Assessing the Training Potential of MTDS in Exercise First Wave

Exercise First WAVE (EFW) was conducted in November 2004 and was the first large-scale NATO MTDS event that focused on investigating and providing COMAO training for warfighters and mission support staff in a distributed synthetic environment. To assess the training potential of EFW, the NATO partners of the seven countries participating in EFW developed a competency-based approach to training needs assessment and evaluation. The approach, which is derived from the Mission Essential Competencies process, is designed to determine training and rehearsal needs and gaps, and to assess the effectiveness of distributed mission training exercises. This paper starts with a description of the development and application of a comprehensive set of training evaluation and performance assessment instruments and methods, which were based on identified requirements and gaps in other recent training research events. These methods were further adapted to the requirements of EFW and include both subjective and objective data collection and tracking of training events. The overall EFW assessment results will be presented and data and experiences from the Netherlands will be discussed with a focus on the lessons learned from an operational point of view. The usefulness of the chosen assessment approach, with respect to the assessment and evaluation of the training potential of Mission Training through Distributed Simulation (MTDS) will be discussed. Implications from EFW for broader, international implementation of a competency-based assessment approach for high fidelity, distributed simulation training will conclude this paper