 There is no substitute for field experience. However, tactical decision games delivered through sand table exercises will provide firefighters with the opportunity to practice the decision-making process and how to communicate their intent. TDGs are a logical step in blending the skills and tactics taught in conventional wildland fire courses and lessons learned from the newest body of human factors coursework. The sand table exercise is a tactical decision game that employs a three-dimensional terrain model with various props to represent assets or liabilities. Tactical decision games focus on intuitive decisions, meaning that the dynamic environment that we work in requires you to be able to make decisions quickly. Was five seconds enough time to make your decision? The essential factor in intuitive decision-making is experience. In that time, 1,200. That experience allows recognition of similarities to previous situations. A pattern of typical cause and effect develops to allow a decision that does not require analysis or reason. It is essential that TDGs are set up with specific learning objectives in mind. It is the facilitator's responsibility to ensure that the exercise and discussions do not stray from the purpose of the training. It is usually better to start with a problem and allow the players to create solutions. The problem you start with must lead players directly to the decision-making and learning objectives you have identified. And knowing the great basin conditions, it will definitely get hotter and the RH will go down. Okay, today's scenario, you're going to be a Hell Attack crew of exclusive use. We're going to have a helicopter foreman, a one-second-year firefighter, and two... The facilitator presents the scenario to the group by explaining the conditions, situation, and features on the table. The facilitator should answer questions about the scenario which the players would reasonably have knowledge of, but the facilitator should not eliminate all uncertainties. You'll have a chainsaw on board, one five-gallon QB, one radio between a handheld, and pretty much any of the hand tools you want to utilize to actually put out this fire. It will be referred to as the Telephone Creek Fire. It's 10 o'clock, temperature is 87 degrees, RH 21 percent, and of course will be temperature going up, RH dropping down as temperatures move on. Also in this scenario, we'll have tanker two, three... Let's go ahead and do a safety briefing. You guys know the name of this fire is the Telephone Creek. It's 94 degrees. The players are put in the role of leader. They should be encouraged to be decisive and to communicate their decisions in the form of briefings following the briefing format found in the incident response pocket guide and clear text instructions. Right now the helicopter for an eye in the sky as well as bucket drops. I'll go ahead and run the bucket drops, but I'll come down the hill with you because we'll use the helicopter for our eyes. Guys got any questions? About this time, tanker two, three, just dropped a load of foam retardant right on top of your crew. The scenario puts the players in a tactical situation requiring some sort of a decision, a problem requiring a solution. Okay, is everybody okay? How about we pull up out of here and go to the top of the hill and I'll call dispatch and see what's going on. So why did we land up here? What about over here? What were you thinking over here? In the after action review, the players analyze or discuss their solution as a means of drawing out the lesson. There are no school or facilitator solutions. In fact, creativity is a price trait in tacticians. Unusual solutions should be encouraged and recognized. We hope this video has given you a picture of what a tactical decision game is and how it looks when delivered through sand table exercises. You will be necessary for TDG facilitators to carefully read the accompanying manual. This manual will help you with the implementation of TDGs at your home unit. The manual and a PowerPoint presentation are available at www.fireleadership.gov.