What is Team Orlando?

By Terri Bernhardt

What is Team Orlando? This question is frequently asked hence this lead story to explain in detail the mission, purpose, execution and membership of Team Orlando.

Team Orlando’s mission is to “Provide a collaborative inter-Service military body in the Orlando, Florida area in support of Department of the Defense requirements for Modeling & Simulation (M&S), Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL), training systems, and Human Performance; provide senior level guidance and interaction to facilitate cross-pollination of technologies and lessons learned as they relate to training and instrumentation issues in support of Service requirements and initiatives; provide senior level guidance to support the DoD vision for outreach to the Central Florida community.”

Their organizational structure is organized into two Boards: the Executive Board of Directors (E-BOD) for strategic vision and guidance, and the Board of Directors for execution. The Executive Board of Directors consists of the commanders of the principle commands from the four Services and two advisors. The E-BOD meets annually, or as required, to guide and approve plans, decisions and actions of the Board of Directors. The advisors provide advice on Joint Training and M&S issues as appropriate.

Executive Board Members:

Program Executive Officer for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI)
Commanding Officer, Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD)
Program Manager for Training Systems (PMTRASYS), Marine Corps Systems Command
(MARCORSYSCOM)
Commander, Air Force Agency for Modeling and Simulation (AFAMS).
Advisors:

Director, Training Readiness and Strategy, Office of the Secretary of Defense
Vice Deputy Director, Joint Staff J7 for Joint and Coalition Warfighting
The Board of Directors (BOD) consists of senior leaders from the Service commands as well as other Team Orlando federal agencies. Liaison representatives provide a non-federal perspective when solicited by the Board. They are invited guests of the BOD that serve at the convenience of the BOD and do not vote on issues. The BOD meets monthly and decides on courses of action and implemented plans to execute E-BOD guidance using their respective in-house resources, provide execution guidance and direction to the Joint Training Integration and Evaluation Center (JTIEC), and ensure relevant issues are brought to the E-BOD for guidance and decisions. Team Orlando BOD:

Director of Operations and Acquisition, NAWCTSD
Assistant Program Executive Officer for Customer Support, PEO STRI
Technical Director, AFAMS
Deputy Program Manager for Training Systems, MARCORSYSCOM
Director, Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative
Director, ARL RDECOM Simulation and Training Technology Center
Director, Army Research Institute – Orlando Research Unit
Liaison Officer, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC)
Program Manager, Veterans Health Administration Simulation Learning Education And Research Network (SimLEARN)
Deputy Director, Air Force Training System Product Group (TSPG).
Team Orlando BOD Liaisons
Representing Industry: President, National Center for Simulation (NCS)
Representing Academia: Director of the Institute for Simulation and Training, University of Central Florida (UCF-IST)
Representing non-Federal government: Director, Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission (EDC)
The BOD is responsible for: developing a strategy for further teaming between the Services related to training products and services; providing senior leadership visibility for issues of mutual concern that promote human performance, M&S and training for the military Services, DOD and other federal agencies; promoting Team Orlando and the individual commands as a resource and mechanism for increased collaboration among the Services and as a resource for HP and training systems collaboration; leveraging the collective capabilities of the participating organizations to promote human performance, training, M&S and joint initiatives; promoting Team Orlando activities to other senior Service leaders; providing acquisition expertise to military Services, DOD and other federal agencies; developing a strategy to execute the DoD’s STEM & Outreach Strategic Plan; and developing and publishing a Team Orlando Concept of Operations (CONOPS) detailing how Team Orlando operates as a collaborative inter-Service body.

Member responsibilities for each organization include: providing a senior representative to serve on the Team Orlando BOD; identifying requirements that enhance and support the missions of each member organization and the overall mission of Team Orlando; creating opportunities for collaboration and assisting in identifying all possible funding sources; and promoting the sharing of human performance, training and M&S information in support of technology improvements and communicating on-going initiatives within their parent Service. The Team Orlando charter is reviewed and updated, as appropriate, every two years, and is signed by the four E-BOD members.