CorrDefense - DoD News about Preserving Military Assets

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Featured Projects

•	Webcast
•	New Podcasts in Production
•	Podcast Recreates CPAT Workshop
•	Simulation Training Games

Corrosion Office Produces Webcast, Podcasts, and Videos to Advance its Mission

Production Underway on Simulation Training Games

By Cynthia Greenwood

Experts in the DoD Corrosion Office are looking to raise public awareness about corrosion in novel and entertaining ways. In 2007 DoD began producing a suite of Internet broadcast tools and video games to teach the acquisition community about the science and prevention of corrosion.

In early 2008, the Corrosion Prevention and Control Integrated Product Team (CPC IPT) released an in-depth Webcast on the Defense Acquisition Web site (DAU) to help the general public and DoD personnel understand the DoD Corrosion Program. Posted at www.dau.mil, the Webcast stars Daniel J. Dunmire, leader of the CPC IPT and Rich Hays, a member of the CPC IPT and manager of Corrosion and Engineering at the Naval Surface Warfare Center's Carderock Division.

In the Webcast, Dunmire and Hays introduce and explain the organization of the community known as the CPC IPT and its key working groups, DoD's long-term strategic plan on corrosion, training opportunities, outreach efforts that communicate their mission, and planning requirements mandated by federal regulation. (Click here to view the complete Webcast, titled Implementing the Department of Defense Corrosion Prevention Program.)

New Podcasts in Production

A new podcast has been posted that distills information from the DAU Webcast in a digestible version for the general public. Viewers can access the podcast by visiting the home page of the CorrDefense Web site, at www.corrdefense.org. (Click on the CPC Podcast link under Spotlight in the lower left corner of the home page.)

Members of the CPC IPT are also developing two other videos, to be released as podcasts over the coming year. One video will focus on the science of corrosion using techniques such as time-lapse photography; it will offer lessons in the science of corrosion to high school and college students. Titled Corrosion: A Pervasive Menace, the video will be narrated by Levar Burton, the actor and director renowned for his portrayal of Kunta Kinte in the 1977 TV miniseries Roots. Currently in production, the podcast will be posted on the CorrDefense Web site by the end of 2009.

Podcast Recreates CPAT Workshop

By the end of 2008, DoD personnel who work in acquisition and sustainment of weapon systems and military infrastructure can watch a new podcast on the CorrDefense Web site. The podcast recreates the proceedings of a CPAT (Corrosion Prevention Advisory Team) Workshop that occurred at a recent Aging Aircraft conference. The videotaped workshop offers the latest information about why a CPAT is important in the development of a weapon system or infrastructure. It also covers how to conduct and implement an effective CPAT using actual lessons learned with interactive and constructive dialogue.

"The challenge lies in making the CPAT podcast applicable to both the acquisition and infrastructure communities, because there are unique challenges within the work of each group," said Michael Carpenter, a member of the CPC IPT and facilitator of training projects for the DoD Corrosion Office.

On December 3, 2007, the DoD Corrosion Office released 2,000 copies of In Focus: The War on Corrosion on DVD to members of the public, Congress, and key staff. The public is encouraged to download a four-minute segment of the video from the DoD Corrosion Exchange Web site at www.corrdefense.org. This video is intended to be an introduction to Corrosion: A Pervasive Menace, starring Levar Burton.

Simulation Training Games

Training experts are also making headway on two simulation video games that would present an overview of the science and practice of corrosion to users. Both are slated for release in the spring of 2009.

The DoD Corrosion Office is partnering with Bruno White Entertainment to produce the first game — a hands-on, entertaining overview of corrosion. "The game is a great blend of media, creative industry, and a highly technical subject that we want people to learn," said Carpenter. "We'll have great hooks for all ages and backgrounds, while keeping the DoD acquisition community as our target audience."

Pine Technical College is partnering with NACE International to produce a second video game that will teach the basics of cathodic protection (CP). (CP is an electrochemical means of preventing corrosion on pipelines, bridges, tanks, and other steel structures.)

"For the CP game, NACE is functioning as a corrosion subject matter expert to Pine Technical College," said Daniel Kurth, training development manager at NACE International. "In the game we plan to illustrate corrosion and CP in various types of military infrastructure. For example, we will create a fictional DoD Facility where CP is used to protect such infrastructure as an airfield, a wharf, a tank battery for fuel and water storage, and in military barracks."

"The video game environment is extremely dynamic," said Carpenter. "When we get ready to start a future project on polymers, the technology may work entirely differently from now. But there will be new techniques in the gaming world that we can leverage and flex."