Abstract
The U.S. Army is rapidly expanding its use of computer simulations to provide command and control training for battalion through corps level command groups. However, little is known about the impact that the characteristics of these simulations have on the command group's performance. The purpose of this effort was to determine the effect of battle simulation system and scenario characteristics on measures of command group performance. Using a fractional factorial design, five battalion command groups were trained in four controlled, one-day, exercises. Each exercise included a particular combination of five system and scenario characteristics selected for investigation: weather, terrain, communication, mission, and combat ratio. Two frequently used types of command group performance measures were obtained: (1) observer ratings of how well command and control behaviors were performed (process), and (2) battlefield outcomes (product) generated by the interaction of the command group with the computer-simulated environment. Analysis of the results indicated that the system and scenario characteristics had a significant effect on simulated battlefield outcomes, but no significant effect on ratings of command group performance. No significant relationship between performance ratings and simulation outcomes was observed. The variations in system and scenario characteristics may have influenced the simulation outcomes by altering the simulated environment without affecting how well the command group processes were performed.
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