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No Time, Literally, for All Requirements | ARMY Magazine

There are plenty of things I’ll miss when I eventually leave the Army: the camaraderie, the sense of duty, and the feeling of being part of something bigger than myself. But there is one thing—other than the reflective belt—that I won’t miss when that day comes, and that is mandatory training. It can be sheer…

There are plenty of things I’ll miss when I eventually leave the Army: the camaraderie, the sense of duty, and the feeling of being part of something bigger than myself. But there is one thing—other than the reflective belt—that I won’t miss when that day comes, and that is mandatory training.

It can be sheer agony to sit through one mandatory training class after another, be it the Cyber Awareness Challenge or the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure approach to countering human trafficking, no matter how hard the developers try to make it interesting.

via www.armymagazine.org

Mandatory training is a bane of leadership.

First, there's often little evidence that the training in fact influences the behavior of soldiers. Instead, by conducting the training, the Army has an excuse- hey, we told Johnny not to rape!

Second, the vast number of training events outstrips the actual time available for training, and encourages leaders to compromise their integrity. In the competition to get promoted, who wants to be the company commander that admits he wasn't able to schedule all the required training events?

And finally, as MAJ Burke notes, by stripping the ability of junior leaders to craft their own Mission Essential Task List (METL), we effectively strip them of the ability to design and conduct training that actually improves unit combat readiness.

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Responses to “No Time, Literally, for All Requirements | ARMY Magazine”

  1. rocketguy

    At my employer, an audit finding was that employees weren’t familiar with management manual procedures that apply to their jobs. The fix? Now we have to log in to a training website and certify that we have read and understand the God-forsaken things. Every dry, lawyered-up word written by people who have no experience with actually doing the work. Of course, no one has time for that so we pencil whip them. Bonus – next time there’s an audit finding, they can point to the records and say, “See, it says right here he read and understood the procedure…I guess he doesn’t know how to follow rules.”

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  2. Esli

    Very legitimate concern. I see the results daily of units that are not trained in their mission essential tasks. The problem here is that leaders have to take a stance on it; not enable non-compliance simply by not directing. I have no idea how much, if any, pressure my CO CDRs felt from us, but the only training I tracked was the no-kidding EO and SHARP stuff, which was really only a couple hours a year. I like to think that nobody lied, but am realistic enough to assume that some were and some were not. I didn’t ask questions or get a back-brief from the companies except for the no-kidding you’ll-get-in-trouble-on-these-ones. And I never figured their ability to accomplish (or not) any of this into my evaluations of them.
    I’ve done a lot of mandatory training, but never done anywhere near the amount we are directed to do. I have no idea what that list looks like. I did do 8 hours of online SERE training, including reading how to skin animals…

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  3. timactual

    “Second, the vast number of training events outstrips the actual time available for training, ”
    Things have obviously changed since I was in. Just what does a soldier do when not in a combat zone? Train and maintain. The problem I saw was how to fill the available time since we couldn’t be in the field every day. Looking busy was often the order of the day.

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  4. Kirk

    Biggest damn problem is actually the entire overly-detailed training system we’ve built up since bringing in computers.
    And, it’s all self-delusional. Ain’t nobody, nobody able to predictively schedule a training schedule in 15 minute increments six weeks out, and actually make it work. There’s always something, and when “something” happens, the schedule goes out the window. I can about guarantee you that in 90% of units out there, the training schedule is actually a list of things not happening, rather than a reflection of reality.
    The more control you try to take of things at a higher level, the less you actually have. Back in the day, when training schedules were mimeographed, and computers were something they had over in the Finance Office, most training schedules were filled with three generic entries: Squad Leaders Time, Platoon Leaders Time, and Commanders Time. You were, as a junior leader, expected to have a plan, and be following it. You also had the flexibility to adapt, so that if the Sergeant Major made you pull a detail out of your ass, and kiss goodbye to most of First Squad, you could move over from doing a Platoon Battle Drill to squad-level training with little fuss, and no major issues if someone came to look at your activities. Which were routinely checked by the powers-that-were, in person.
    Now? You’re in a fucking straight-jacket, six weeks out. You can’t change shit, you can’t adapt, and the idea that you should be keeping your guys busy with hip-pocket training is gone. The whole “let’s computerize this stuff” idea was a crock, because what it did was lock everything into fantasy-land.
    You want a way to work “mandatory training” subjects effectively? Fine, do what we used to do with “chain teaching”–Put the resources out there, and have the squad leaders fill the holes that always appear with these training subjects. Let him do what we used to, and track individual training, the way they used to mandate for SQT and CTT tasks.
    The crap they get up to, these days, is ‘effing ridiculous. And, the quality of training? Laughable. Same-same with the training skills at all levels. What used to be a week-long seminar conducted by a bunch of retired senior NCOs under the old BTMS system is now a lick-and-a-promise affair, taught at the WLC, by some knucklehead Small Group Leader who likely couldn’t plan, resource, or conduct his own training event to save his damn life.

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  5. Krag

    Just to reinforce something Kirk mentioned – the hip pocket classes are still the freshest training events in my mind today – many years after they occurred. They usually consisted of a Gunny or Master Sergeant passing along practical, personal experiences. There was no syllabus, no “terminal learning objectives”, but experience and a little bit of wisdom passed from the elder to the younger.
    I only came across one officer that was really good at hip pocket training, and in his case it was never based on personal experience (because he had none) but it was still effective because he was a brilliant man with a passion for his subject. Coming up with dead time and seeing that Major nearby was a treat, because it took little goading to get him rolling, and before you know it he was mixing “A Bridge Too Far” with “Henry V” and hasty ambush drills into a rapid fire Socratic session. He was awesome.
    If the time for such “training” has disappeared, that is a great loss indeed. It not only served as a great knowledge transfer, but reinforced small unit morale and built greater trust among the troops for their leaders, as they found reasons to not just respect the rank but the actual men holding it.

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