said. 

“I gained valuable knowledge, 

leadership skills and acquisition 

experience during my time in the 

program that will benefit the government, 

Army and PEO STRI. I 

would like to thank everyone involved 

in this program for giving 

me this excellent opportunity.” 

Pesicek is applying all those 

lessons learned back at PEO STRI 

as he is currently supporting the 

Digital Ranges Training Systems 

and the Aerial Weapon Scoring 

System. Two other PEO STRI employees, 

Rita Tejeda and Monet 

Gray, are currently participating in 

the fellowship scheduled to wrap 

up in 2013. 

Government and Industry Come Together to Discuss 

Future in Challenging Fiscal Environment 


If this year’s Training and 

Simulation Industry Symposium 

(TSIS) had a theme, it would be 

transparency. 

The two-day gathering of 725 

government and industry personnel 

provided business developers 

across Team Orlando’s industry 

base a frank and open discussion 

about the upcoming business opportunities 

in the current era of 

budgetary constraints. 

“I believe it’s critically important 

that we, the government, get 

timely and accurate information 

to you, our industry members,” 

Rob Reyenga, the deputy program 

executive officer for PEO STRI, 

said during his opening remarks 

at the conference. He stressed that 

clear, honest and upfront communication 

between PEO STRI and 

its industry stakeholders are more 

important than ever in this time of 

tightened defense budgets. 

Also emphasizing the scrutiny 

being made to the budget, Maj. 

Gen. Robert Brown, the symposium’s 

keynote speaker, was complimentary 

of the training and simulation 

community’s success with 

creating efficiencies. “Training 

Soldiers with the blended training 

approach of integrating live, 

virtual, constructive and gaming 

is very efficient. LVC integration 

is the only way to get at the training 

complexities of the future,” 

Brown, the commanding general 

of the Maneuver Center of Excellence 

at Fort Benning, Ga., said. 


Maj. Gen. Robert Brown, commanding general of the U.S. Army Maneuver 

Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Ga., provided the keynote remarks 

at the annual Training and Simulation Industry Symposium in Orlando, Fla. Continued on page 11 


6 



Success Marks Migration to Windows 7 

By Megan Jeffers, PEO STRI External Affairs Specialist 

It’s been 65 years since the 

U.S. Army unveiled the world’s 

first computer. Though its use was 

short-lived, the Electronic Numerical 

Integrator and Computer 

(ENIAC), was capable of quickly 

and accurately solving complex 

mathematical equations that would 

have taken days to solve by paper 

and pen. Realizing the usefulness 

of such a tool, post-World War II 

scientists employed ENIAC to improve 

the precision of the Army’s 

firing, bombing and ballistic artillery 

tables, forever changing the 

way the military operated. 

Today, technology is evolving 

faster than ever before; and like 

the ENIAC scientists, the Army 

refuses to lag behind the technology 

curve. 

In April, PEO STRI began the 

arduous task of migrating all of its 

users from a Windows XP computer 

platform to the upgraded Windows 

7. Mandated by the Army, 

computers across the network are 

to transfer to the new platform by 

2013; PEO STRI, however, has almost 

completed this requirement. 

“We did it very successfully,” 

Tom Petrillo, PEO STRI’s deputy 

corporate information officer, said. 

“We had almost 1,100 computers 

to migrate, and we gave ourselves 

a 60 to 90 day timeframe to complete 

the task. With the exception 

of two groups of boxes [computers], 

we not only met but exceeded 

our goal.” 

One hundred of the remaining 

computers are those that were either 

turned off when the migration 

occurred, those left in locked offices 

or those left at an employee’s 

home. These computers will need 

to be brought to the Laptop Shop 

in Research Commons for their 

migration, Petrillo noted. 

“The process of upgrading the 

system doesn’t take long,” he continued. 

“As a team, we developed 

what we call a ‘light’ touch. After 

beta testing the system on ourselves 

in March, we came up with 

an execution plan to complete the 

majority of migrations remotely. 

