I__. - International Military Testing Association

CONTINGENCY TASK ‘IRAiNING SCENARIO GENERATOR
1Lt Todd S. Dart
2Lt Jody A. Guthals
Ma? Timothy M. Bergquist
Air Force Human Resources Laboratory
INTRODUCTION
The Contingency Task Training (CTT) project was directed at determining
critical skills necessary in wartime or during mid to low-intensity conflicts.
Subsequently , this knowledge would be used for training. The Air Force Human _.
Resources Laboratory (AFHRL) was tasked with developing the methodology at the
request of Headquarters Air Training Command (HQ ATC) and the U.S. Air Force
Occupational Measurement Center (USAFOMC). The concept for CTT originated in a
study performed by CSAFOMC in 1979, entitled the Air Base Ground Defense Tactics
Analysis. A task survey for security police (SP) personnel was combined with a
simple scenario in order to determine which tasks are more important during a
given situation. The study was highly effective in restructuring the S? field,
so much so that HQ ATC requested the technology be developed for combining task
surveys w: th contingency scenarios. USAFOMC in turn produced Request For
Personnel Research (RPR) 84-02, ‘Contingency Task Training Requirements.’ asking
AFHRL to develop and validate the contingency technology.
AFHRL started the CTT project in 1988. In order to develop, test, and
validate scenarios for use with task surveys, the project was divided into two
phases. Phase I was the development of the scenario generation technology.
Phase II involved coupling scenarios to task surveys. The scenario and task
survey would then be sent to senior noncommissioned officers (NCOs) w!lo would
review the scenario and rate each task listed for their respective jobs as to
training emphasis. The results would then be validated against Specialty
Training Standards (STS) which list skills each airman is to be instructed in tc
reach certain levels of proficiency. Some of the skills in the STS are marked
with an asterisk signifying tasks to be taught during wartime. All other tasks
not ma 1; 2. e 2 are to be dropped from instruction. The method of choosing xhich
tasks to mark has always been left up to the senior NCO. In the past, marking
wartime 5kills has been done at the last minute during course re-evaluation.
Also, mart:+? .T~?‘!!s have never been validated.
T::i: purpose of the CTT project was to provide a method to validate wartime
skills. AFHRL undertook the task of creating scenario generation technology and
subsequent validation via task surveys. AFHRL has now completed Phase I of the
project (Dart, 19901 . The Phase II task survey will be performed by USAFOMC.
CRITERIA
HO ATC and USAFOMC were consulted to determine exactly what the scenario
generator should comprise. Initial research indicated a need for a scenario
generator able to generate both natural disaster scenarios and conflict/wartime
scenar i 0s. Later, the focus changed to conflict/wartime scenarios only. A
disaster scenario generator used in developing training for a disaster situation
occurring infrequently in a small region would not be cost effective. The
technology should concentrate on the mission of the Air Force, national defense,
and the implementation of U.S. Armed Forces as part of national policy.
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