Military

IMT established to focus on new recruits, officers

Oct 19, 2009

By Carroll Kim (TRADOC Public Affairs)

FORT MONROE, Va. (Oct. 19, 2009) - The U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command launched a major subordinate organization for Initial Military Training to provide higher-level emphasis on education and leader development from the first day of training to a Soldier's first unit assignment.

Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling was promoted to and became the Deputy Commanding General for Initial Military Training on Sept. 19.

To gain an exclusive three-star focus on Initial Military Training, the Army split the IMT responsibility from Army Accessions Command to form a new TRADOC Deputy Commanding General.

IMT provides the basic knowledge, skills, and behaviors needed to become successful Army Soldiers. With this training new Soldiers can become effective members of units, contribute to mission accomplishment, and survive to win on the battlefield.

IMT includes Basic Combat Training (BCT), Advanced Individual Training (AIT), One Station Unit Training (OSUT), and the Basic Officer Leaders Courses (BOLC).

"We have to get back to the basics and make sure that what we're training is a good Soldier that we can hand over to their first assignment and make sure that they are ready for combat," Hertling said at the Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting on Oct. 8 in Washington, D.C.

In the past, Soldiers entering basic training were taught a wide range of skills, but could not master all of them. One of Hertling's tasks is to address this issue by reforming the curriculum to teach Soldier to perform the most essential tasks to a higher standard.

"We were teaching [Soldiers] too much stuff," he said. "What we're doing now is training them at our basic training units then put them in either AIT or other specialty schools and push them out to their first unit of assignment where they can learn the rest of what they need."

TRADOC reorganized eighteen of the Army's IMT training brigades under the supervision of the DCG-IMT. In addition, two Army Reserve Training Commands - the 80th and 108th Division are now under the Operational Control of the TRADOC DCG-IMT.

Within the next year, the Basic Combat Training Center of Excellence, at Fort Jackson, S.C., and the Directorate of Basic Combat Training will also be realigned under the DCG-IMT. These organizations include the Army Drill Sergeant School, the Army AIT Platoon Sergeant School, the Army Physical Fitness proponent, and the Army Prep School.

IMT joins the Combined Arms Center, the Combined Arms Support Command and the Army Capabilities Integration Center as TRADOC MSOs.