Since April, we’ve remotely de- 

U.S. Army Photo/Troy Ryan 

Tim O’Hara, chief information officer for PEO STRI, presents a letter 

of appreciation to Susan Kauffman during the CIO’s Army birthday 

celebration June 14. Members of the CIO team received the letters for 

their work during the STRI-wide migration to Windows 7, as well as their 

continued technical assistance to the workforce. 

ployed Windows 7 to portions of 

the workforce each Friday night. 

The ‘light’ touch is a reference to 

members of the CIO team visiting 

each computer after its migration 

to physically ensure the migration 

occurred properly.” 

The remaining computers left 

to migrate are those used by the 

Acquisition Center, Petrillo continued. 

Due to incompatibilities 

between the Acquisition Center’s 

current applications and Windows 

7, approximately 200 computers 

were unable to be transferred. An 

Army vendor is working on the 

situation, however, and the rewritten 

applications are slated for 

release by the last fiscal quarter of 

this year or the first fiscal quarter 

of next year, he said. 

“Once we receive the compatible 

programs, we’ll be able to apply 

the same migration execution 

plan on those computers that we 

did with the rest of the workforce,” 

Petrillo explained. “We are targeting 

a November deadline—at 

the latest—for the remainder of 

the computers.” 

The November deadline is key, 

he stressed, because the Army is 

scheduled to switch to the Enterprise 

E-mail system later the same 

month. The new e-mail system 

cannot operate on the Windows 

XP platform, so a complete transfer 

to Windows 7 is necessary. 

In addition to XP’s incompatibilities 

with the upcoming e-mail 

system, the Army also identified 

several vulnerabilities within the 

system that could have impacted 

the security of the Army network, 

Petrillo said. The Army encouraged 

the workforce to move to the 

Windows Vista operating system, 

but due to Windows 7 anticipated 

release, PEO STRI was granted 

a waiver to remain on its current 

platform until Windows 7 became 

available. 

“We gave detailed guidelines 

for how we would secure the 

system under XP until the transfer 

and it was approved,” Petrillo 

said. “However we also agreed to 

switch to Windows 7 as soon as it 

was released for the Army’s use 

thus why we transferred now as 

opposed to waiting until the 2013 

deadline.” 

“We’ve had very few issues 

for a migration, especially of this 

size,” Tim O’Hara, PEO STRI’s 

corporate information officer, 

added. “Everything went very 

smoothly, and since we worked on 

the migrations over the weekends 

so as to not interfere with customers’ 

work schedules, the process 

worked out very well.” 

Despite a few hiccups, such as 

problems with desktop and network 

printer connections, the CIO 

team has a 98 percent success rate 

in regard to completing its migration 

goal. For any users still having 

issues due to the transition, 

the CIO team encourages them 

to send a Help Desk ticket so they 

can fix any problems as quickly 

as possible. 

“These guys [the CIO staff 

members] have done better than a 

Herculean job with the amount of 

time and effort they put forth on 

this undertaking,” Petrillo praised. 

“They are phenomenal.” 

While their first-call closure 

rate has been slightly impacted 

because of an influx of Windows 

7 calls, they are getting through 

the Help Desk tickets as quickly 

and efficiently as can be expected, 

he added. 

“Windows 7 really is so much 

better than the 10-year-old platform 

we were on,” Petrillo said. 

“The CIO team noticed immediately 

that computers were quicker, 

got onto websites faster and that 

overall, the system was much 

more secure.” 

When asked about next year’s 

anticipated release of Windows 

8, Petrillo replied, “Don’t even 

go there!” 

8 


TMO Helps 

Wounded Warrior 

Build a New Life 

By Rene Gilliland, PM ITTS Targets Management Office Staff 

The employees of PM ITTS’ 

Targets Management Office 

(TMO) recently found a whole 

new way to support the Warfighter. 

