DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable

U.S. Army Bloggers Roundtable to discuss how virtual reality applications are being designed and implemented across various points in the military deployment cycle to prevent, identify and treat combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. Dr. Albert "Skip" Rizzo will be discussing virtual approaches to dealing with PTSD. His latest project has focused on the translation of the graphic assets from the Xbox game, Full Spectrum Warrior, into an exposure therapy application for combat-related PTSD with Iraq War veterans. Rizzo is a pioneer in using immersive technologies to address issues of mental health and brain injury, including virtual reality treatments for post-traumatic stress and motor rehabilitation. At the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies, he leads several projects that use virtual humans and virtual reality for mental health training and support. Dr. Rizzo will discuss these various projects and explain how virtual reality can be an effective supplement to more traditional treatment options in addition to ways in which virtual reality and virtual humans can provide a safe and easily accessible avenue for support for military members, their Families and civilian populations. Specific projects include exposure therapy for PTSD, stress resilience training, virtual patients for clinical training, virtual human health guides and game-based physical and cognitive rehabilitation.

The Air Force Reserve Command contributes 100 percent of the U.S. Air Force's Weather Reconnaissance and Aerial Spray capabilities and 25 percent of the Air Force's Modular Airborne Firefighting System capabilities. On January 12-13 experts from all three of the Air Force Reserve Command's C-130 special missions will convene at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs for the first ever, AFRC C-130 Special Missions conference. All three missions provide significant contributions to our nation's Defense Support to Civil Authorities (DSCA) missions. The high experience level of its Airmen and the ability to respond to nature's fury at a moment's notice makes the Air Force Reserve Command an ideal partner in these missions. Joining us on the call will be Capt. W. Travis Adams, Assistant Chief of Aerial Spray, 757 Airlift Squadron, Lt. Col. Jonathan Talbot from the 403rd Wing, Lt. Col. David Condit who will be representing the 302d Airlift Wing, and Maj. Gen. James T. Rubeor, 22nd Air Force Commander.

We have scheduled Army Bloggers Roundtable with Tim Owings, deputy program manager, Unmanned Aircraft Systems, for Thursday, Jan. 13, at 9:30 a.m. ET, to discuss program issues such as quick-reaction time updates, ground-based sense. In developing robotic technologies, the Pentagon looks to integrate manned and unmanned elements of the “total system”—leader, unit, soldier and equipment—by first considering the requirements of the warfighter. The military’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Project Office provides a comprehensive management and technical approach by focusing on such input early in the acquisition design process.

DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable with Air Force Col. Brett Wyrick, air surgeon, Air National Guard for Monday, Jan. 10. Col. Wyrick will discuss the new medical mission for Air Guard. Beginning next week specialized medical personnel from the Air National Guard will begin flying Critical Care Air Transport Team (CCATT) missions from Ramstein Air Base, Germany. The CCATT consists of a physician specializing in an area such as critical care, pulmonology, anesthesiology or surgery, along with a critical care nurse and a respiratory technician. The Air Guard will place at least one CCATT on each rotation flying out of Ramstein for the next two years, and are looking to combine with the Air Force Reserve to field even more teams in the coming months.

DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable with Army Col. John Ferrari, deputy commander for programs, NATO Training Mission – Afghanistan, Combined Security Transitions Command-Afghanistan. Col. Ferrari will be talking about coalition procured equipment given to the Afghan National Security Force to help them in their fight against insurgents in Afghanistan.

DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable with World War II Navy Cross recipient and fighter ace William E. “Bill” Davis. Davis will share details of his October 1944 bombing attack that sunk the Japanese aircraft carrier Zuikaku. The Zuikaku held a special place in the minds of a Navy pilot in 1944. She was the last remaining aircraft carrier that participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor. Bill’s bombing run nearly cost him his life but he and his men sunk her, and, militarily, the closure for Pearl Harbor was now complete.

DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable with Dr. Alicia Sanchez, games czar, Defense Acquisition University. She will discuss the first ever Department of Defense casual games site, which allows acquisition professionals to play games related to acquisition topics. The site launched Dec. 1 and features 13 mini games designed specifically to enhance acquisition workforce education.

DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable with U.S. Marine Col. Randy Newman, regimental commanding officer, 7th Marines. Col. Newman recently returned from a year-long deployment as commander of Regimental Combat Team 7 in Afghanistan. He will discuss his leadership experience in Afghanistan and combat and civil operations there. He will also discuss the work his Marines did and the challenges that remain.

DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable with Rear Admiral Kevin Scott, Commander, Expeditionary Strike Group Two (ESG 2). Scott will be the Navy's embarked Commander Amphibious Task Force for Exercise Bold Alligator 2011, which is a U.S. naval amphibious exercise that will focus on conducting major amphibious operations simultaneously with a non-combatant evacuation. This is the most significant and robust exercise within the USN-USMC amphibious community in almost 10 years. Commander, Expeditionary Strike Group Two (ESG 2), and Commander, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade (2nd MEB) in coordination with ships assigned to the U.S. Second Fleet will conduct a joint large-scale fleet synthetic training amphibious exercise, which will concentrate on the fundamental roles as "fighters from the sea." Its focus is based on the joint goal of the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) and the Commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC) to revitalize and return to the fundamental amphibious roles as "fighters from the sea". The exercise will focus improve amphibious force readiness and proficiency for executing the six core capabilities of the Maritime Strategy - forward presence, deterrence, sea control, power projection, maritime security and humanitarian assistance/disaster response.

DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable with Brig. Gen. Christopher S. Owens, commanding general, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, the Marine component of Exercise BOLD ALLIGATOR 2011, which has been designed to reacquaint brigades and group level commands with their amphibious doctrine, tactical skill sets and logistical requirements in accordance with the Commandant's intent for Marines to get back to their "amphibious roots." After more than ten years of fighting in land-locked warfare throughout Iraq and Afghanistan, the Navy/Marine Corps team is working hard to revitalize its amphibious capability and reassert its role as "fighters from the sea" beginning early this December with Exercise BOLD ALLIGATOR 2011.

DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable with members of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command’s communications-electronics center (CERDEC). David Jimenez, Associate Director of Systems Engineering and Jason Sypniewski, chief for CERDEC’s C4ISR & Network Modernization Integrated Event Design and Analysis Branch will discuss the Army’s efforts to integrate C4ISR capabilities (such as sensors, transport, application and data fusion systems) during the early stages of R&D. CERDEC is the Army's main developer, supplier, and integrator of C4ISR into Army Systems and Platforms. Additionally, Jimenez and Sypniewski will discuss evaluating interoperability, spectrum constraints, security, power draw, cognitive impact and other human, environmental and technical factors associated with the SoS approach. The Army network of the future will be a system-of-systems, so it is paramount that capabilities and systems be integrated and assessed in a relevant environment early in their development process in order to see how they will perform together.

DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable with Dr. Alexander Kott, chief, Network Science Division, Army Research Laboratory and Dr. Robert Cole, deputy manager, Network Science - Collaborative Technology Alliance U.S. Army CERDEC. Kott and Cole will discuss the latest innovations in Network Science, which is a new and emerging scientific discipline that examines the interactions, interdependencies and common underlying science among social, information and communications networks.

DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable with Capt. Lori Laraway, coordinator, Navy Operational Stress Control Program. She will discuss the Navy’s Operational Stress Control (OSC) program and it's success in increasing awareness of operational stress and the need to build psychological resilience. Feedback from the Behavioral Health Quick poll, NPC poll, surveys, focus groups and training assessments, indicate a growing awareness of the stress continuum and the importance of recognizing stress at work and at home. While awareness of stress issues is improving, this year’s Behavioral Health Quick Poll respondents indicate longer deployments and manning issues contribute to increasing levels of operational stress. To address these needs OSC continues an aggressive education, training and communication. OSC is about helping Sailors, families and commands to become more resilient by increasing their ability to prepare for, recover from and adjust to life in the face of stress, adversity, trauma or tragedy.

DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable with Tony Fiuza of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command's communications-electronics center (RDECOM CERDEC). Fiuza will be calling in from the Army Science Conference to discuss ongoing efforts within the C4ISR community to provide smart phone technology to the warfighter in the tactical environment, enabling the power of information technology beyond voice.

DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable with Col. John "Buck" Surdu, military deputy for the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command's communications-electronics center (RDECOM CERDEC). He will discuss the role that research and development plays in the Army science and technology chain, transforming conceptual science into feasible capabilities that meet soldiers needs. He will also discuss three CERDEC-developed technologies that were chosen by soldiers for recognition at the Army Greatest Inventions Ceremony.