CHAPTER 1
Training Overview
The Army training mission is to prepare soldiers, leaders, and units to deploy, fight, and win in combat at any intensity level, anywhere, anytime.- The training focus is on our wartime missions.
- Our top priority is training.
- Maintenance is a vital part of our training program.
- Realistic, sustained, multiechelon totally integrated combined arms training must be continuously stressed at all levels.
- Every soldier, leader, and unit training program must be carefully planned, aggressively executed, and thoroughly assessed.
General Carl E. Vuono
Training Challenges
The Army exists to deter war or, if deterrence fails, to reestablish peace through victory in combat wherever US interests are challenged. To accomplish this, the Army's forces must be able to accomplish their assigned strategic roles. Moreover, for deterrence to be effective, potential enemies must perceive that the Army has the capability to mobilize, deploy, fight, and sustain combat operations in unified action with our sister services and allies. Training, therefore, is the process that melds human and material resources into these required capabilities.
We train the way we intend to fight because our historical experiences amply show the direct correlation between realistic training and success on the battlefield. The Army has an obligation to the American people to ensure its sons and daughters go into battle with the best chance of success and survival. This is an obligation that only outstanding and realistic training conducted to the most exacting standards can fulfill. The highest quality training is, therefore, essential at all levels.
We can trace the connection between training and success in battle to one of the Army's earliest leaders and trainers, General Winfield Scott, in the War of 1812. For nearly two years, American soldiers had suffered loss after loss against British forces along the Canadian border. To end the defeats, Bresident James Madison appointed new military leaders, one of whom was Scott. On March 24, 1814, he took charge of a small, poorly prepared force at Buffalo and set out to make these men the professional equals of the British soldier. His training, based on the current British handbook, was hard and realistic, and his discipline was strict. He drilled his men ten hours a day in infantry tactics, the use of the musket and bayonet, and close order drill. The first test of Scott's training came on July 3, 1814, during the battle of Chippewa. For the first time in the war, American soldiers stood up to their foe and drove them from the field. Scott's training had paid off. He had trained and he had won. Today's leaders must learn the lessons of history and find ways to use this wisdom to meet contemporary training challenges.
The future battlefield will be characterized by high volumes of fire and lack of a distinct FEBA or FLOT trace; in many cases, small-units and task forces may find themselves either bypassed or encircled. Units will frequently be cross attached in order to react to the flow of the battle or to reconstitute units. The key to winning in that battlefield environment will be the understanding of "how we fight" at every level and the demonstrated confidence, competence, and initiative of our soldiers and their leaders. Training is the means to achieve the tactical and technical proficiency that soldiers, leaders, and units must have to enable them to accomplish their missions. Therefore, training must--
- Practice the techniques and procedures of integrated command and control.
- Enable units to apply joint and combined doctrine and tactics.
- Exercise all support systems required to sustain combat operations.
Active and Reserve Component Training
The differences between Active and Reserve training opportunities are important to the Army's senior leaders and theater commanders in chief. They must be prepared to provide or receive units from the National Guard, Army Reserve, and Active Component in wartime or in peacetime exercises.
ACTIVE COMPONENT (AC) CONUS UNITS
AC CONUS units are generally located at installations that have nearby modern ranges and training areas available for unit training; classrooms, simulators, and learning centers available for individual training; and academies, libraries, and other professional development resources available for leader training. These units normally enjoy relatively high levels of personnel and equipment fill. Combat training centers (CTCs) also provide unique training opportunities. The relative geographical concentration and ease of access to all these training facilities provide a good overall training environment.
AC OCONUS UNITS
Active duty units that are stationed overseas normally experience more geographic dispersion than CONUS AC units. However, these units often enjoy higher fills of MOS-qualified soldiers and equipment than their AC CONUS counterparts. The OCONUS units usually have the unique motivation and training opportunities afforded by being assigned "real world," wartime-oriented missions. OCONUS major training facilities are normally smaller and farther from garrison than those that serve CONUS-based AC units. While local training areas (LTAs) are available, their small size and environmental restrictions tend to constrain their use. In some parts of the world, maneuver rights areas (MRAs) allow large-unit combined arms and services exercises on the host nation countryside; however, these are normally subject to maneuver restrictions.