Rather than building targets 

for testing, they helped to build 

a new home for Army Cpl. Jeffery 

Williams who was paralyzed 

from the chest down in 2004 by 

an explosion in Iraq. 

Working in support of Homes 

for our Troops, a non-profit organization 

that builds homes for severely 

injured veterans from Iraq 

and Afghanistan, members of the 

TMO team individually contributed 

funds to purchase an item 

needed for the home. Donations 

quickly surpassed the original 

goal of $1,000, which paid for the 

therapy tub that would allow Williams 

to bathe without assistance. 

The final donation 

total of $2,500 was 

enough for the tub, 

the grab bars and 

the tile needed to 

complete the area. 

TMO staff members 

presented the 

donations at the 

kick-off ceremony 

June 17 in Madison, 

Ala., which is also 

home to many Redstone Arsenal 

employees. 

The following day, several staff 

members gave their time volunteering 

to help with construction, 

food service and other tasks to get 

Williams’ new home off to a great 

start. 

“We are proud to be part of the 

Redstone community and of this 

Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army Photo/PM ITTS TMO 

Employees of PM ITTS’ Targets Management Office accompany Army Cpl. 

Jeffery Williams, who was wounded in action during his 2004 tour in Iraq. 

effort to say thanks to a deserving 

hero,” Bruce Truog, the deputy 

director of PM ITTS’ TMO, said. 

Williams’ new home is the latest 

in the 100 More Homes for 

Our Troops campaign. In the 

last seven years, Homes for our 

Troops has provided homes to 

100 military families. They are 

now beginning their second group 

of 100 homes, including one in 

the Orlando area. To get involved, 

visit their website at www.homesforourtroops.org. 

Virtual Training for Infantrymen: 

continued from cover 

weather elements that Mother 

Nature or, in this case, the trainer 

can throw at them. 

The new technology represents 

a giant leap when compared 

to scenarios that could be played 

out in a virtual environment in 

1999, when the need for a DSTS 

was first looked at in a four-year 

study conducted by PEO STRI, 

the Army Research Institute and 

the Army Research Laboratory. 

Back then, scenarios that could 

be introduced in the virtual environment 

were limited to daylight 

attacks only and Soldiers did not 

possess their full range of weapons, 

like grenades and smoke. 

Though the idea of a DSTS 

has been in the pipeline for quite 

some time, the immediacy of 

the deployment of the training 

system fits well with Chief of 

Staff of the Army Gen. Martin 

Dempsey’s stated goal of focusing 

on squad-level training. 

“As an Army, no one can challenge 

us at corps level, division 

level, brigade level or battalion 

level,” he said when he appeared 

May 17, 2011, before the Senate 

Appropriations Committee’s 

defense subcommittee. “I want 

to ensure we’ve done as much 

as possible to make sure that the 

same degree of overmatch exists 

at squad level. 

“We’ll look at the squad as a 

collective whole, not nine individual 

Soldiers, and determine 

how to enable it from the bottom 

up to ensure that the squad has 

the training, leadership, doctrine, 

power and energy, protection and 

lethality to win when we send 

them into harm’s way,” Dempsey 

told lawmakers. 

John Foster, PEO STRI’s assistant 

project manager for the 

Close Combat Tactical Trainer 

in PM CATT, said the DSTS immersion 

offers a greater degree of 

flexibility than live training exercises 

based on physical mock-ups 

that can’t replicate the realism 

of live bullets or artillery explosions. 

He was quick to emphasize, 

though, that “virtual training 

complements and reinforces live 

and constructive training; it’s not 

viewed as an either/or solution.” 

He said, however, that “Dismounted 

Soldier will put the 

Soldier in a virtual environment 

with a replica of his weapon in 

his hands so he can go through all 

the same motions as in real life.” 

Another benefit of DSTS is its 

portability and small space requirement 

to train Soldiers. 

