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Over the past decade, Fort Drum and the 10th Mountain Division have seen some 6,000 soldiers suffer an injury. In the final part of our series “Engineered for Battle,” Brian Dwyer leaves Fort Drum and heads to a nearby Watertown company that's using some of the world's best technology to help soldiers not only walk again, but so much more.

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WATERTOWN, N.Y. -- It happened to Shaun Tichenor in Afghanistan.

"I was on a dismounted patrol in Afghanistan. Stepped on a pressure plate IED," said Shaun Tichenor, 3-85 Wounded Warrior Battalion.

It also happened to David Taylor.

"Two pieces of wood collapsed together and set off the explosive charge," said David Taylor, 1-32 Infantry.

Two young men, forever changed by war. Both eventually falling to the inevitable.

"The main low point was when they told me they couldn't salvage my foot. I had to make the decision to amputate," said Tichenor.

"It was a little bit mind boggling at first because I wasn't sure how much of my life I'd get back," said Taylor.

But both men realized they couldn't and wouldn't give up.

"It's an example that I'm setting for my kids. As they grow up I don't want to be the example of once he got hurt he gave up,” Tichenor explained.

"I'm fairly young. I'm 25. I don't want to spend the rest of my years just kind of laying around," said Taylor.

It wasn't long before they were on the path, starting rehab, seeing others succeed.

"I had no idea about prosthetics until I had one… You kind of see the end state when you start and that's kind of motivating to see where you'll be in a few months,” said Tichenor.

The man helping them get there is Roger Howard of Howard Orthotics and Prosthetics in Watertown. There, the soldiers are progressing one step at a time.

"I like to call it the new normal. It's normal for me now," said Tichenor.

Roger Howard says technology is giving these guys something never before dreamed of. They both wear the bionic foot. Howard says it's second to none.

"Every time this country's been to war, the government funds an extreme amount of research and development across all fields in health care," said Roger Howard, Howard Orthotics & Prosthetics.

Howard says the foot allows the user to live a more normal life. It functions like a normal foot, with ankle movements and all, taking pressure off of the good leg. It's also a huge boost when going up or down inclines or over rougher ground. All things that help a person not have to use every ounce of energy they have to just get around.

"If you're able to come home and see your children and your family and you still feel like I've got some energy to go, the quality of life improves for your family," said Howard.

And if that technology wasn't enough, it can all be controlled from a smart phone using Bluetooth.

Prosthetic technology is also helping do more. This foot is specifically designed for running. The technology is helping soldiers do just about everything.

"You can run. You can swim. If you want to play basketball they have sports activity legs. Skydiving. I went hiking on Mount Washington when I was home on 30 days of leave. I had no problem with it," said Taylor.

And now these guys are back at work, in the Army, doing what they can to continue serving their country.

"It's something I want to do. I want to make a career out of it. I want to do 20 plus years. That's my chosen profession," said Tichenor.

"A lot of the stuff I do is at my own pace and my own setting so I don't over exert myself or cause any pain to myself. Other than that I can do everything I used to," said Taylor.

And Howard says that's what this is all about.

"I have two grandfathers that both served in World War II. Every time I manage an individual that's from the military I think of them. I have an ingrained spirit that they're fighting for our way of life, it's my responsibility that I do what I can do to maintain their way of life… That's the difference between new technology and old technology,” said Howard.

When soldiers get hurt on the battlefield, it's the medics that rush in to save a life. In part four of "Engineered for Battle," Brian Dwyer takes a look at how new technology allows medics to work with patients who can actually respond, bleed, and breathe.

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"Muscle memory. They put on so many tourniquets. They start so many IVs. They get in their aid bags so many times. So it gets to a point where they can really do it with their eyes closed. That's the level of proficiency we're shooting for," said Capt. Martin Stewart, Medical Simulation Training Center.

It's something that never could have been done years ago. There just wasn't anything to train with. You couldn't really use real people and dummies couldn't react. But today, technology has gotten so extensive, mannequins can now move, make noises, and even bleed.

"They have everything except for feelings. And I think some of them do have feelings," said Capt. Stewart.

So today, medics can be on Fort Drum and get a responsive subject to work on and do it all under the pressure of a warzone. They are even forced to run an obstacle course before coming in, just to make sure they are a bit tired.

"There's nothing that is going to replicate having a real person, and picking them up and feeling their body weight on a litter or putting an IV catheter in them, but we're getting close," said Capt. Stewart.

"It's quite a dynamic process. It kind of never has an ending. Once you think you've trained everything up, it's time to rethink the process," said Benjamin Jaquay, Course Coordinator/Instructor.

Everything is controlled from a room above. Laptops decide the actions of the mannequins, soundboards do the lighting and battle sounds.

"They're in a very low light, less than austere conditions to make it as realistic as we can. That's the bottom line. Give them as much realism as they're going to see so they train as they fight, so to speak," said Jaquay.