RESERVE COMPONENT (RC) UNITS
The training environment of the RC, the Army National Guard and Army Reserve, is generally more challenging than that of the AC. The training year for the average soldier in an RC unit consists of 24 days of inactive duty training (IDT) and 15 days of annual training (AT)-39 days per year. The soldiers and leaders in the RC have military service and separate civilian careers competing for their attention and time. These units face considerable geographic dispersion. For example, the average RC battalion is dispersed over a 150- to 300-mile radius; soldiers travel an average of 40 miles to reach the nearest LTA; and units must move an average of 150 miles to the nearest major training area (MTA). RC units have to recruit many of their own soldiers. Since these new recruits may be assigned to the RC unit prior to completion of initial entry training, the RC may have fewer MOS-qualified personnel assigned than their AC counterparts. Notwithstanding these challenges, the Reserve Components offer the nation a large measure of deterrence and warfighting power per dollar invested.
Principles of Training
TRAIN AS COMBINED ARMS AND SERVICES TEAM
Today's Army doctrine requires combined arms and services teamwork. When committed to battle, each unit must be prepared to execute combined arms and services operations without additional training or lengthy adjustment periods. Combined arms proficiency develops when teams train together. Leaders must regularly practice cross attachment of the full wartime spectrum of combat, combat support, and combat service support units. Peacetime relationships must mirror wartime task organization to the greatest extent possible. The full integration of the combined arms team is attained through the "slice" approach to training management. This approach acknowledges that the maneuver commander controls and orchestrates the basic combat, combat support, and combat service support systems. It states that in order to fight with these systems, he must train them often enough to sustain combat-level proficiency. In short, the maneuver commander, with the assistance of higher-level leaders, must forge the combined arms team. An example of a "brigade slice" is at Figure 1-1.
Using this same approach, to assist division-level training, the corps commander requires all corps units that would be supporting the division in wartime to participate in division training exercises. The divisional and nondivisional units that habitually train with the division are termed the "division slice."
TRAIN AS YOU FIGHT
The goal of combat-level training is to achieve combat-level standards. Every effort must be made to attain this difficult goal. Within the confines of safety and common sense, leaders must be willing to accept less than perfect results initially and demand realism in training. They must integrate such realistic conditions as smoke, noise, simulated NBC, battlefield debris, loss of key leaders, and cold weather. They must seize every opportunity to move soldiers out of the classroom into the field, fire weapons, maneuver as a combined arms team, incorporate protective measures against enemy actions, and include joint and combined operations.
Figure 1-1. EXAMPLE BRIGADE SLICE
USE APPROPRIATE DOCTRINE
Training must conform to Army doctrine. FM 100-5, Operations, and supporting doctrinal manuals describe common procedures and uniform operational methods that permit commanders and organizations to adjust rapidly to changing situations. At higher echelons, standardized doctrinal principles provide a basis for a common vocabulary and for military literacy across the force. In units, new soldiers will have little time to learn nonstandard procedures. Therefore, units must train on peacetime training tasks to the Army standards contained in mission training plans (MTPs) battle drill books, soldier's manuals, regulations, and other training and doctrinal publications.
USE PERFORMANCE-ORIENTED TRAINING
Units become proficient in the performance of critical tasks and missions by practicing the tasks and missions. Soldiers learn best by doing, using a hands-on approach. Leaders are responsible to plan training that will provide these opportunities. All training assets and resources, to include simulators, simulations, and training devices, must be included in the strategy.
