European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 18, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday september 18. 1989 the stars and stripes Page 9 of there Jess invasion testing Mettle of War staff b Janet ii Owells to Kinky stall writer it. Col. John Brown s plan for defending his stretch of the i Roll amounted to simple deceit. Make the enemy believe the defending units Are  or than they realty Are he reasoned. Then when the attack begins use your unseen forces to hit the enemy units in the Hanks and sauce a the life out of them. We had to determine the extent of the fighting Force and where their major push would he said Brown the commander of 3rd in. 5th Cav Rygl from Kirch Gons. West Germany. Then we put in mine Fields and other demolition to slow the enemy in their probable Avenue of attack and push their forces into the kill  s 700 troops had just a Little More than a Day to prepare before their radios crackled with word that 50 enemy armoured vehicles were heading their Way. Hours later a weary Brown was Able to report that his command had lost just one defensive position in the onslaught. They mixed it up quite a bit out there Brown said rubbing tired eyes. Never mind that most of the enemy troops were computer simulations and that Brown s forces were a fraction of what he d command to repel a real invasion of Europe. The three Day defensive stand which started wednesday and kicked off exercise caravan guard was the kind of Tough realistic training nato planners Hope represents the future of War gaming on the crowded continent. The exercise which continues through wednesday is the first Field test of training smart with the Hel of computer generated Battlefield simulation to test commanders while reducing the number of actual troops and vehicles mane vering in the Field. The goal is to reduce Man Euver damage without damaging the Quality of Maneu vers. The heart of the training is called Jess Short for the joint exercise simulation system which uses computer graphics to produce everything from chemical at tacks to Chow Breaks on the Battlefield. In the current exercise four Field simulation centers arc feeding information about a fictitious enemy to battalion commanders sweating out the Battle in Northern Hussen and Eastern Rhineland a fal according to maj Don Warner who Heads a St Altof 60 at one of the centers. We developed a threat that will attack using soviet doctrine and a certain Avenue of approach Warner said explaining that although soviet troops Likely would at tack in forces far larger than nato assets the numbers were modified for the game to make it less one sided. After the enemy s strengths and weaknesses Are fed into the computer the characteristics of the american and Allied units arc added including in this Case inflated troop numbers that do not reflect the True amount of ass Scotta  . Cul. John Brown Ith his map spread before him urls u Battle report while in the Field. Enemy movements on Board maps in their tactical soldiers or vehicles participating in caravan guard. Each unit is represented on the computer screen by a Symbol. If the Center of the Symbol is White the unit is at full strength. As units Battle each other casualties cause the White to disappear and when the Symbol is Clear the unit has been destroyed and pulled out of the game until resupplied with fresh troops. The fighting can get pretty fierce with computers calling the shots. Warner said and if commanders Don t respond quickly enough the result is casualties. Jess also reminds commanders when their vehicles need refuelling their weapons need ammunition and their soldiers need to he fed. Each simulated action takes the same amount of Lime that it would in a real War. The computer can cause the commander to go through a great Deal of logistical operations along with tactical training Warner said. The computer spits out data 14 hours a Day to Bat Talion commanders in the Field who keep track of ass Scott a Milf first it. Derrick j. Williams of the 2nd in 66th Armor in Carlstedt uses Jess in be Murburg West Germany. Operations  s important that the Jess operators relay the computer data on the enemy s whereabouts to the Bat Talion commanders in a timely Way Warner said. They have to paint that battalion commander a Pic Ture in the enemy situation in his  the computers Aren t operating Field com Manders Are kept Busy with planning the next Day s moves and modifying general defense plans that were prepared before the Battle. Daily decisions Are exam ined closely at after action meetings each evening. Sim Lauon aside. Brown found some of the prob lems or real and very  were the same problems i remember As a  he said. Radios break or Aren t set prop Erly. People get lost in the Woods. No matter How hard void plan the other Guy May not do what you expected lie also May have a Good  that Jess takes All the fun out of the fight. Brown and his stall had a few close Calls of their own. Such As when they spotted an enemy observation Heli copter in a nearby  sent some of us out with our m-l6s rifles and told us to fire on it said sol. 1st class John i. Tyler the battalion s master gunner. Even an airman attached to the command borrowed a Rifle and joined in. They ended up getting credit for the  guard was the first time Brown experienced a simultaneous Field training and command Post exercise run by computer simulation and he feels pretty or and about the exercise so  naming concentrates on the leadership Abili Tivi of everyone from platoon leaders to the command Battle  Brown said. And it s advantageous be cause we do it without damaging the  the staffs operating Jess in the computer Cen ters fell the exercise taught them valuable lessons. The computer mall mostly officers trained for two Dass Belore the exercise to gel to know Jess. For me. Their s a  of stuff 1 Don t do Back at my unit thai i m doing hero said 2nd it. Darrell Mckown of 2nd army div fwd. Which has its Headquarters in  Germany. I m a platoon Leader and have four tanks. Here i m controlling two companies and running around keeping track of six  times the computer Center staffers had their own Battles to Light such As when failing Telephone lineups blacked out the system for hours at a time. The staff has a plan to overcome that problem by january when the annual return of forces to Germany exercise will put Jess through its  reformer the computer experts Hope to add satellite links that will Lake Over when the phone lines fail