INTRODUCTION
| "We
trained hard....but it seemed like every time we were beginning to form up
into teams we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend
to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be
for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency
and demoralization."
|
Reorganization and change do not have to be as Arbiter describes. Most areas of the National Guard are undergoing one kind of change or another. These changes will affect how we do business. How we do business will affect the strength of the National Guard. In short, how we treat soldiers determines whether or not they choose to stay in the Guard--even if they have not completed their contractual agreement. The single, most effective initiative a commander can undertake to affect the retention of soldiers within his unit is to install an effective training program. Pay problems will get fixed; uniform problems will get fixed. The commander must fix training problems. Without command emphasis in the training arena, effective training just doesn't happen. With that in mind, the single, most exciting thing to happen to the Reserve Component in the training arena in recent history is Lane Training. Lane Training is designed to train company-size and smaller units, to standard, on one or more collective tasks.
Lane Training will not only motivate the soldiers receiving the training, but will excite the Observer/Controllers (O/C) conducting the training. An effective Lane Training Program concentrates on standards, not time.
An effective Lane Training Program will leave soldiers wanting more. It will challenge your O/Cs to be the best. It will force commanders to use only their best soldiers as O/Cs. Why would a commander entrust the training of his soldiers to anyone else? This newsletter will provide you with a road map to a successful Lane Training Program.
Before an effective Lane Training Program can be developed, there are certain steps that need to be taken. First, you need to develop your Mission-Essential Task List (METL). METL development is very basic but reviewing the process won't hurt anything. Second, you need to weigh the tasks that support the METL and place a training priority on each one, to include Non-Unit Specific Regulatory Tasks. Some states call this process the "Categorization of Tasks." Third, you need to decide what tasks will be trained this year. The tasks selected will then be placed into a Yearly Training Plan (YTP). The YTP will be discussed very briefly. In this newsletter, we will thoroughly explain the Lane Training process that is working in some states. You will find the most difficult part to be the execution of Inactive Duty Training (IDT) lanes. The only rule that holds true for every lane is:
"IF YOU'RE NOT HAVING FUN, YOU'RE NOT DOING IT RIGHT!"
Foreword
METL
Development
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