TRAIN TO CHALLENGE
Tough, realistic, and intellectually and physically challenging training both excites and motivates soldiers and leaders. It builds competence and confidence by developing and honing skills. Challenging training inspires excellence by fostering initiative, enthusiasm, and eagerness to learn. Successful completion of each training phase increases the capacity and motivation of individuals and units for more sophisticated and challenging achievement.
TRAIN TO SUSTAIN PROFICIENCY
Once individuals and units have trained to a required level of proficiency, leaders must structure collective and individual training plans to repeat critical task training at the minimum frequency necessary for sustainment. Mission training plans and the Individual Training Evaluation Program (ITEP) are tools to help achieve and sustain collective and individual proficiency. Sustainment training is often misunderstood, although it is a reasonable, commonsense approach to training. Put simply, sustainment training must sustain skills to high standards often enough to prevent skill decay and to train new people. Army units must be prepared to accomplish their wartime missions by frequent sustainment training on critical tasks; they cannot rely on infrequent "peaking" to the appropriate level of wartime proficiency. As depicted in Figure 1-2, sustainment training enables units to operate in a "band of excellence" by appropriate repetitions of critical task training during prime training periods.
TRAIN USING MULTIECHELON TECHNIQUES
To use available time and resources most effectively, commanders must simultaneously train individuals, leaders, and units at each echelon in the organization during training events. Multiechelon training is the most efficient way of training and sustaining a diverse number of mission essential tasks within limited periods of training time.
TRAIN TO MAINTAIN
Maintenance is a vital part of every training program. Maintenance training designed to keep equipment in the fight is of equal importance to soldiers being expert in its use. Soldiers and leaders are responsible for maintaining all assigned equipment in a high state of readiness in support of training or combat employment.
Figure 1-2. THE BAND OF EXCELLENCE
MAKE COMMANDERS THE PRIMARY TRAINERS
The leaders in the chain of command are responsible for the training and performance of their soldiers and units. They are the primary training managers and trainers for their organizations. To accomplish their training responsibility, commanders must--
- Base training on wartime mission requirements.
- Identify applicable Army standards.
- Assess current levels of proficiency.
- Provide the required resources.
- Develop and execute training plans that result in proficient individuals, leaders, and units.
Senior Leaders and Training
Effective training is the number one priority of senior leaders in peacetime. In wartime, training continues with a priority second only to combat or to the support of combat operations. Senior leaders must extract the greatest training value from every opportunity in every activity. Effective training requires their continuous personal time and energy as they accomplish the following:
- Develop and communicate a clear vision. The senior
leader's training vision provides the direction, purpose, and
motivation necessary to prepare individuals and organizations
to win in war. It is based on a comprehensive understanding of the following:
- Mission, doctrine, and history.
- Enemy capabilities.
- Organizational strengths and weaknesses.
- Training environment. - Require their subordinates to understand and perform their roles in training. Since good training results from leader involvement, one of the commander's principal roles in training is to teach subordinate trainers how to
Figure 1-3. OVERLAPPING TRAINING RESPONSIBILITIES
train and how to fight. He provides the continuing leadership that focuses training on the organization's wartime mission. The commander assigns officers primary responsibility for collective training and noncommissioned officers primary responsibility for individual training. The commander is the int egrator who melds leader and individual training requirements into collective training events using multiechelon techniques (Figure 1-3).
- Train all elements to be proficient on their mission essential tasks. They must integrate and train to Army standard all elements in and supporting their command-combat, combat support, and combat service support-on their selected mission essential tasks. An important requirement is for all leaders to project training plans far enough into the future to coordinate resources with long lead times.
- Centralize training planning and decentralize training execution. Senior leaders centralize planning to provide a consistent training focus on wartime missions from the top to the bottom of the organization. However, they decentralize execution to ensure that the conduct of mission-related training sustains strengths and overcomes the weaknesses unique to each unit.