Jaquay is able to not only see it all from these screens, but record the sessions for playback later. He says as technology changes, so does the training...for the better.

"I have soldiers who go out all the time. I want to see them come back to me. It's a personal thing," said Jaquay.

Some of the latest and greatest technology is already at Fort Drum. Jeremy is a completely wireless mannequin that allows these medics to do situational, in-depth training that they had never been able to do before.

"Ben, he can manipulate all of this via a laptop computer and Wi-Fi connection. This one has a CPU on board and it's completely wireless. He can manipulate this from up to 100 feet away," said Capt. Stewart.

Jeremy comes complete with teeth that break, a full bladder, eyes that blink and pupils that dilate.

"Eyes constrict and dilate to simulate head injuries. You can also put a pulse oximetry measurement on this patient which is something completely new," said Capt. Stewart.

The medics are also able to get ambulance crews and even the flight medics involved, rushing the mannequins to a medical facility. It's training on Fort Drum that's been so innovative and so successful, that others have come calling.

"We've had a lot of medics come back and say that training we did prior to deployment really made a difference when we were down range. We get a lot of good feedback from commanders. We get feedback from people not even in the 10th Mountain Division saying ‘what kind of training are you doing over there because your soldiers are doing a great job,’" said Capt. Stewart.

Fort Drum is using some serious technology to help train soldiers, and we've often compared the systems to ramped up video games. But in part three of "Engineered for Battle," our Brian Dwyer learns the hard way that they're anything but as he gets put to the test.

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"It's like being on a roller coaster. You go into an amusement park and you get into like the Salt Shaker, you get spun around and thrown in every direction," said SSG Joshua Mills, 725th EOD.

First thing first, there's a whole list of safety checks that all soldiers must be following before the vehicle can move. After several rollovers and simulated explosions, the MRAP stops upside down.

A couple of minutes on your head forces you to realize just how hard it is to just unbuckle with all that gear on. And as one soldier learned, when you do unbuckle, you still have to be sure you're sturdy.

After getting some help getting unbuckled, we had to crawl on the MRAP's ceiling to find an open door, and then find safety.

"It saves a lot of soldiers’ lives. We've had several accidents already on Fort Drum here that this vehicle, the training that they did actually saved their lives," said senior instructor Bob Rhoades.

And if soldiers make it out of the MRAP okay, they never know what could be awaiting them outside. Another type of training helps them better protect themselves.

"It's awesome. It's like playing Modern Warfare on a big screen. It really helps us training wise because sometimes we are not able to go out to the range and get live rounds,” said 1st LT. Peter Murphy, Fox Co. 2-10 BSB.

I'm not a big war video game guy, so I was not expecting much when I gave it a try.

"Honest assessment. You did great. You had a tight shot group. Your breathing was good and you didn't have any problems with the trigger squeeze," said 1st LT. Peter Murphy, Fox Co. 2-10 BSB.

We went back to the helicopter simulators. First, the AH-64, where we got a chance to see real life controls and screens that help get these attack pilots ready.

"The whole point is to make sure the procedures are tactically sound. They're finding targets, they're tracking targets and they're shooting targets correctly," explained Jim Chandler, AH-64 LCT.

But more importantly, I got the chance to get a little familiar with what lay ahead: Piloting. It was back to the massive, multi-million dollar Blackhawk simulator.

"We can replicate anything the pilots would encounter in real world out there," said Timothy McDougall, Simulated Flight Instructor.

Of course the main worry was...what goes up, must come down.

"You actually did pretty well. You took off, flew and landed the aircraft without me having to, we have a crash override switch that doesn't allow you to crash. I didn't have that on," said McDougall.

A job well done, or so I thought. Chief Warrant Officer Jonathan Bourland was my co-pilot.

"You did good. No help from me," said Chief Warrant Officer Jonathan Bourland.

As technology continues to expand, the United States Army is taking advantage. Video game-like systems help soldiers to learn, train and stay safe. But at Fort Drum, training is taken to a whole new level. In the second part of Brian Dwyer's series, Engineered for Battle, we take a look at what technology is allowing both pilots and convoy units to work with.

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FORT DRUM, N.Y. -- As he would on most convoy routes, First Lt. Jerome Mercer, Jr. is trying to make sure everything is ready to go and maintain control of several vehicles. While it certainly seems like his team is headed out on a mission, Mercer isn't even moving.

He is inside a simulator with a large 360 degree screen and computer graphics identical to the true terrain of Iraq.

Communication, awareness and staying safe are some of the points that First Lt. Jerome Mercer Jr. are trying to make.

"We've been doing a lot of training getting up to this point. We've got a lot more to tackle," said Mercer. "I think a lot of the soldiers are starting to become aware of the what the point of the exercises are."

Mercer is referring to the simulator they are using at Fort Drum. This simulator is a real MRAP with controls, real weapons, real sounds and real landscape. The only thing fake about it, are the screens and wheels.

