Soldiers train with bomb simulations

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) - In 2009, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) killed 2,140 coalition troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the Joint IED Defeat Organization. In an effort to reduce the number of deaths by IED, the military is now using bomb simulation training exercises to help prepare Soldiers for the worst.

WAVY.com had the chance to visit a new training ground at Fort Eustis using the technology to train and prepare Soldiers for an IED attack.

WAVY.com asked the Department of Defense: "What is being done to protect your loved ones when they go to war?" The answer comes, in part, in war games.

"We had small arms fire coming from the right side of the road. Then it culminated with an IED explosion," Master Sgt. David Richardson said after exiting the latest battle drill in the military's arsenal. Richardson was describing the computerized experience he had just completed inside an armored Humvee.

The soldier has had plenty of real life missions to compare, including Desert Shield-Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation Enduring Freedom.

"It's as close to real as I think you could possibly get," he said.

In the IED Battle Drill, insurgents who run across a screen are real actors. The scene is a high-definition, Hollywood production to help the troops avoid IEDs, defeat them and survive.

Sgt. Major Brian Harrington told WAVY.com, "This system is designed to actually stop you from getting in that kill zone...You actually get to experience it, and you actually get to walk away from it, and learn from your mistakes."

WAVY.com went on a brief training mission inside the simulator. Everything from the Humvee's route, to the exact timing of an explosion was manipulated.

The vehicle felt as though it was moving through a town in Afghanistan. Thick dust filled the air in and around the vehicle, creating desert-like conditions. We saw people shooting. We heard small arms fire coming from the right.

Then, from the left, an explosion. There was a scream, as the vehicle shook violently. On the radio we heard from the control room, "Crew report. Everybody ok?! Everybody ok?!"

We were. That was the point.

Sgt. Major Jeffrey Skinner explained, "If [soldiers] are completely immersed and in their situational awareness, then they can defeat the IED. So the goal is not to be blown up."

Once the mission is complete, instructors review a recorded DVD of each soldier's performance.

David Behrmann with RL Leaders (the company that runs the IED Battle Drill) explained that reviewing the recorded mission gives undeniable details of the seconds before an explosion.

"They'll see the sniper. Remember the sniper on the right side, and they'll start firing - and you can see everybody in the vehicle turn to the right to engage that target. Well who's guarding my left side? And that's where the IED is going to go off."

All of the Department of Defense's simulated training comes together through real data from daily briefings.

Mark Covey with the Joint Training Counter IED Integration Center (JTCOIC) said, "We take events that are happening in Afghanistan and Iraq and we turn them and create games within four days of an event."

Covey said simulation is becoming an even greater tool for the military. Entire divisions in DOD are dedicated to quickly turning battlefield scenarios into high-tech virtual realities.

"Ultimately what we're going to do is tie our computer graphic gaming software - into their high definition video software," Covey explained. "With no risk. No health risk, no fuel, no ammo consumption, simply at a computer terminal."

Those who fight the battles in Afghanistan and Iraq told WAVY.com the IED Battle Drill is a valuable weapon.

"The main way to defeat an IED is to find it prior to it going off. That's what it teaches you," Richardson said.

The IED Battle Drill simulator at Ft. Eustis is the first and only one of its kind. JIEDDO funded the unit at Ft. Eustis, and another simulator is under construction.