Who am I
My name is Ken-Tore Saade Eriksen, and I am a soon to be retired Lieutenant Colonel from the Norwegian Army. I have close to 40 years of service as an Infantry Officer, and I have specialized in training and exercises supported by simulation, whether it is live, virtual or constructive.
Of highlight from my years of service I would mention the following;
Platoon Commander in His Majesty The King’s Royal Guard, in Porsanger Battalion and in NORBATT United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
Company Commander in Agder Battalion, and in NORBN in Stabilization Force (SFOR) in Bosnia-i-Herzegovina
Instructor at the School of Infantry’s Section for International Operations where I led the process of creating the Norwegian Army’s manual for Peace Support Operations, and helped train NCOs, Officers and Battalion Staffs before deploying to their missions.
My time as a student at the Infantry Captains Career Course at what is now called Ft. Moore in Georgia, USA. I graduated the class as the distinguished international student.
Then my service as Chief Instructor for Mechanized Infantry at the School of Cavalry, where I took part in establishing the Maneuver Branch on top of the ashes of Infantry and Cavalry.
My time as Exercise Manager, Executive Officer, and Commanding Officer at the Norwegian Army Combat Training Centre entailed working with the setting up of the training centre, establishing a functional organization, creating procedures and templates as well as being deeply involved in the procurement process; writing technical and functional requirements, reviewing system design specification and and going through tests and validation of the deliveries. When the time came for additional equipment I wrote project proposals as well as being the user representative in the projects. The daily operations entailed planning training events in coordination with the training unit, designing scenarios and exercises to meet the training objectives identified. It also meant leading the training event from SIM-Exercise Control (SIM-EXCON), following the event carefully and developing AARs on the go, and then holding the AARs for the training units.
In my time at the NORCTC I was the Centre’s Norwegian representative in the Interoperability User Community (IUC), helping develop and implement the OSAG2 laser coding standard, as well as interoperability standards for area weapons effect simulation (AWES). The work on OSAG2 was further developed into a NATO standard in the framework of the NATO Modelling and Simulation Working Group Urban Combat Advanced Training Technologies – Live Simulation Standards (UCATT-LSS).
When I stepped down from the position as CO NORCTC I was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and took up the position as head of the Norwegian Army Training and Simulation Section. In this position I was subject matter responsible for all simulation and technologybased training devices in the Army. This entailed not only live simulation, but also virtual and constructive. My responsibilities in this position also meant that I was subject matter responsible for competency, leadership, education, education and training, including the processes for lessons identified and lessons learned in the Norwegian Army. I thus lead the interbranch process of rewriting the Army’s training manual.
During this time I was also the Norwegian representative in two NATO Modelling and Simulation Working Groups; Simulation for Training and Operations – Land (STOG-L), as well as the beforementioned UCATT-LSS group.
While in this position I also wrote the project proposal for the Future Army Combat Training System (FACTS), replacing the system that had been at NORCTC since 2002. After the proposal was made into an actual project I was the Army’s user representative in the project group and wrote both functional and technical requirements, and partook in writing most of the project documentation. As I write this we are preparing the Central Governing Documentation for the Ministry of Defence with the aim of going to tender in 2026.
The sum total of my education and my work experience makes me ideally suited to help You with your procurement of training devices and simulators, with setting up your training centers and with support for your training events and exercises.
If this sounds interesting and You see a potential for hiring my services, don’t hesitate and get in touch!
