CPAG breakfast gives MS&T audience an update on Team Orlando’s military services

By Shane Klestinski, Associate Editor

 

Members of the Combined Professional Associations Group (CPAG) met at the Central Florida Tech Grove for the annual CPAG Defense Forum breakfast, Feb. 13.

 

Sean Osmond, director of business development for Soar Technology and CPAG deputy chair, served as emcee for the event. Military representatives who briefed event attendees included: Army Col. Thomas Monoghan, a program manager assigned to Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI); Navy Capt. Tim James, commanding officer for Naval Support Activity (NSA) Orlando and Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD); Brett Telford, deputy director of the Air Force Agency for Modeling and Simulation (AFAMS); and Marine Maj. Kyle Hanas, executive officer and deputy product training manager for Program Manager for Training Systems.

 

Osmond began by describing CPAG as a forum of professional associations and organizations who meet quarterly to collaborate and support the Central Florida modeling and simulation community to better serve their respective memberships. The Defense Forum breakfast is an annual opportunity to hear from local military leaders representing Team Orlando services.

 

Monoghan started with updates on recent personnel changes at PEO STRI, went on to outline his organization’s more noteworthy accomplishments for 2024, and some of its priorities for 2025. During his talk, Monoghan told a story that illustrated the value and necessity of soldier feedback during “touch point” events when developing new equipment, which featured retired Army Gen. Mark Milley, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time. While examining a piece of equipment that experts considered “indestructible” – not having tested it yet under field conditions – Milley quickly discovered a weaknesses when it broke, and he described simple circumstances under which it could easily happen in normal operations.

 

“We’ve figured out the right recipe for success is to develop a concept of what we need, write a requirement, start to build a prototype, take a pause, take that prototype, bring it out to soldiers and say, ‘Here, [experiment with it], can you break it?’” Monoghan said. “All the new training devices, before we go into material decisions, before we finalize requirements, we take that prototype out to one of the training centers, put it in the soldiers’ hands, and let them use it… Not only is the soldier touch point concept informing the build, but it’s also informing the Army on how they’re going to deploy those devices.”

 

James’ brief included the physical Team Orlando ecosystem in Research Park. He noted that NSA Orlando’s footprint (approximately 40 acres) made it the smallest Navy base in the world, but he also emphasized its significance to Central Florida. James cited a recent economic study that ranked it first in economic input per square footage with $11 billion contributed annually to the local economy.

 

“[NSA Orlando is the] biggest base in economic impact in all of Florida, regardless of size or square footage,” James said. “That’s pretty impressive for what’s coming out of this small group right here.”

 

Other topics James discussed included NAWCTSD’s innovations that address the challenges of getting the Navy caught up on the number of pilots it needs, the adjustments it is making to support the warfighter while also complying with new requirements from top leadership, as well as steps the Navy taking is taking to preempt challenges from great powers competition.

 

In his address, Telford explained the difference between AFAMS’ role compared to the offices of its sister services, both in size and function.

 

“The difference between us and them, is they are the more traditional, big-program offices, that’s why you see large infrastructure and why they’ll talk about the delivery of actual systems – that’s not our role,” Telford said. “Our role is more on the front end, we’re the ‘requirements guys.’ We work with our stakeholders and the various [major commands], simulation centers and other locations to identify their capability requirements, get those necessary capability requirements documents, forward them to our acquisition requirements offices… and then we work with our program managers, so we know what the priority of those requirements are from a cost-and-delivery standpoint.”

 

Telford went on explain that his agency will also complete functions “on the back end,” such as evaluating the simulations on operational requirements to ensure airmen receive necessary training that meets the standard, based on what Air Force commanders need.

 

Hanas began his brief with recent personnel status updates and described PM TRASYS’ mission as “rapidly fielding training systems to the warfighter in support of force design efforts.” These new force design efforts resulted from a new Marine commandant who took command in 2019, which brought various changes to accompany a new direction. According to Hanas, the trickle-down effect of that new structure has involved decisions on how to train Marines in this new paradigm, which has become an evolving process in how the Marine Corps will fight wars in the future.

 

“The Marine Corps is used to being the smallest service with the smallest budget, and in that way, it’s hard to not be efficient,” Hanas said. “This is a good opportunity for the Marine Corps to step forward and really thrive in a new environment.”

 

He went on to outline the organizations within PM TRASYS, as well as their more specialized focuses and respective projects under development to train Marines.

 

A short Q&A session followed the formal briefings, during which, the service representatives took questions from the audience. The inquiries addressed staffing challenges due to new policies, recent guidance involving measurements on programs’ return on investment, and their agencies’ use of artificial intelligence.