Abstract
The US Army is changing the organizational structure of the combat strike unit to cover more distance and inflict greater damage with fewer soldiers. These changes involve a shift in the modes of command and control between soldiers and their leaders: leader presence on the battlefield will no longer be necessary. Initial experiences with this concept have raised a concern about the effectiveness and efficiency of remote command and control. In the experiments discussed here, we address this concern in an ecologically realistic simulation of a battlefield environment. We test the impact of leader presence at two levels (present and remote) on combat task performance. Participants' task was to shoot, move, and communicate with a leader. We found that participants were faster to move and shoot in the leader-present condition than in the leader-remote condition.
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