SOPAwg mobile app for the 2018 Special Olympic Pennsylvania Winter Games, now available for iOS and Android
Posted on: January 19th 2018
A mobile app designed for the SOPA Winter Games that provides unique competition data, news and updates, via live push notification service.
Available today, SOPAwg is a new event management mobile app, developed for the 2018 Special Olympics Pennsylvania (SOPA) Winter Games, available for iOS AND Android. SOPAwg was developed by Applied Training Solutions (ATS), to fulfill the need for a more user-friendly and fun way for athletes, coaches and volunteers to gain access to the latest schedules, weather and directions, safety and contact information and real-time push notifications.
SOPAwg's comprehensive functionality ensure the athletes, coaches and volunteers never have to worry about when the next event starts or where the event is located. It's the best resource for all things Winter Games. Get important updates and competition information right in the palm of your hands and in one convenient location. Use this app to find out when the next competition takes place. You have access to first aid and emergency contact information, and can even find out if bad weather is on the way! Plus, the app offers push notifications for reminders, last minute changes or alerts.
"Our interest in smart technology and improving efficiency, combined with our passion for the Special Olympic movement was what brought this vision to reality, "said Mike Suman, Vice-President and Chief Technology Officer at ATS.
ATS Congratulates Its Newest HPAC Certified M&S Experts
Posted on: December 8th 2017
Recently, Applied Training Solutions staff members Mike Croyle, Ryan Robinson, Jeff Galbraith, Bryan Smith, Rick Adams and Jim McGowan joined Jean Newman-O'Neill and Rick Paige as graduates of the rigorous Hazard Prediction and Assessment Capability, Level 1 (HPAC-1) course.
Armed with expertise in the modeling of hazardous material releases using the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) HPAC software package, these graduates strengthen ATS's ability to recognize and understand capabilities and limitations of material sources and weather data, apply Consequence Assessment (CA) methodology, model Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) hazards, and develop plume overlays. These capabilities are then used to input real-world data into ATS's proprietary and military exercise support tools, providing an unprecedented level of realism to customers' Consequence Management training and exercises.
Visit ATS at I/ITSEC 2017 in Orlando
Posted on: November 21st 2017
ATS (appliedtrg.com) will be participating in the Interservice/ Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference, 2017 (I/ITSEC). ATS is a small business leader in command and staff training for Federal and Commercial activities. We will be located in booth #1158 of the exhibit hall. I/ITSEC will be held from November 27th to December 3rd in Orlando, Florida. We hope to see you there! Register or learn more about I/ITSEC at http://www.iitsec.org/
Applied Training Solutions, LLC selected for U.S. Army Mission Training Complex Capabilities Support (MTCCS)
Posted on: November 21st 2017
Applied Training Solutions, LLC ("ATS") announced today that its Modeling and Simulations Team was selected to support the $150,000,000 U.S. Army Mission Training Complex Capabilities Support (MTCCS) Contract. The ATS selection qualifies it as one of four (4) Small Business Contractors eligible to compete for upcoming Small Business Set-Aside MTCCS Task Orders to provide individual, leader, small unit, battle staff and simulation-driven Mission Command (MC) training to the United States Army.
This Contract, No. W900KK-18-D-0004, is a hybrid (cost, firm-fixed-price, and time and materials) Contract for mission training complex capabilities support. Work locations and funding will be determined with each Task Order, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 14, 2022. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Orlando, Florida, is the Contracting Activity.
ATS is a Northern Virginia Technical Services company with proprietary technology, making it one of the nation's leaders in man-made and natural Disaster Emergency Management (DEM). It's unique modeling and simulation support technology allows development of superior and cost-effective planning, training and operating capabilities to mitigate and manage disasters such as floods, hurricanes and terrorist activities.
Contact Jason Bewley at 571 992-8343 for further details.
COLORADO SPRINGS - The Air Force's 21st Contracting Squadron at Peterson AFB, CO has awarded a $76M single award IDIQ contract to Applied Training Solutions, LLC ("ATS") in support of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) to provide modeling and simulation support and associated software services to train Federal, state, local, and non-government organizations. ATS will provide its Emergency and Disaster Management Simulation (EDMSIM) and Nusura Inc.'s social media emulator, SimulationDeck, to train and coordinate government responses to natural and man-made disasters such as tornados and hurricanes, earthquakes, active shooters, dirty bombs, and disease outbreaks. The software is also used to test and improve organizational response procedures in a variety of contexts. The new contracting vehicle now makes this proprietary software available to DoD entities, federal agencies, and state and local government and non-government organizations.
