TOPIC: TRAINING
DISCUSSION. "(Get) the division senior leadership involved in scenario development about 120 days before the rotation...(to produce) an ownership of the scenario.... (They must) articulate what they want to do with their brigade because it isn't my brigade; it is theirs."
"Adequate preparatory training allows us to do some second and third order training that otherwise we would not be able to do...."
"CTCs have a vested interest in assisting unit commanders in improved home-station training as we look at where a CTC sits on the continuum of training...STXs, MTTs, LTPs...MTTs to nontraditional units such as COSCOMs...."
"You need to have some gate (for) successfully trained platoons and companies. What we don't want to see, but are seeing, is a tendency (to) just train them all when they come to a CTC rotation.... We have (abdicated) our training responsibility and turned it over to CTCs."
"If we were to focus our energy in one area, it ought to be (to) prepare commanders and staffs...to transmit the commander's vision down to subordinate commands.... (To teach staffs to communicate) intent, (using the) briefback process...(and) synchronized well in the execution by a competent staff."
"The right-seat program...is designed to train commanders to help train units,...training that commanders and staffs want and need.... Send personnel and (ride in the) right seat (of the HMMWV) with our O/Cs; it's a great opportunity."
"If you have an exercise without O/Cs, you do not have a training event."
"Creation of an O/C academy...for the Army at large...(will produce) a better trained O/C,... more consistent application of the ROE...(and) AAR techniques,...data collection techniques.... (It will provide) a base knowledge...(and) assist them in training to some of the same standards that are expected here...."
"You can't get better (just) by repetition.... That comes through repetition in a structured environment with clearly defined objectives, where tasks, conditions, and standards are known.... (The unit must) get feedback from qualified O/Cs.... It is a function of technique, the art of being an O/C...."
"(To) facilitate the unit's self-discovery of strengths and weaknesses,...(you need an) O/C so well grounded in the doctrine and the operation that he is able to articulate the teaching point wherever the discussion goes.... He does not make the teaching point...(but rather) facilitates the unit's discovery of (it).... (The O/C) causes greater retention...greater resolve...a common vision on what right looks like."
"(The) instrumentation system...of the future (should be) less dependent on MILES and more dependent on some (other) kind of simulation...into things like NLOS and Apache Longbow.... (You must) expand the horizons beyond the boundaries of the (CTCs).... You can maintain the fidelity of (task force, platoon, and company levels) and still do brigade-level stuff...."
"I would really like the company team O/C to be able to show instrumentation video off the back of his HMMWV like a drive-in movie screen.... We ought to be able to tell a company commander exactly what tank in his company did all the killing and which tanks did no killing.... That level of resolution is really going to make a difference,...(getting) the power of the instrumentation down to the company team.... In the absence of that, it is not going to be brought to life in the mind of the commander."
"(What is the) main resource challenge for the future? Try to fix the computer simulations...because we are teaching bad lessons.... In CBS, we don't even play terrain elevation (which) allows tanks to shoot through mountains."
"(There are) scenario writers who have now become experts in peace operations.... They have the electronic contacts to develop a library,...take all those products and create a kind of model mouse trap.... (They are) able to CD ROM it back and forth,...give the latest operational report and intelligence summaries straight off the wire from the JTF, almost seamless,... (and conduct) rehearsals while they are here. CTCs can and should be mission rehearsal areas."
"In ten years we ought to focus primarily on brigade-level operations because that's where synchronization happens...."
CURRENT ASSESSMENT. Our key CTC leaders have a clear vision of what they want the CTCs to look like in the near future; it is based on a common assessment of current and near-term CTC and unit shortfalls. They are finding that most units do not arrive at the CTCs adequately trained for collective missions--motivated and well-led, yes; but, adequately trained, no. The CTC leaders believe that the CTCs have an extended responsibility to help commanders and staffs train better before deploying to the CTCs. They fully understand the value of having professionally trained O/Cs observe all training, and they want to improve the CTC contribution to the Army in that arena. CTC key leaders also recognize some shortfalls in CTC technology and simulations. While these shortcomings have been acceptable in the past, they are becoming less so. The CTCs must position themselves to remain the premier training institutions that they are today.
The CTCs have already become more involved than ever before in preparatory training for rotations. They have ramped up Leader Training Programs, and they sometimes conduct Mobile Training Team (MTT) visits to units to address specific problems. In addition, they invite leaders and staff officers to accompany O/Cs during rotations to learn as much as possible. But apparently there is a growing need for focused home-station training prior to unit CTC rotations. The elements requiring such training range from platoons to brigade combat team staffs and commanders. Since the CTCs play such a vital role in the training of our Army, CTC leaders feel an obligation to extend the training value of their training centers to units at home stations, within available resources.
Professionally trained and prepared O/Cs are a critical component of an effective training program anywhere. The ability to observe training, identify performance shortfalls, and facilitate unit self-discovery of those training shortfalls and required improvements will remain extremely important to our Army in the future. Leaders frequently talk about the ineffectiveness of training without such qualified, experienced observers. The O/C academies being established at all three dirt CTCs should make significant improvements in the quality of the O/Cs assigned there. The Reserve Training Detachment personnel who will soon use the academies will improve the quality of Reserve Component training also. Additionally, there is a role to play in teaching the art of being a quality O/C at home station and at BCTP, and the CTC O/C academies can play a significant role in this regard.