Requiring just 1,500 square 

feet of space to operate in, which 

is less than the average square 

footage of a home in the United 

States, the DSTS can be used to 

train Soldiers prior to deployment 

as well as in forward areas 

of operations to train deployed 

Soldiers. While its focus is squadlevel 

training, multiple systems 

can also be networked together to 

train larger military units. 

The rollout of the new system 

is expected to be launched at Fort 

Benning, Ga., in March next year, 

followed by 124 training units being 

placed throughout the Army. 


Citizen 

stri 

“What did you enjoy 

most about the Army 

Birthday Ball?” 

“It was a great feeling to celebrate the Army’s birthday 

playing some chords during the reception! It gave me 

the opportunity to remember when I was a saxophone 

player at Fort Rucker, Ala., with the 98th Army Band.” 

- Ramon Garcia, AV Support 

“The thing that I enjoyed most about the Army Ball 

was being able to meet and say thank you to many 

great Soldiers who serve selflessly to keep our 

country free.” 

- Traci Jones, APEO PS 

“I was happy to see our wounded warriors. It is 

important they know they are not forgotten.” 

- Lt. Col. Freddie King, PM ConSim 

“I love the formal aspect and the patriotism of the 

Army Birthday Ball, but what I enjoyed most was 

the ceremony honoring the selflessness, dedication 

and perseverance of our nation’s Soldiers. It is very 

humbling to be among these heroic individuals.” 

- Lucia Mezzancello, APEO CS 

“The best part was the timing of the dancing. It was 

great to be able to dance so soon after dinner. We 

were on the dance floor kicking up our heels by 9:15 

p.m.; it was a blast!” 

- Kim Tedeschi, Acq. Center 

“Still being able to fit into a uniform I purchased 

over two decades ago! Seriously, it’s that we ensure 

to pay tribute to all of the great men and women who 

have paid the ultimate sacrifice in the defense of our 

freedoms. This year was special for me because I 

actually got to propose this special toast!” 

- Col. Mike Zarbo, PM ITTS 

Want your opinion heard? Answer June’s Question! The question is open to the entire workforce. 

“What did you do to celebrate July 4th?” Send your response to 

Kristen.McCullough@us.army.mil and put Citizen STRI in the subject line. 

Better Buying Power: 

continued from page 3 

day turnaround from receiving the requirement to 

getting the trainer into the hands of the Warfighter. 

PEO STRI looks at the Common Driver Trainer 

program as a prime example of efficiency. This family 

of simulators has stepped up to the plate time and 

time again to meet the training requirements of our 

Army. Using common components, the simulator can 

be transformed to train Soldiers to drive everything 

from a Stryker to a tank to an MRAP. 

“The cost avoidance yielded by using the existing 

Common Driver Trainer design is valued at approximately 

$24.3 million,” Forrester advised. 

Additionally, PEO STRI recently integrated the 

geo-specific terrain database for Afghanistan into the 

Common Driver Trainer program. Because of these 

efforts, Soldiers can virtually “drive” on the actual 

streets in Afghanistan. Similarly, they added the Afghanistan 

database into other simulators, like the 

Close Combat Tactical Trainer, Call for Fire Trainer, 

Advanced Gunnery Training System, and Aviation 

Combined Arms Tactical Trainer, thereby allowing 

Soldiers to virtually train in their actual assigned deployment 

locations. As one can imagine, the imagery 

significantly adds to the fidelity of the training, and 

the technology reuse undeniably decreases the expense 

of the realism. 

The ease at which PEO STRI teams with other 

organizations can often be attributed to its location 

in Central Florida, known to many as the mecca for 

military modeling and simulation. As part of “Team 

Orlando,” PEO STRI sits alongside all of the military 

services’ primary simulation and training providers, 

academic institutions that focus on simulation and industry 

partners that provide expertise to the military 

and universities. 

This collaborative spirit dates back to 1950 when 

the Army and Navy simulation components signed an 

agreement to work in partnership on simulation systems 

that train our service members. The signing of 

the document launched a lasting training partnership 

that recently reached its 60-year anniversary and is 

the longest known standing agreement between any 

of the U.S. military services. 