"This contract vehicle offers a uniform environment for disaster management training and planning as well as for testing an organization's ability to deal with external and internal stresses using an accurate simulation of real-world events" said Jason Bewley, ATS President and Managing Member.
Simulation is a technique that allows realistic training without participants suffering an actual disaster event. Simulated components in a training exercise replace some live aspects of the event, thereby reducing travel as well as staff and required resources while maintaining the full scope of the training.
Applied Training Solutions, LLC is a veteran-owned small business (VOSB) with its corporate office located in Leesburg, Virginia. Nusura, Inc. is headquartered in Denver, Colorado and is also a small business. Both companies' software offerings make disaster management and crisis training exercises more realistic, more engaging, and more effective. Contact: Jason Bewley, President, Applied Training Solutions, LLC. 571 992 8343. 602 South King Street, Leesburg, VA 20175; jbewley@appliedtrg.com.
Lessons Learned - Vigilant Guard (Vermont)
Posted on: September 15th 2016
US Northern Command's VIGILANT GUARD disaster response training program has just completed its latest exercise in Vermont. Supported by an ATS team of experts, this event brought together National Guard, active duty forces and numerous state and federal agencies to complete training in a combined live/simulated exercise.
The Vermont training scenario was a very complex sequence of simulated disasters, starting with an epidemic of pneumonic plague, followed by leaking radioactive substances and later suffering a 6.0 magnitude earthquake followed by a 5.8 magnitude aftershock. Both military and civilian participants left with very useful lessons learned and sharper response instincts to help improve their future disaster response capabilities.
Higher level training objectives for this exercise were made possible by adding a simulated response component to replicate both high level military command and involvement of a large military force normally involved in disasters of this magnitude. The technique of adding simulated training components provides exponential value at a low cost. In Vermont, actual participation of higher commands or a large military force were neither practical nor affordable. In providing a solution to this training capability gap, however, ATS has helped ensure that the participants continue to receive high training value from VIGILANT GUARD events. ATS team expertise regularly provides support to replicate involvement of simulated exercise components, such as here with large force simulation and a higher level military command. ATS is pleased that for the Vermont exercise, ATS' military response experience supporting this and other simulated roles helped result in a successful, high value training exercise.
Earthquake Simulations, a Lifesaving Tool
Posted on: September 13th 2016
An earthquake just rattled the southeastern part of the United States. Along with all of the typical damages someone would expect, there have been multiple locations in which people are trapped and exposed to hazardous materials. Civilian response agencies are overwhelmed and unable to continue life saving operations without assistance. This is obviously a fictional scenario, but what if it did happen? What would we do and who would be there to lend the assistance needed to continue to safe lives? Those questions lead to the formation of the Homeland Response Forces, National Guard Forces that are designed to respond to these types of incidents and support civilian response agencies in mitigating the loss of life and suffering.
The above scenario was played out from August 16th through the 18th at Ft. Hood, Texas. The FEMA Region VI (TX) Homeland Response Force conducted a Collective Training Event in which their command and control of this type of incident was evaluated along with their ability to conduct Search and Rescue and Decontamination of victims. Evaluating Search and Rescue and Decontamination is rather easy as Observer Controllers are able to simply watch teams break through concrete and run role players who claim to be contaminated through their decontamination sites. Evaluating the Homeland Response Force's ability to conduct command and control can be much more difficult, as the Homeland Response Force is designed to have eighteen units reporting to them. Budget constraints make it nearly impossible to have this many units train at the same time and location. Without all of those units able to attend a training event how then can unit's abilities to control them accurately evaluated? The answer comes in the form of Applied Training Solutions (ATS) and the Emergency Disaster Management Simulation (EDMSIM).
ATS is contracted by US Army Northern Command to use EDMSIM and other tools to replicate these units that are unable to attend the training. EDMSIM is an entity based constructive simulation tool that is limited only by imagination. ATS uses EDMSIM to produce realistic reports and data that are sent to the unit being evaluated. Jason Usher from ATS was quoted as saying, "the only difference between the units we simulate and a live unit is that our reports are on time and accurate." ATS has run the simulations cell for all Homeland Response Force evaluations since 2013 and has been integral in the development and readiness of these units. ATS is currently working on bringing EDMSIM to FEMA and civilian agencies to assist in their disaster preparation planning and standard operational procedure validation. According to Mr. Usher EDMSIM is customizable and transportable enough that it can be used to train organizations as small as a dozen individuals or as large as a state Emergency Operations Center. ATS and EDMSIM are two acronyms that the average citizen has never heard of, yet they have played a big part in ensuring that if the unspeakable happens in the United States, response agencies will know what to do and be able to reduce the loss of life.
