After eight years, the war in Iraq is finally over and the troops are headed home.
That means more people will enter the job market in an already tight labor race.
But there?s a military secret right here in Central Florida that is worth hundreds of millions of dollars to our local economy.
?First of all that?s less resources that?s committed on the ground in Iraq. With the state of public finance nationally, the size of the deficit, the national debt that?s over $15 trillion dollars now, this is a savings that will be able to be rolled back into other things and perhaps reducing that deficit somewhat,? explained University of Central Florida financial expert Sean Snaith.
Snaith says there are the obvious impacts as troops are coming home, and they?ll need jobs.
?So they?ll come back, just like students graduating from school, to a very difficult labor market,? said Snaith.
As ugly as war is, there is some good news: it drives the economy.
Much of battle now is based on technology, and in Central Florida, a booming industry has been birthed.
It has the nickname: ?Modeling Simulation Capital of the World.?
Many don?t even know it exists in our own backyard.
Neighboring UCF is a high tech military base.
?It?s amazing. It?s sort of the best kept-big impact secret,? said Cpt. Bill Reuter, of the Navy.
Reuter commands the base and the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division
It?s an operation that?s all encompassing.
?In this area, the Air Force, the Army, the Marine Corp, the Joint Forces Command - all of the other entities within the DOD and even some of the Homeland Security have set up shop here to leverage what we?ve got, leveraging the university, leveraging industry,? said Reuter.
This major alliance is driving dollars into Central Florida.
?Nearly $5 billion a year goes through this organization, and not just the Navy, but all of the services combined,? said Reuter.
It does so through cutting edge technology.
?We are the folks that provide training through simulation, so that people don?t, the DOD does not have to spend the money on steaming ships, flying airplanes, all of the fuel costs. All of the energy costs that go into all of that, we are the place to actually put the money,? explained Reuter.
That money doesn?t stay within the U.S. government.
It gets spent with local contractors.
Just the Marine division, alone, pumps hundreds of millions through Central Florida companies.
?This new fiscal year, we?ll do about $350 million of new work, most of those contracts we?ll award here locally, a lot of that work will be done with some of our industry partners in Central Florida,? said Col. David Smith.
The University of Central Florida plays a large role as well.
It?s the first school offering a Masters and PhD program in modeling and simulation and grads are getting jobs.
?What continues to be great about this entity and when I look into the crystal ball of the future of this area, and the modeling and simulation industry in this area, it is nothing but good news,? said Reuter.
More than 2,500 people work in Central Florida's "hub" of the simulation industry.
The technology extends into the medical and entertainment industries.
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