England @ MindSay 
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By Army Spc. Andrew Orillion
Special to American Forces Press Service
May 2, 2008 - A forward air controller spots an enemy target during a training exercise.
Using a standard-issue radio, he relays the coordinates for an air strike to a pilot. Communications are sent back and forth until the target is locked on and eliminated.
It all sounds very ordinary until you realize the controller is standing on the Salisbury Plain west of London and the pilot is flying a simulator at the Joint Warfighting Center here.
As little as two years ago, this scenario would have seemed almost unimaginable, Steve Kostoff, communications planner for the Joint Warfighting Center, said. With recent advances in live virtual constructive training and network connectivity, communication between allies has improved training dramatically, he explained.
"We've demonstrated this capability before in the United States. But now, we're extending it from a U.S. network into a British network," Kostoff said. "It's taken us a long time to solve that problem effectively, but we pretty much have solved it in the case of training. 'Druid's Dance' is the first time we have done this network connection with the United Kingdom."
Druid's Dance is a joint United Kingdom and U.S. Joint Forces Command training exercise designed to train a battle group of soldiers to deploy to the Afghan theater. U.S. forces are experiencing Druid's Dance as a simulation, but U.K. troops are living it as a live exercise.
The new network capability provides better and more cost-effective training by allowing the U.S. and U.K. forces involved in Druid's Dance to communicate through normal methods of communication without having to be in the same area of operations or needing special equipment in the field.
Kostoff said the only field equipment required is a standard radio, replicating the real-world experience. The forward air controller uses a radio to send out a signal. Software converts the signal to data sent through a U.K. network and relayed to the network in Suffolk. A pilot at a work station here receives the transmission and responds with a simulated air strike.
All this happens in real time, with the controller and the pilot in constant communication.
U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Joe Schulz, an action officer with the Air/Ground Combat Division of Air Combat Command, is one of the pilots who provides simulated close-air support for Druid's Dance and had high praise for the new network and its potential to improve training.
"It's nothing but a positive. I used to be stationed over in England and did a lot of work with the U.K ground FACs. Now, we have the ability to do the same type of work from the United States," Schulz said. "We crawl into our simulator; we make contact with the U.K. forward air controllers and run through a fairly realistic scenario from our home bases. That is going to allow everyone's training to be exponentially better."
The network not only brings better training, but also helps conserve training dollars.
"It costs a lot of money for a jet to get up in the air and fly around for an hour or two to do training. This will never supplant [live] training, but you can do it a lot more often. You can train with greater frequency when you can do it this way, as well," Kostoff said.
Kostoff said the technology used in Druid's Dance is not completely new. Talisman Saber, a joint exercise last year with the Australian armed forces, used a similar network.
"This is the first time we have ever had this kind of network-to-network connection with this ally," Kostoff said. "I was very satisfied that we were finally able to see success come out of two years' effort; it was a lot of hard work. But here we are, and we were talking to the British this morning over the radio. When you do that, it's nice to see the payoff."
Schulz added that the British deserve much of the credit for making the new capability a success.
"We'd be remiss if we didn't really thank the British for all the hard work they put in on their side to make this happen," Schulz said.
Druid's Dance will wrap up May 16. If it proves a success, Kostoff said, the Joint Warfighting Center will expand the program to other allies.
"We plan, by next year, to be able to extend the same capability to Canada. And then after that, we're looking at NATO," Kostoff said. "We have a sister installation at NATO called the Joint Warfare Center in Stavanger, Norway. It's very much like the Joint Warfighting Center. And we've begun work on how we can make connections with that installation and train with them."
Kostoff also is looking beyond just close-air-support training. NATO battle staff and naval warfare training could be the next areas for the new capability, he said.
(Army Spc. Andrew Orillion serves at U.S. Joint Forces Command Public Affairs.)
England is a great holiday destination with plenty of holiday options and is made more fascinating by great, comfortable England hotels. Hotels in the country have something on offer for every kind of traveler and taste. This is what I discovered on my visit to England last month. I had made my hotel bookings online to avoid any trouble and true I saved not only the hotel rates but also the trouble of finding a hotel once I arrive in the city. Of the many cities that I visited during my England trip, London was a great experience. The city was captivating, its attractions left me awe-struck and certainly, the hotels London England added to the charm of the city. Nobody can get away with the fact of the expensive city and expensive hotels it has, but a little bit of effort can make a difference. Staying at a distance from the central city can get you cheaper options but gain one will have to struggle with the transport. Budget hotels London England is a great option, which can keep your travel budget under control.
I had a fantastic time in the country.
London England was on the list of cities that I visited last month on my business tour to Europe. Neither the city nor its hotels were a disappointment. It was my first trip to London and now I know why this city is one of the greatest cities of the world. It is so big that it is rightly referred to as a country sometimes and the variety of its tourist attractions gives so many reasons to visit to its visitors. Though on a business trip, I had scheduled my visit that it gave me complete two days to explore the city. The days were not enough but enough for me to know why the city is such an intriguing city. Besides the world-class city, its hotels are too the best I have put up in. London city is known to being an expensive city with expensive hotels, holds true but I found the London hotels worth the price I paid. My hotel was excellent, it was located close to the places I had to visit for my business and provided with all the facilities. While I was out exploring the city, the map of England that I had bought proved very handy. Using the map, I could easily locate the places in London and the routes I could use to reach there.
It was a very pleasant stay in the city.
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