Battlefield History Training and Simulation

 Certainly not a new thing, saw and participated in such wargaming simulations as early as the late 70's with very advanced graphics.  But was clearly not what we would call 'virtual reality' today, but what might be something like keyboard or pen input and then output of simulated results, in non real-times.  Much less than computer gaming speed.   And here aimed at historical data.  Note to the use of 'liquid' interaction models, also an intriguing advance. Still a telling example of advances made since then.

Virtual reality battlefield technology designed to train military leaders  by Purdue University in TechXPlore

A new and modern approach to understanding battlefield history may soon help prepare future military leaders in the U.S.

Purdue University innovators have developed battlefield simulation technology that they used to produce a virtual reality tour of the D-Day beaches in Normandy, France.

"We have worked with military education partners to refine our virtual reality technology to provide a useful tool for future military leaders," said Sorin Adam Matei, a professor of communication and associate dean in Purdue's College of Liberal Arts. "We apply what we know from the field of physics and treat the virtual soldiers almost like liquids that are interacting on the battlefield. Military educators can use this tool to teach future leaders lessons learned from historic battles in a visually exciting way that brings them to life for the students."

Their work is part of the FORCES (4S)—Strategy, Security and Social Systems Initiative in Purdue's College of Liberal Arts. More information is available at purdue.university/forces.

The initiative supports the use of social scientific research in strategy and security activities to shape long-range and global military, political and organizational decision-making for a just, stable and secure world. Other members of the team are Jonathan Poggie, a professor of engineering; Robert Kirchubel, an educator and retired Army lieutenant colonel; and Matthew Konkoly, a research assistant.  ... "