Some simulation investments must be made to keep pace with modernization and to maintain training fidelity. Instrumentation validates what happened, so the O/Cs and the unit can quickly focus on why actions were taken and what changes are required for improved performance. There are significant shortfalls in the computer simulations used in BCTP, such as lack of terrain relief, and automatic engagement and attrition of units when they are adjacent. The danger is that units in training may take away some of the wrong lessons from exercises. Instrumentation at the dirt CTCs needs improvement also. For instance, weapon systems that can be fired from well outside current direct fire ranges are available now to influence the fight, but cannot be replicated in the live simulations of the battlefield. Minefields and artillery systems are replicated at the CTCs in force-on-force simulations with manpower-intensive, marginal effects. We must explore and acquire better, more realistic ways of simulating weapons effects. Company and platoon O/Cs conduct their AARs using chalkboards and butcher paper charts because they do not have the ability to project instrumented results outside of AAR vans.
Those company and platoon soldiers in training do not get to see the big picture captured through instrumentation and may not fully understand exactly what happened in the fight.
FUTURE IMPLICATIONS. The CTCs must evolve to become Schools of Application of Advanced Tactics and Leadership for the Army. Soldiers will be trained on individual and leader skills at TRADOC-consolidated institutions, using mostly constructive and virtual simulations, coupled with live field training. Commanders will train their units in tactics, techniques, and procedures, with some help from the CTCs through distributed learning, right-seat rides, and MTTs. Commanders will also train their units on specifics of new equipment, with the help of fielding teams. The role of the CTCs will be to help units synthesize what they have learned through application of it in enhanced CTC environments. The CTC program has been so effective that it should evolve only to an improved version of its current self, not changing drastically.
There are three main areas for future improvement. First, the CTCs should become even more responsive to division and corps leadership requirements in advance of rotations. The CTCs should support ownership of training scenarios by commanding generals and should be able to provide a wider range of training options. With the prospect of fewer rotations annually, there is the possibility of O/C teams evaluating emergency deployment readiness exercises (EDREs) for deployment and for continued coverage of reception, staging, onward movement, and integration (RSOI). Scenarios should be more easily tailored to division requirements such as short-notice deployments, OOTW, mission rehearsals, and potentially longer rotations that could include time for STX or mission reruns.
Second, in the area of preparatory training, the CTCs should play a larger role. The O/C academies should expand in scope because of the inherent value of the program--teaching soldiers to observe training to standards and provide feedback to the unit through self-discovery AARs. The expansion of this program will provide measurable benefit in readiness to the Army at large. The O/C academies can be used to routinely train leaders from home stations to be higher quality observer controllers. Leaders should conduct rides with O/Cs as a routine part of leader development. The CTCs should be connected with TRADOC schools and division home stations by computer and video for a more complete distributed training experience. Mobile training teams from the CTCs should sometimes deploy to home stations to assist division and brigade commanders in resolving particular training shortfalls. This will occur on an availability basis when O/C teams are not in the field.
While there is concern about overloading O/Cs with tasks and thereby degrading the entire CTC experience, there are ways to connect O/Cs to the TRADOC schools and to home-station units with little adverse impact on individual O/Cs. The answer lies in the method of teaching and the technology used. For example, if Fort Knox small group instructors were interested in seeing a positive example of a platoon operation order from concept to execution (an actual recent request), the Armor School Commandant would transmit a request to the CTC COG via a standardized E-mail request. O/C teams would add this request to a consolidated list of such requests from the schools. During the next rotation, when a company team O/C found out about a particularly talented platoon leader, a video crew could deploy to record the company team and platoon operations orders for later use. Video could then be taken of the actual fight from the Training Analysis and Feedback (TAF) facility as well as a vantage point in the field, all of which would be properly catalogued and annotated. The tapes could be sent pre-recorded to the schoolhouses for use immediately, or when instructors desired. The platoon or company team O/C might then be available for a short time after the battle via satellite feed to answer student questions. A TAF operator could actually conduct a video teleconference (VTC) with the schoolhouse and answer more detailed questions as the tapes were reviewed. All of this would help expand the training experience to other audiences and improve the readiness of our Army.
The third area for future improvement is simulations. We must invest in accurate, more realistic simulations--live, virtual, and constructive. Simulated weapons effects for area weapons and for weapons employed from outside direct fire range will become a reality. Soldiers will be able to smell and hear and feel the battlefield with more realism, giving them more experience for actual combat engagements. Additionally, we must continue to pursue updates to our constructive simulations to ensure we are providing the most realistic training experience possible to our units and soldiers.
by LTC WILLIAM G. WEBSTER, AR
Main
Table of Contents
Topic:
Doctrine Development
Topic:
Is Live-fire Training Needed at the CTCs?
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