- Establish effective communications between command echelons. Guidance based on wartime missions and priorities flows from the highest echelons downward. Specific information about individual and collective training proficiency and needs flows from the lowest organizational levels upwards. Leaders at all levels use effective two-way communications to exchange feedback concerning the planning, execution, and assessment of training.
- Develop their subordinates. Competent and confident leaders build cohesive organizations with a strong chain of command, high morale, and good discipline. Therefore, senior leaders create leader development programs that develop a warfighter's professionalism-- knowledge, attitudes, and skills. They mentor, guide, listen to, and "think with" subordinates to challenge their depth of knowledge and understanding. Senior leaders share experienced insights that encourage subordinates to study their profession and develop themselves. They train leaders to plan training carefully, execute aggressively, and assess short-term achievement in terms of desired long-term results. Effective leader development programs will continuously influence the Army as younger leaders progress to higher levels of responsibility.
- Involve themselves personally in planning, executing, and assessing training. They are actively involved in planning for future training. They create a sense of stability throughout the organization by protecting approved training plans from training distracters. Senior leaders are present during the conduct of training and provide experienced feedback to all participants.
- Demand training standards are achieved. Leaders anticipate that all tasks will not be performed to standard. Therefore, they design time into training events to allow additional training on tasks not performed to standard. It is more important, however, that they achieve the established standard on a limited number of tasks during a training event than to attempt many and fail to achieve the standards on any, rationalizing that they will take corrective action at some later training period. Soldiers will remember the enforced standard, not the one that was discussed.
- Foster a command climate that is conducive to good training. Senior leaders create a command climate that rewards subordinates who are bold and innovative trainers. They challenge the organization and each individual to train to full potential.
- Eliminate training distractions. The commander who has planned and resourced a training event is responsible to ensure that the maximum number of soldiers participate. The administrative support burdens cannot be ignored, but they can be managed using an effective time management system. Senior leaders must support their commanders' efforts to train effectively by eliminating training distracters and reinforcing the requirement for all assigned personnel to be present during prime training time.
Battle Focus
Battle focus is a concept used to derive peacetime training requirements from wartime missions. Battle focus guides the planning, execution, and assessment of each organization's training program to ensure its members train as they are going to fight. Battle focus is critical throughout the entire training process and is used by commanders to allocate resources for training based on wartime mission requirements. Its implementation enables commanders at all levels and their staffs to structure a training program which copes with nonmission-related requirements while focusing on mission essential training activities. Battle focus is a recognition that a unit cannot attain proficiency to standard on every task whether due to time or other resource constraints. However, commanders can achieve a successful training program by consciously narrowing the focus to a reduced number of vital tasks that are essential to mission accomplishment.
A critical aspect of the battle focus concept is to understand the responsibility for and the linkage between the collective mission essential tasks and the individual tasks which support them. The diagram at Figure 1-4 depicts the relationships and the proper sequence to derive optimum training benefit from each training opportunity.
Figure 1-4. INTEGRATION OF COLLECTIVE AND INDIVIDUAL TRAINING
The commander and the command sergeant major (CSM) must jointly coordinate the collective mission essential tasks and individual training tasks on which the unit will concentrate its efforts during a given period. The CSM and NCO leaders must select the specific individual tasks, which support each collective task, to be trained during this same period. NCOs have the primary role in training and developing individual soldier skills. Officers at every level remain responsible for training to established standards during both individual and collective training.
The training management approach to implement the battle focus is depicted in Figure 1-5. Chapter 2 explains the mission essential task list development process--training must relate to the organization's wartime mission. Chapter 3 describes the long-range, short-range, and near-term training plans that leaders use to manage training over various periods of time. Chapter 4 discusses the execution of training and the role of senior leaders. Chapter 5 explains the procedures for evaluating training and conducting organizational assessments. Training evaluations and organizational assessments are feedback mechanisms that leaders use to keep the system dynamic and capable of continual improvement and fine tuning.
Figure 1-5. TRAINING MANAGEMENT CYCLE
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