"When they get over in the country, it's not going to be the first time they see this road, or this intersection, or these mountains, or these streams. They'll be able to identify with them a little more," said Pete Conklin, RVTT Instructor/Operator.

Conklin studies the Taliban non-stop. He learns their tendencies and abilities and makes sure to add danger to the program. According to the instructors, the simulation becomes very real.

"You'll know how a guy, especially when he's reporting, how he'll act under pressure," said Robert McNeely, RVTT Site Manager. "It gets so loud that some of the guys who have been downrange have a little PTSD reaction to it, and we've got to pull them out and tell them to calm down. It gets to them, realistic, and brings back those feelings."

On these simulators you do have the ability to pull someone out, but in real life you cannot do that. To most of us this might seem like a lot of fun, but to these men and women, it is very important work.

"In a video game situation you have cheats. There is no cheating here. You've got to perform the task to standard," said McNeely.

Mercer said, "I love the fact that we can train this way, but I also want them to realize that you're training through the system, however, you're training for a real-live event."

From ground to air, thousands of soldiers from all over the northeast also come to Fort Drum's Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield to use a simulator that has every control a blackhawk helicoptor would have.

Jeff Guler, Flight Simulations Branch Chief, said, "The simulators of ten years ago when you would look at the visuals and you'd see a triangle for a tree; now you're dealing with actual satellite imagery and it's like real-time."

"It's one-hundred percent accurate," said Chris Dickerson, Blackhawk Pilot. "It's basically a blackhawk in a building that they can move around."

"We are able to put them in the simulator and go anywhere in the world and train realistically against the threat in that arena, without leaving Fort Drum," said Guler.

Although the simulation is dead-on, when it comes to training, it is actually better than the real thing. It allows the pilots to be put to the test.

Dickerson said, "We call it task saturation. When things start to add up and you're laying problem, on top of problem, on top of problem in a combat environment."

"Task saturation can be a big problem for pilots," said Jonathan Bourland, another Blackhawk Pilot. "As you can see, there's no second chances in the actual aircraft, and the stimulator provides that for us."

In the air and on the ground, it's about using technology to save lives.

"I know what it feels like to go over to a country and lose soldiers," said Conklin. "It's one of the worst feelings in the world. We hope that here with the training that we're able to give them, they can bring everyone home safe."

In this generation of smart phones, tablets and video games, just about everyone is looking for the latest and greatest in technology. Over the past couple decades or so, people have gone from letters and landlines to texting and video chats. The military and soldiers on Fort Drum are no different. A world of old school battle training has evolved into some of the most impressive technology you'll ever see. Our Brian Dwyer walks us through the new soldier training for missions and battles all over the world, all without leaving Fort Drum.

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FORT DRUM, N.Y. -- X-Box, Playstation, even the Wii. Studies show that 60 percent of American homes have some sort of video game system and all gamers under the age of 30 have been playing for decades. So when the soldiers of Fort Drum sit down at this desk to train, most of them feel right at home.

"They can relate to it right away. A lot of people learn either hands on, some people learn better in the classroom. This kind of brings them both together in one aspect or another. Plus they're having fun doing it at the same time. Probably their time off tonight they're going to go home and play video games anyway," Sgt. Bryce Torres said.

And while this may look like Modern Warfare or Call of Duty, this is not your ordinary gaming system. It's called VBS 2. Built specifically with the military and training in mind, the soldiers find themselves smack in the middle of near exact replicas of Fort Drum's training areas or even overseas.

"They're actually on a piece of Fort Drum terrain right now just like if we were to go out on land. It's a spot here on 7 Gulf," SFC Darren LeMorta said.

"It's good to get a soldier ready for what he's going to see. The way the buildings are made and everything, look a lot like the areas I was in Afghanistan. There's a few missions I did that was exactly like where I was when I was deployed in Afghanistan.

On this day, these soldiers are taking part in a Warrior Leaders Course. Soldiers interested in becoming officers, playing a video game to do it. Teaming up, seeing each other's moves and constant communication through headsets.

"Helping them build leadership skills, communication skills and working through different methods of communication," said Bruce Halloran, Virtual Training Team Chief.

Torres said, "The different sounds of a different round. You can tell whether it's an explosion. You can tell if it's an IED. You can tell if it's a mortar or if it's small arms fire or if it's full automatic."

And after each and every mission, the teams gather for an AAR, after action review. Every move they make is recorded and played back. They discuss the good and the bad and how to get better.

"If they make any type of mistakes and things like that here while we're in training, they can work that out prior to going on any type of deployment because as you know, 10th Mountain, we do deploy a lot," SSG Joshua Engbrecht said.

It's training that not only better prepares.

"I came into the Army in 1994. I wish I had this. It takes away a lot of the building phase and mistakes," LeMorta said.

But also helps in this time of BRAC and military cut backs.
Halloran said, "For the price of a light bulb, you can have a squad train multiple times in Afghanistan expending any amount of ammunition that would cost thousands of dollars in real world funding. Here it virtually costs nothing."