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
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