MARINE CORPS SYSTEMS COMMAND, QUANTICO, Va. -- During the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC), in Orlando Dec. 4-7, Florida’s Governor Jeb Bush presented the Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC) with the Governor's Award for Significant Achievement in Modeling and Simulation. This award recognizes MCSC’s development and fielding efforts of the Marine Corps’ Combined Arms Command and Control Trainer Upgrade System (CACCTUS) program.
Bush presented the achievement award to Col. Walter Augustin, MCSC’s Program Manager for Training Systems (PM TRASYS). Augustin accepted the award “on behalf of ‘Team Orlando’,” for work on the CACCTUS program. In its eighth year, the annual Governor's Award is sponsored by the National Training & Simulation Association to recognize an organization, program, project or individual for outstanding achievement in the field of modeling, simulation and training.
“I am honored to present the 2006 Governor’s Award to Col. Augustin and his team for their incredible work in developing CACCTUS, a revolutionary program aimed to increase levels of training and preparedness of our men and women in uniform,” said Governor Bush. “The groundbreaking work in the modeling and simulation industry is truly phenomenal and supplies cutting-edge, life-saving technologies applicable in both military and commercial training settings.”
“PM TRASYS serves as the Marine Corps' center of excellence in providing training solutions for our Marines in a way that enables them to effectively accomplish their mission,” said Augustin. “Striving to make better and more confident warfighters, CACCTUS is one of our many programs. It is essential that the Marines’ training readiness continues to be influenced by technology advancement while responding to the continuous shifting requirements of combat and security operations.”
The CACCTUS program allows Marines “to actually integrate themselves in a training environment with all the different training units that they have available to them. Whether it is an individual, small unit, or however their echelons are organized, they will be able to combine all of that into one training event through a live, virtual and constructive architecture,” described Nancy Harmon, project officer for CACCTUS.
“Overall, it will bring them the ability to train the way that they fight. They will be able to fully train within the facility or in the live/virtual/constructive environment and then be able to walk out and execute that mission with more confidence, more skill, and more success,” continued Harmon.
CACCTUS will be deployed to all five USMC Combined Arms Staff Trainer (CAST) facilities: Marine Air-Ground Task Force Training Center (MAGTFTC), Twentynine Palms, Calif.; Marine Corps Bases Kaneohe Bay, HI; Camp Lejeune, N.C.; Camp Pendleton, Calif.; and Camp Butler, Okinawa. CAST provides fire support training for the MAGTF up to and including the Marine Expeditionary Brigade level.
Demonstration of the CACCTUS system is to be completed to meet Full Operational Capability (FOC) in FY09. CACCTUS will also serve as the United States Marine Corps’ component of the Joint National Training Center to be completed to meet FOC in FY11.
To learn more about PM TRASYS, please visit http://www.marcorsyscom.usmc.mil/trasys/trasysweb.nsf/All/HomePage?OpenDocument