The strong relationship between the services continues 

to yield fiscal efficiencies. For example, PEO 

STRI signed an agreement with the Marine Corps’ 

Program Manager for Training Systems to work together 

on live training systems. When the Marine 

Corps saw that nearly 80 percent of their requirements 

were already being met by the Army through 

the Homestation Instrumentation Training System 

program, they piggybacked on the Army to get the 

training into the hands of Marines more quickly and 

save program dollars. 

“The Marine Corps’ estimated cost and schedule 

for building a new alternative system would be approximately 

$19 million and nine years,” Michael 

Continued on next page 

10 


Dillon, the PEO STRI project 

director for the effort, said. The 

Marine Corps’ actual cost of leveraging 

the Army’s 80-percent 

solution was $8 million and the 

actual time spent from concept 

development to fielding was two 

years. Because of the time and 

money saved, the Marine Corps 

reimbursed the Army $300,000. 

The collaboration also provides 

interagency efficiencies. 

The Department of Homeland 

Security uses PEO STRI’s Intelligence 

Electronic Warfare Tactical 

Proficiency Trainer to help law 

enforcement students with their 

interviewing skills. The technology 

reuse reduces the cost of creating 

a new, but similar technology, 

and the high expense of hiring instructors 

and role players. 

“The Department of Homeland 

Security realized cost benefits by 

reducing the number of instructor 

hours because the system is 

made available to students in a 

self-operated mode for after-hour 

use,” Rick Jimenez, the system’s 

lead engineer, said. “Students 

practice basic interviewing skills 

in a virtual environment which 

prepares the student for a more 

productive engagement in front of 

live role players, thereby reducing 

the number of role-player hours 

required for training.” 

Due to the savings yielded from 

the acquisition approach of leveraging 

an existing contract and 

training capabilities, PEO STRI 

and the Department of Homeland 

Security were able to apply those 

resources back to the program for 

scenario and content generation. 

“The effort resulted in a quicker, 

more affordable production of 

training capabilities for our non- 

Department of Defense customer,” 

Jimenez noted. It also led to 

the content creation of scenarios 

that are of use to Army Soldiers 

and “greatly enhanced the original 

product at a significantly reduced—and 

shared—cost.” 

Although partnership and 

teamwork does have its challenges—like 

the time it takes to coordinate 

efforts, the concern about 

control and each party upholding 

their end of the bargain—PEO 

STRI senior leaders and program 

managers alike agree that the rewards 

greatly outweigh the trials. 

“When meeting the demands 

of our uniformed service members, 

we see an immense value in 

collaborating, coordinating and 

cooperating with the joint community, 

our industry members 

and academia,” Blake concluded. 

“Shared education and experience 

fosters expertise, and we use that 

expertise to provide efficiencies in 

Government and Industry Come Together: 

In addition to presenting a host 

of business opportunities, PEO 

STRI senior leaders made some 

key announcements during the 

conference. Most notably, PEO 

STRI will be awarding a new 

contract in 2013 to support a 

wide range of training services. 

“Over the years, PEO STRI 

has seen an increased number of 

customers and now we need to 

put a contract in place to support 

the demand,” Jeff Simons, the assistant 

program executive officer 

for training services, said. While 

the new contract is not intended 

to replace any of the existing 

PEO STRI contracts, it will support 

the training services associated 

with preparing the force for 

Full Spectrum Operations. 

Another new initiative presented 

at TSIS was PEO STRI’s 

business decision to post contract 

award announcements to their 

public website under the Business 

Opportunities tab (http:// 

www.peostri.army.mil/BusinessOpportunities.jsp). 

The first set 

of announcements will be made 

June 30, and they will remain on 

the products and services we provide 

to our customers.” 

continued from page 5 

the site for a full year. 

