Seated at a long table at the Miami airport, their laser guns propped
                  on sandbags, the soldiers aim at a large screen, 26 feet across the
                  room. Camouflage netting is spread over the floor to reduce glare.

                  Computerized war scenarios are projected on the screen.

                  On a recent afternoon, the first setting shown is a wooded area. A
                  Russian light armored vehicle, a personnel carrier, appears in the
                  corner of the screen. Suddenly, tiny silhouettes -- foes no bigger
                  than a thumbnail -- charge forward.

                  The National Guardsmen begin shooting.

                  "The soldiers are dug in a foxhole and the enemy is coming at 'em,"
                  Roig explains over the deafening rat-a-tat-tat of the guns. "They're
                  supposed to engage the enemy and make sure no one passes
                  through the lines."

                  Green dots on the screen represent missed shots. Red ones are
                  hits.

                  "Cease fire! Cease fire! Clear all weapons," Sullivan shouts at the
                  end of the three-minute session. He calls out the soldiers' scores.
                  "Sgt. Amazion 4, Walker 2, Legler 1, Perez 3, Sgt. Diaz 4." They are
                  the numbers of enemy soldiers killed.

                  Unlike paper targets, the computer simulator can give immediate
                  results, showing in greater detail a person's strengths and
                  weaknesses. It notes where the rounds are hitting and when, in
                  relation to the events unfolding on the screen.

                  The scenes can be altered in countless ways to change the terrain
                  and add people, vehicles, helicopters, planes, and tanks. There are
                  jungle and desert scenes; a bank robbery and a domestic
                  disturbance; an ambush in a factory; a forest fight in the fog and
                  rain; and an urban terrorist sequence with snipers perched on
                  rooftops.

                  The latter scenario is the most challenging, Sgt. Carlos Diaz said,
                  because you have to take care not to shoot innocent people. In a
                  desert, "you're just taking everything that moves."