Games can saves lives and teach military personnel to be more effective.

As described in the current issue of National Defense, that's a lesson that is becoming increasingly clear to U.S. armed forces.

The insurgency in Iraq, for example, led to the development of "Stability Operations: Winning the Peace." The simulation's design is loosely based on commercial strategy games like Tropico and Sim City.

"It helps the player understand the many trade-offs required in contemporary stability operations," claims a press release issued by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. DARPA contracted with Games2train to develop the product.

While simulation gaming is a low-cost means of training when compared to traditional, large-scale exercises, the military is still getting used to the idea.

Julia Loughran, president of defense consulting firm ThoughtLink, told National Defense that the Iraqi insurgency demonstrates "we need agility and adaptive training. Large-scale exercises are not suitable for fighting this enemy... We are trying to steer the Defense Department toward smaller simulations - It's a cultural change."

While the Army is ahead of the other branches in making use of game tech, none have yet explored inter-service simulations. Nor have military commanders developed games for use with officials from civilian government and humanitarian agencies

"The problem," said Loughran, "is that there isn't a joint command that is directing all training."

There's quite a bit more in the National Defense article, which is definitely worth a read.