COMDTINST 5200.38
General, and special staff offices at Headquarters shall ensure compliance with this Instruction.
Internet release authorized.
3. DIRECTIVES AFFECTED. None.
4. BACKGROUND. The cost of doing "business as usual" has become prohibitively high. It is simply
too expensive to train, plan, analyze, and develop new systems using traditional methods.
Additionally, the capabilities of modern systems have rendered the current training areas inadequate.
The expansion of capabilities and mission demands have made planning and training for
contingencies difficult, at best. M&S provides a cost-effective method to interact with a complex
environment, allowing for the creation of realistic training, forward looking analysis, or a safe testing
environment that may be too expensive or futuristic to do live. It allows for changes to variables
such as weather, sea state, terrain, or threat capabilities. M&S provides the ability to develop and
test new systems, to train, and to analyze plans and proposed force structure in a realistic and secure
environment. It allows users to experience failure or create success with no risk to personnel,
equipment, or the environment. M&S improves efficiency and effectiveness by eliminating the need
to assemble participants in one place, by providing instructional capability, by providing a test
capability for concepts, strategy, and tactics, and through the ability to rapidly develop and test
different scenarios. Finally, M&S fosters communication. Operators work closely with M&S
developers to ensure new M&S tools accurately represent the operational environment. Operators
communicate with each other during after action reviews to determine what went well and what
areas need more emphasis. Operational planners and developers of new systems use M&S results as
a catalyst to discuss issues and to resolve problems. With the increase in this technology, its
applicability, and the workforce's technical skills, M&S use has grown significantly in both the
private and public sectors. For example , DoD has made great strides over the last decade managing
their M&S to improve performance and reusability while leveraging their M&S capability to reduce
project cost and risk. This Coast Guard M&S management policy adapts many of these DoD best
practices, which are in references (a d).
5. DEFINITIONS. For this policy, models and simulations are defined as:
a. Model: A physical, mathematical, or otherwise logical representation of a system, entity,
phenomenon, or process.
b. Simulation: A method for implementing a model over time. Also, a technique for testing,
analysis, or training in which real-world systems are used, or where real -world and conceptual
systems are reproduced by a model.
6. VISION. The vision for Coast Guard M&S is for models and simulations to provide a pervasive set
of tools and capabilities to support decision making, discovery, operations, analysis, training, and
acquisition throughout the Coast Guard. To attain this vision the Coast Guard will vigorously pursue
the following objectives:
a. Apply M&S and associated information technology consistently across each of the four pillars of
Coast Guard M&S. These pillars are operations and experimentation, training, acquisition, and
analysis and assessment.
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