The purpose of forensic facial reconstruction is to produce an image from a skull which offers a sufficient likeness of the living individual that it will facilitate identification of skeletal remains when there are no other means available. Although facial reconstruction had begun in the nineteenth century, the method gained notoriety with the work of Gerasimov (1968), depicted on film in Gorky Park. These traditional 'plastic' methods use modelling clay or plasticine to build up the depth of tissue on the skull (or a cast of the skull) to that of a living individual. Tissue depths are known for 'landmark' sites on the skull; the depths elsewhere are interpolated between these points (Figure 1) and then into the interstices (Figure 2). The shape of the eyes, nose and mouth cannot be confidently predicted and are largely guesswork (Figure 3). Even for skilled practitioners, plastic reconstructions take one or two days. The results obtained will differ between reconstructions and between practitioners.

Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3

Left to right: Figure1.Establishment of tissue depths

The point-light source projection, or shadow graph, method enjoyed popularity in the 1950's, especially for helicopter simulators. A series of simulators using this method of visual display were produced by Giravions Dorand in France including a hovering trainer produced by Shorts of Belfast in 1955. Simulators on this pattern were also built in the United States, but the shortcomings of the shadow graph system seems to have limited the success of the concept. The first visual systems achieving widespread use on civil aviation simulators were based on the scale model and television camera method, although methods based on film and anamorphic optical systems have also met with success for more restricted applications. Serious development of closed-circuit television visual systems began in the mid 1950's with monochrome systems being produced by Curtiss-Wright, Link (then the Link division of General Precision) and General Precision Systems (formerly Air Trainers and Air Trainers Link Limited). The first colour system was produced by Redifon in 1962. Television based visual systems have under gone a steady development since then, with a large part of the effort being devoted to improved methods of image display.

For example British Army plans call for its brigade/battlegroup trainers to be linked up to armoured-vehicle simulators and its TES exercises. This will allow brigades and divisions to exercise with only a fraction of the soldiers involved deployed in the field. Whole battalions and regiments will be simulated from individual vehicle workstations, perhaps located away from the main exercise centre. They will play out a battle directed by a command staff working from a brigade/battlegroup trainer. At the same time a battlegroup can fight over the ground for real using TES equipment.

The trends driving the greater use of simulation are common throughout the western alliance and elsewhere. Spending cutbacks have reduced flying hours, track-mile budgets for armoured units, shell allocations for the artillery and time at sea for navies. Environmental constraints mean NATO's armies can no longer conduct massive exercises over large areas of private farmland and they have lost the ability to train staffs in large-scale operations. This places increased pressure on the remaining military-owned training areas and leads to greater erosion and environmental protest. And although western military establishments are significantly smaller the tempo of peace-keeping and peace enforcement operations has increased. Early success in these high-profile operations is essential so all NATO troops have to be highly trained and ready to win the first engagement of any conflict, there is no prospect of learning from a defeat.

Troops using TES equipment must use realistic tactics to avoid being hit

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 4474
Approximate Pages = 18 (250 words per page double spaced)