04-14-2014, 07:38 PM
My answer is that the basic soldiering skill sets need to be trained in adolescence, in a long-term warrior development track that is decided early, not when you are 18-25yrs old. For the soft skills MOS's, that's fine, but not warriors.
In my first week of basic training, I beat one of my Drill Sergeants in disassembly and reassembly of the M16A2 rifle. That shouldn't have been possible, but was an indication of how seriously I had been taking my chosen career path. He was a Desert Storm veteran, had 14 years of service as an 11M, and had been trained by 10th Special Forces Group in one of their Battalion-run Sniper courses in Germany, where he was also stationed at the time with his mech unit.
A senior Staff Sergent in a combat arms unit who has been living with M16A2's his whole career should not be able to be beaten by some punk kid off the street. That is unacceptable for a number of reasons I can think, but respect is at the top of my list. How do I take my instructor seriously if I'm already more proficient than him on one basic task in the first week of initial entry training? In the back of my mind, I'm thinking, "Does this guy know what he's doing?"
If units inherit young men who are already extremely well-versed in basic soldiering skills, like:
* Marksmanship
* Physical Fitness
* First Aid
* Land Navigation
* Small Unit Tactics
* Common Soldier Tasks
....then that opens up so much time for units to train on collective tasks, while making it easy to maintain and improve upon the baseline that has been established in youth. For those that say it's too lofty, or too early, I give you this one simple example:
[video=youtube;LrxjYfl05ek]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrxjYfl05ek[/video]
Now take whatever learning modality they used to reach this level of proficiency, and apply it to the basic soldiering skills I listed above. Only the private sector can really cover down on this in the US, since the government will screw it up with PC and general limp-wristedness. Russia accomplishes it in their school system because threats and intimidation are perfectly welcomed, and I have witnessed it with their Olympic teams during training sessions.
I prefer rewards using the other end of Pavlovian method.
In my first week of basic training, I beat one of my Drill Sergeants in disassembly and reassembly of the M16A2 rifle. That shouldn't have been possible, but was an indication of how seriously I had been taking my chosen career path. He was a Desert Storm veteran, had 14 years of service as an 11M, and had been trained by 10th Special Forces Group in one of their Battalion-run Sniper courses in Germany, where he was also stationed at the time with his mech unit.
A senior Staff Sergent in a combat arms unit who has been living with M16A2's his whole career should not be able to be beaten by some punk kid off the street. That is unacceptable for a number of reasons I can think, but respect is at the top of my list. How do I take my instructor seriously if I'm already more proficient than him on one basic task in the first week of initial entry training? In the back of my mind, I'm thinking, "Does this guy know what he's doing?"
If units inherit young men who are already extremely well-versed in basic soldiering skills, like:
* Marksmanship
* Physical Fitness
* First Aid
* Land Navigation
* Small Unit Tactics
* Common Soldier Tasks
....then that opens up so much time for units to train on collective tasks, while making it easy to maintain and improve upon the baseline that has been established in youth. For those that say it's too lofty, or too early, I give you this one simple example:
[video=youtube;LrxjYfl05ek]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrxjYfl05ek[/video]
Now take whatever learning modality they used to reach this level of proficiency, and apply it to the basic soldiering skills I listed above. Only the private sector can really cover down on this in the US, since the government will screw it up with PC and general limp-wristedness. Russia accomplishes it in their school system because threats and intimidation are perfectly welcomed, and I have witnessed it with their Olympic teams during training sessions.
I prefer rewards using the other end of Pavlovian method.