You can train a military as much as you want, but if you are not training the right skills for the coming fight, it is all wasted effort. Learning first is vital. The British military experience around the First World War – before, during and after – can be salutary when thinking about military training and education. Just as the British Army was getting serious about professional military skills, it was torn apart by indecision about whether the lessons from the Boer War would be useful for...

When militaries started using simulators back in the 1930s, live training remained the priority. Things have reversed now where live training opportunities seem to be few and far between. Most militaries seem to have adopted the strategy of General Charles Krulak USMC who, in the 1990s, purchased commercially available gaming equipment to hone his troops decision-making under pressure. Today, as explained by Rusmat Ahmed from Bohemia International Simulations, the opportunities are better...

Former UK Chief of Defence Staff General David Richards talks to Peter Roberts about how important training is in generating a capable and lethal military force, and whether technology can substitute for live field exercises. General David's former experiences in integrating computers and simulation into training and education is illuminating, but comes with a warning that simulation alone cannot replace time in the field, at sea, or in the air: something no one in industry believes and yet...

Military training budgets are getting hot in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. Holding big live exercises is expensive. Very expensive. And as military budgets are increasingly under pressure from over budget equipment costs, and pay rises for service personnel, cuts to the training budgets look like easy 'savings'. But there isnt much evidence that postponing exercises or curtailing them can do anything else other than to reduce the combat effectivness of military forces. Simulation offers a...