Also contributing to PEO 

STRI’s efforts in transparency, 

Joe Giunta, the director of the 

Acquisition Center, reinforced 

the acceptable communication 

process between the government 

and industry. Before a request 

for proposal is released, he said 

industry personnel can contact 

the project manager. Once the 

request for proposal is released, 

the lines of communication are 

not stopped, but instead, industry 

members should direct their questions 

and comments to the appropriate 

contracting officer. It’s not 

until the source selection process 

that all communication is cut off. 

TSIS, held June 15-16 at the 

Renaissance Orlando at Sea- 

World, included briefings by 

each of Team Orlando’s military 

services about the latest requirements 

and procurement opportunities. 

The TSIS agenda and 

all the Army briefing slides are 

archived on the PEO STRI Web 

site: http://www.peostri.army. 

mil/PAO/events/20110615_ 

TSIS2011.jsp. 

Tip of the Month 

By Marge Hadbavny, Protocol Officer 

A Toast to 

Formal Occasions 

When making a toast, the 

toaster stands, as do the 

people toasting. The person 

being toasted remains 

seated and does not drink 

to him or herself. 

HOLIDAYS 

Events 

PM ACTT Retirement of Charter....July 1 

Independence Day.............................July 4 

PM LTS Change of Charter..............July 8 

Acquisition Academy Begins............July 18 

PM GCTT Change of Charter...........July 22 

Inside 

Inside STRI is an authorized publication for military and 

civilian members of the U.S. Army Program Executive Office for 

Simulation, Training and Instrumentation, Orlando, Fla. 32826. 

Inside STRI is published under the authority of AR 360-1 and 

applies the Associated Press Stylebook industry standard. 

Contents of Inside STRI are not necessarily the official 

views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. Government, Department of 

Defense, Department of the Army, or PEO STRI. 

Editorial material for publication should be submitted 

to PEO STRI Public Affairs Office, 12350 Research Parkway, 

Orlando, Fla. 32826. The PAO reserves the right to edit all 

material submitted for publication. 

For more information about PEO STRI or to view Inside STRI 

online, visit our website at www.peostri.army.mil 

Editor: 

Kristen Dooley McCullough 

Editor-in-Chief 

Kristen.McCullough@us.army.mil 

Design: 

Dwain Fletcher Co. 

CGgraphics@peostri.army.mil 


Team Orlando in Photos 


Marine Corps Col. David Smith (left) of Program Manager Training 

Systems (PM TRASYS) and Col. Mike Flanagan, project manager 

for PM TRADE, sign a memorandum of agreement establishing 

a partnership of technical support between PM TRADE’s live 

training transformation product line and PM TRASYS’ common 

live training systems June 3. 


Sgt. Maj. Patrick Ogden thanks the PEO STRI leadership during 

the June 6 staff meeting after being presented the Meritorious 

Service Medal for his assignment with the U.S. Army Europe’s 

G3 office. 


William Moore (left), a member of the Senior Executive Service 

and deputy to the commanding general of the Army’s Combined 

Arms Support Command (CASCOM) and Fort Lee, and Lt. Col. 

Charles Stein, product manager for PM CATT’s Ground Combat 

Tactical Trainers, prepare for a demonstration of the Common 

Driver Trainer June 20. 


In honor of Flag Day June 14, a special raising of the flag is held 

in front of the deFlorez building. The ceremony was hosted by 

the Navy and included remarks by Capt. Bill Reuter who saluted 

the Warfighter. 

U.S. Navy Photo/Gary Wuthrich 

The Army team, comprised of employees across all of PEO STRI, 

competed against the Navy softball team at the annual CMWRA 

picnic held at Red Bug Lake Park June 9. 


Col. Francisco Espaillat (left), project manager for PM CATT, 

presents a PEO STRI lifetime membership certificate to Lt. Col. 

Jay Smith, assistant project manager for PM CATT’s Reserve 

Component Training Systems, at Smith’s June 10 retirement 

ceremony in Partnership II. 

12

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