NTSA Yearbook 2002 - Industry Perspective

NTSA Yearbook 2002 | Industry Perspective | Yearbook Advertisers

Opportunities Lie Ahead For Training Industry

by Rear Adm. Fred Lewis

Let me begin by welcoming all delegates and visitors to the 2002 Interservice Industry Training and Education Conference.

You are attending the world’s largest and most important training systems event, where thousands of your colleagues will gather to discuss and listen to presentations on technological advances in delivering better training products to our customers.

Further, on the exhibit floor you will find technology demonstrations in abundance. The technologies seen at this show will give you a sense of today’s state of the art in the design and development of simulation and training systems.

I/ITSEC is truly an event of international scope. We will receive more than 1,200 international delegates from more than 40 countries. If you have interest in networking with some of these delegates, you will be able to contact them through the new “International Room,” specifically set up for that purpose.

If you were at I/ITSEC last year, you remember that, in spite of the tragic events that occurred on 9/11 in the United States, we did not cancel I/ITSEC 2001. We pressed on, in the belief that this event is important to our armed forces. We wanted to demonstrate our resolve to better support the men and women from many countries who are engaged in global conflicts against terrorism.

The war on terrorism continues and nobody really knows how long it will last. But what we do know is that it must continue until the terrorist threats are eradicated.

Our industry has been doing its part in ensuring that the men and women in the military services receive the best possible training technology and equipment. I was able to learn first hand, and on a personal level, the importance of what our industry does, when the USS Theodore Roosevelt returned to the United States from a longer than six-month deployment, conducting strikes into Afghanistan. I saw recorded imagery of successful strikes against numerous targets and can attest to the devastating effectiveness of properly trained ground and air units. My reaction was: “These guys are good!”

We know that the defense budget is increasing, albeit modestly, and uniformed services such as the Coast Guard-with its rapidly expanding mission-are looking for newer and more efficient ways to train their personnel.

The phrase “homeland security” is one that has come into common and every day use. The creation of new homeland security agencies such as the cabinet-level Homeland Security Department and the U.S. Northern Command likely will result in new opportunities and numerous challenges for our industry.

Even now we see an array of conferences and symposia being developed to address many issues that affect those in the business of homeland defense. Other NTSA events and programs will be similarly affected as these issues gain clarity.

As you know, the rubric of “Transformation” is applied to everything we do in our business. It would be fair to say that our industry has been “transformational” all along, before that word became in vogue.

Meanwhile, I should point out to I/ITSEC delegates that the Modeling and Simulation Professional Certification Commission is up and running in earnest. This initiative was developed to underscore the maturity of the modeling and simulation industry, to recognize professionals for their experience in the field of M&S and to complement the growing number of M&S graduate education programs.

Thus far, more than 200 professionals have received their certifications. It is the policy of NTSA to personally present certificates wherever the candidate desires. If this program is of interest to you, detailed information is available on the Web, at www.simprofessional.org.

Finally, I want to recognize all who have worked tirelessly to bring I/ITSEC 2002 to fruition. NTSA has very few paid staff, so we rely largely on volunteers to execute the year-long effort of administering and organizing this great conference. These dedicated professionals are the ones who really make it happen. I could not possibly name them here, since they number in the hundreds. But I do want to render a collective acknowledgment of their work and to thank each and every one for what they do every day for this conference and for our nation’s defense.

Retired U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Fred Lewis is the executive director of the National Training Systems Association.

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