Lessons Learned - Cascadia Rising (Oregon)
Posted on: July 13th 2016
A tsunami caused by an earthquake in the Pacific allows approximately four hours to evacuate a target area running from the Northern California coast to British Columbia. A tsunami from the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a 600-mile fault line running along the same coast, provides only minutes to evacuate. The Oregon National Guard, Oregon Office of Emergency Management and other emergency response organizations recently completed a four-day exercise to train how to respond to such a disaster and to assess their readiness and preparedness levels.
These organizations were able to successfully train and assess preparedness only because potential disasters can be modeled and simulated in a training exercise. Applied Training Solutions, LLC, (ATS) a Virginia company that provides such services, allowed the participating organizations to gain a clear understanding of what would be involved in managing the response to such an event. "We can provide participants with a clear understanding of the effort that would be involved in any natural or man-made disaster" explained Jason Bewley, President of ATS, adding "Such models allow participants to train, and train again, in a cost effective manner to allow them to be fully prepared when the real deal happens." Training allows many organizations to efficiently practice working together for a more effective response.
To obtain the full story please visit: Pamlin Media (Achen, 2016)
DOOMSDAY DRILL - Cascadia Subduction Zone (Washington)
Posted on: July 13th 2016
In January, 1700, well before European settlers reached the Pacific Northwest, a tsunami devastated the Quileute, Hoh and other Native American tribes living along the coast from Northern California to British Columbia. Other tsunami's often reach this area from earthquakes in the Pacific Ocean, the most recent and destructive of which resulted from the 1964 Alaskan earthquake. An earthquake and tsunami will certainly strike again.
This June over 20,000 individuals and organizations participated in disaster training drills located in Shelton, Washington to practice emergency management and response to the effects of tsunamis and other similar natural disasters. If such an event is suffered today, over eight million people in the Pacific Northwest could be affected. One key participant in this exercise was Applied Training Solutions, LLC, (ATS) a training services firm from Virginia that utilizes modeling and simulation techniques to permit emergency responders to train for natural disasters without having to suffer an actual disaster event.
Jason Bewley, President of ATS, stated "Training is critical to understanding and perfecting the operational requirements needed to properly manage, respond and recover from natural disaster events. We cannot wait for these events to occur to provide on the job training." Modeling and simulation is a critical technique to allow cost effective training for such events without the loss of life and property that would follow if responders are not well prepared. ATS techniques result in a properly trained, effective emergency response force at an affordable price. response force at an affordable price.
See the full article at: Associated Press (Corte, 2016)
California Homeland Response Force EXEVAL
Posted on: April 26th 2016
The California National Guard Homeland Response Team (HRF) has conducted disaster evaluation exercises at Camp Roberts. Approximately 524 Army and Air National Guard were at Camp Roberts for an external evaluation exercise to hone the skills and operations needed following a chemical, biological, or nuclear incident. The exercise, which ran around the clock until Tuesday, included lifesaving search and extraction, security, decontamination, medical treatment teams, and command operations.
Vigilant Guard Louisiana 2016
Posted on: April 3rd 2018
PINEVILLE, La. - The Louisiana National Guard participated in Vigilant Guard 2016 with the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness to prepare for all-hazards response and emergency operations, April 10-16. Vigilant Guard is a federally funded exercise program that is supported by the National Guard Bureau and sponsored by the United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), whose mission is to provide homeland defense, civil support and security cooperation to defend and secure the United States and its interests. The overall exercise scenario tested the LANG's response to a simulated Category 3 or 4 hurricane that made landfall on the Louisiana coast.
Vibrant Response 2016
Posted on: April 3rd 2018
CAMP ATTERBURY, Indiana - If there were ever another disastrous attack on U.S. soil, joint forces would have to combine their professional techniques and put them into action. In order for that to happen, realistic annual training is needed.
Service members, government officials and agencies across the nation participated in the Vibrant Response Training Exercise, at Camp Atterbury, Indiana on May 11, for simulated training in responding to a catastrophic domestic incident.
"Vibrant Response is an exercise to confirm three two-star headquarters," said Kevin Kirmse, a senior exercise planner for U.S. Army North out of Fort Sam Houston Texas. "Once a year they have to be confirmed to take the [mission] starting on June 1 of every year. Basically, that is what we are here to do to build the exercise."
