A new educational simulation was recently unveiled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Mass. MIT's Urban Risk Lab located in their Department of Architecture and Urbanism, Mar 21.

The simulation sought to provide MIT graduate students with a deeper understanding of military participation in disaster response at the operational level, and the complexities that response presents.

The "Civ-Mil Humanitarian Response Simulation," was a notional post-category five hurricane scenario that leveraged the talents of three Naval War College (NWC)'s Civilian-Military Humanitarian Response faculty, Professors Hank Brightman, Tony Fox, and David Polatty. All are located within the College of Operational and Strategic Leadership (COSL)'s Operational-Level Programs (OLP) and served as facilitators and adjudicators for this event.

"NWC President Rear Adm. Harley has challenged NWC faculty to 'operationalize, navalize, and futurize' the college," said Polatty. "We can't think of a more innovative or meaningful way to do that with respect to humanitarian operations than engaging with current and future leaders in the humanitarian space.

Working with MIT faculty and students within their Urban Risk Lab and Humanitarian Response Lab will help better prepare the international humanitarian system and U.S. Navy for complex humanitarian operations in the future, whether in a conflict or natural disaster setting."

The three-hour, four-move simulation included a large-scale floor map featuring Central American geography; realistic physical ship models of U.S. Navy platforms; and highly detailed, storm-impacted regions.

Several doctoral students from MIT have been coordinating with NWC's OLP faculty for nearly a year on civil-military humanitarian logistics and urbanization challenges and opportunities.

For the 20 students participating in this active-learning event provided an ability to foster a greater awareness of military command and control considerations and the opportunity to learn about various Navy platforms and capabilities in a crisis response environment.

Lily Bui, a student who served as the notional Caribbean Task Force Commander said, "Participating in this activity gave me a much greater appreciation for just how complicated the military aspect of humanitarian response is -- especially given competing objectives, limited resources, and the need to support the host nation's requirements."

The simulation is one of several follow-on actions stemming from the Urbanization and Climate Change working group in the NWC's Civ-Mil Humanitarian Response workshop held in Newport, Rhode Island in October.

That workshop featured key stakeholders from the humanitarian assistance space ranging from long-standing programs such as the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI), to prominent international bodies and U.S. government agencies and non-governmental organizations. Specifically, the working group recommended better and more robust simulations and exercises which could be explored along with frameworks and processes in the safety of an academic environment.

NWC is an upper-level professional military education institution that includes a one-year resident program that graduates 600 resident students a year, and a multifaceted distance education program that graduates more than 1,000 students per year. Its missions include educating and developing leaders, helping define the future of the Navy, supporting combat readiness, and strengthening maritime partnerships. Students earn Joint Professional Military Education (JPME) credit and either a diploma or a master's degree in National Security and Strategic Studies or Defense and Strategic Studies. Established in 1884, U.S. Naval War College is the oldest institution of its kind in the world. More than 50,000 students have graduated since its first class of nine students in 1885 and about 300 of today's active duty admirals, generals and senior executive service leaders are alumni.

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