hey kids - letters from the front

[nostatic]

Did ya miss me?

Greetings after a self-imposed "vacation" from PPOT. The confluence of a pounding work schedule and just too much "stuff" going on led me to walk away for awhile. The joke goes that "I can quit any time I want." Well, I suppose I needed to prove that to myself.

The reality is that despite the rancor and my burn out, this place is filled with many of my friends (some of whom I've known for almost 8 years now), so any break invariably leads back "home."

On the positive side I wanted to give an update on the work that has been consuming my life for the past 6 months or so. At the end of January we got a contract to create a prototype interactive counter-IED training system for the military. I work at a unique place that is an academic institution but we do R&D on immersive training. I am the co-lead on this project where we started with an idea and then turned four 40' container boxes into a self-paced interactive learning system. We delivered the first prototype 29Jun to Ft. Bragg. 6 months from contract to delivery.

The system uses narrative videos with characters telling their perspective on IED attacks along with graphic displays on the walls reinforce the learning objectives along with quizes. There also is a red vs. blue game experience where one group are insurgents who emplace an IED and carry out an ambush and the other group is in the convoy that is attacked.

Next Monday we go live with the second installation at Camp Pendleton. Pics below. There is about 40 minutes of video content which I wrote the script for and produced. The game experience was done by my co-lead, the interior design and graphics look/feel is mine. To figure out the learning objectives and take them from "death by powerpoint" and turn them into something engaging, entertaining, and education required learning a lot about IEDs from both blue and red perspectives. We worked with some great subject matter experts and I now know more than you really want to know about IED warfare.

At any rate, you can hopefully see why I'm fried. We are very proud of the prototypes and we really hope we can make a difference and help keep our guys from getting killed down range.

[JavaBrewer]

Déjà vu... big time... make sure you're in bed with a big big big time contractor to see that work to completion.

[bigchillcar]

great work, and always timely where our uniformed are concerned..nice to know that your inspired preventative work goes towards protecting life. i'm likewise back just in the past two days after about a year's absence. i guess richard (motion) had been awol for a while, too, from the read in a couple posts this evening.

[Moses]

Wow. Great work. There's a good chance your work will save some lives. And welcome back! This place isn't the same without you.

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by dmoolenaar

Déjà vu... big time... make sure you're in bed with a big big big time contractor to see that work to completion.

Contractors are evil. Some *really* evil. We avoid them like the plague. We do R&D and prototypes with our various subs. Then we're out...

[porsche4life]

Awesome work and good to have ya back.

[livi]

Wow. Incredible work in such short time. I would have thought that the US army was not happy about their training methods posted on the Internet however.

Do you sell the kit or some kind of leasing contract with the army? Looks like a gold mine. New GT3 in the pipeline, Nostatic?

[DanielDudley]

Welcome back. You were missed.

Don't feel like you have to lance the boils. After a while it's like chasing Moby Dick. Besides, no matter how true or funny it may be, if it doesn't contain compassion, it's not Zen.

You are pretty funny though...

[lm6y]

Welcome back. You're right, we always come "home". You always love your brothers and sisters, but sometimes you don't like them very much!

Thanks for the work you are doing for our men and women in uniform, there are many families that will appreciate it.

Within a few days we get Bigchillcar back, and now you. This really is a neat place. Kinda like Callahan's Crosstime Bar.

[Don Plumley]

Nice work Todd. Must feel good to work on something that will make a difference.

[Rikao4]

some fight in the dirt..
others make sure you get the chance to feel US asphalt again..
some of the best fighter's..never draw a gun..
your making a difference...
and having friends in the sandbox..
I thank you !

Rika

[Hugh R]

Todd who? (J/K). Looks great, and welcome back!

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by livi

Wow. Incredible work in such short time. I would have thought that the US army was not happy about their training methods posted on the Internet however.

Do you sell the kit or some kind of leasing contract with the army? Looks like a gold mine. New GT3 in the pipeline, Nostatic?

I may pull the photos in a day or two, but this has already been written up in another online source and there is a page about the project on our site. It will likely get more press as it moves forward. I also left out *all* of the details of the content and training points. The bad guys are watching but so are we.

Sorry, not getting rich off this. This is a research prototype, we are non-profit and there are no bonuses where I work. In fact we have a salary freeze as well so no pay raise this year either. Thankfully there are other benefits. Like lack of sleep.

[Burnin' oil]

Holy cow!

I swear I was just thinking yesterday about you not being around and was actually starting to develop the smallest kernel of respect for you for not wasting your time here with us idjits and was even thinking, "Ya know, I need to be more like Todd . . ." And now? Oh, well.

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by Burnin' oil

Holy cow!

I swear I was just thinking yesterday about you not being around and was actually starting to develop the smallest kernel of respect for you.

Are you sure you weren't thinking about the whole cob?

Not that there's anything wrong with that...

[Leland Pate]

Good to see you, Todd.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by nostatic

I may pull the photos in a day or two, but this has already been written up in another online source and there is a page about the project on our site. It will likely get more press as it moves forward. I also left out *all* of the details of the content and training points. The bad guys are watching but so are we.

Sorry, not getting rich off this. This is a research prototype, we are non-profit and there are no bonuses where I work. In fact we have a salary freeze as well so no pay raise this year either. Thankfully there are other benefits. Like lack of sleep.

I regularly do work that, in terms of cash, pay's well, pay's poorly and some that does not pay at all.

I take on poor or non paying projects when I think they will add to my skill set making me more valuable/marketable at some point in the future.

Happy to say it's worked well for me so far.

I would loved to have met up with you back in June for E3.

I think the stuff you are doing now makes you a good candidate for the video game industry. We pay well and we have a boatload of fun doing it.

Congrats on the project.

Looks like you did a stellar job.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Quit any time? Riiiiiiiiight. That's what all the true addicts tell themselves.

Pretty cool stuff, I remember your earlier postings. There must be an inherent reward in knowing that you will help save lives.

[RPKESQ]

Welcome back, you are always missed. And thanks for the great work too!

[dd74]

Good to have you back, and good work. So why are contractors so bad?