An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Train to fight, fight to win - AETC at I/ITSEC 2009

  • Published
  • By Capt. Sheryll Klinkel
  • Air Education and Training Command Public Affairs
RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Members from Air Education and Training Command will travel to Orlando, Fla., to attend the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3.

The annual conference, sponsored by National Training and Simulation Association, is the largest display of training, modeling and simulation in the world. The event will bring together key government, industry and academic leaders to focus on this year's theme "Train to Fight - Fight to Win".

Travis Osborne, Training Technology Requirements branch chief, attended I/ITSEC for the last five years.

"I/ITSEC is unique within itself, there is no comparison to it [which I have ever been to]. It is a really huge tradeshow. The exhibition hall is the size of a football field and you can't see everything in one day," said Mr. Osborne.

Mr. Osborne said he appreciates the open forum that allows the free flow of ideas from academia, industry and other services.

"Sometimes you think you have all the ideas cornered,and then you attend an event like this, and you realize there are other ways of tying the tie," said Mr. Osborne.

AETC will not only send attendees, it will participate in two other ways.

Maj. Gen. Erwin F. Lessel III, Plans, Programs, Requirements and Assessments director, will serve on a special event panel to discuss "Training the Next Generation Force".

AETC will be represented at the U.S. Air Force booth in the exhibition hall. The booth will demonstrate advanced technologies from AETC, Air Force Research Lab and the Training Systems Product Group.

Suzy Sutton, Advanced Technology program manager, was chosen to lead the command-wide team to plan and implement the booth. She said that AETC is bringing pockets of excellence that show how AETC recruits, trains and educates today's Airmen...for tomorrow.

Representatives from Air Force Recruiting Service will feature interactive exploration from http://www.airforce.com. Members from 2nd and 19th Air Force will give live demonstrations of technical training conducted via 3-D virtual environment and a 360 degree view of a C-130. Air University representatives will immerse attendees in open virtual worlds, cultural simulation and online master's program.

AFRL will showcase interoperable game-based environments for training to include remotely piloted aircraft systems and a standardized space trainer.

TSPG will provide attendees a personalized photograph of their engagement with the booth demonstrations.

Mr. Osborne said, "This is an additional duty for Suzy, but it's almost a full-time job. She started [planning] early in the spring, got really busy in the fall and completes the job towards the end of January".

This will be Ms. Sutton's third year attending I/ITSEC and she can still remember her first time.

"I was sent as an attendee by myself and I was new to the Technology branch. I didn't know much about the conference, all I knew was that it was huge. I did a walk-through, which took about two hours. Realizing I couldn't see everything, I sat down, read through the program, made a list of things I wanted to see and figured out a schedule," said Ms. Sutton. "I discovered [from I/ITSEC] that there is a world out there that I had no idea existed. I saw things I never expected."

Ms. Sutton keeps all of her program guides from I/ITSEC and uses them like a telephone directory. She said that they are the best index of possible resources she can find. She uses the program guide for market research and to learn which companies are involved with different technologies.

In 2010, the Air Force will be the lead service and Mr. Osborne said he highly encourages any Airmen involved with education and/or training to attend.

"It's important for us [Air Force] to maintain our capabilities and technology. It would be a remiss for us not to have a presence at I/ITSEC," said Ms. Sutton.

To find out more information about I/ITSEC and the Air Force's involvement, visit http://www.iitsec.org or stop by the Air Force exhibition booth, 2039.