Digital C4I skills decay rapidly. According to Brigadier General Lynch, commander of the Army’s first digitized brigade, his soldiers could not make effective use of the Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2) after only two months away from the system. Also, company commanders at the Armor School were observed to make many more tactical mistakes and of a more basic nature than was expected. Tactical experts and instructors agree that improving tactical decision-making and the tactical use of C4I systems is best achieved by practicing in scenarios. Providing practice opportunities for operational company commanders requires a training system that is embedded within the operational system that provide simulation, performance evaluation, and feedback.

Stottler Henke developed the FBCB2/Tactical Decision-Making ITS for Company Commanders. This system provides three sections that teach usage of FBCB2, planning, and mission execution. The usage section helps students learn to create plan overviews. The planning section tutors the application of general and specific tactical principles to develop the concept of operations and the detailed plan. The execution section tests the commander in tactical situations simulated by OneSAF Test Bed (OTB) and displayed in FBCB2. The ITS evaluates the student’s decisions and delivers a debriefing that identifies correct and incorrect actions.

I/ITSEC 2002 conference paper:
An Embedded Training Solution: FBCB2/Tactical Decision-Making Tutoring System