TRADOC leadership shows drive and focus at TSLC
The TRADOC leadership is leaning forward in the saddle, and they are ensuring that their subordinate leaders are leaning forward as well. The Army Learning Concept just took one giant leap toward implementation at the recent TRADOC Senior Leaders Conference. GEN Dempsey set the stage with impassioned personal guidance and informative presentations by three members of academia.
The first of the three was John Rendon, a veteran of government service and consulting who has an in-depth understanding of our technologically driven culture and how it has impacted governments and militaries.
The second presenter was Ori Brafman, who spoke on the power of decentralized organizations, their genesis, and how a centralized organization might effectively combat them.
The last of the presenters was Tony Wagner, a lifelong educator and advocate of redesigning the entire educational system in the United States to focus on learning vice teaching.
Armed with the CG’s guidance and the ideas and information of the three speakers, the attendees broke into working groups to address various aspects of Army learning. Technology, blended learning, initial military training, captains courses, and even the Army War College were all put under the microscope and subjected to intense scrutiny by motivated leadership who are eager to improve how soldiers learn.
As we sat listening to the backbriefs from those break-out groups and heard about programs already underway, efforts already completed, and new ideas, you got the sense that this is not a flash-in-the-pan change effort. This is not something that will die on the vine when GEN Dempsey PCSs from Ft Monroe. This is institutional.
For instance, Initial Military Training (IMT) has already redesigned aspects of their training program to maximize short- and long-term learning of certain warrior skills, and this redesign has shortened Training Support Plans (TSPs), Terminal Learning Objectives (TLOs), and Enabling Learning Objectives (ELOs) documents. While this pilot program is just starting, and the first results will not be seen until June 2010, the Army has learned how to more effectively communicate what it wants of its students and instructors as evidenced by the shorter documents.
In another instance of the Army taking the bull by the horns is the pilot program which will put handheld devices (iPods, for example) into the hands of individuals in the Delayed Entry Program. These iPods will be filled with apps for warrior tasks and skills. The theory is that these individuals will learn the skill or task more quickly and completely than an individual who did not have access. If the pilot program is successful, it will become more widespread. Moreover, it will pave the way for the Army to include handheld devices as part of the basic issue in order to perpetuate the use of mobile technology as a battlefield multiplier.
TRADOC leadership understands the responsibility placed upon them by the American people: to train and develop soldiers and provide the necessary doctrine to allow America’s all-volunteer force to defeat its enemies. Anyone who sees the focused activity of these leaders will realize quickly that the Army is adapting in ways heretofore unprecedented. GEN Demspey said it best when he said, “Institutional adaptation is more than an aspiration; it’s an imperative.”
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Hmmmm....
Proof is in the execution...
It is far easier to assemble the flag officers and have earnest discussions than it is to move the "institution", but it is a start...
However, and I think this is critical, not sure any of the outcomes/initiatives described fall into the category of outcome based training/education...
I really wish I wasn't so skeptical, but I think I'll withhold my enthusiasm...
I suppose that settles that...
Prolonged exposure to the SWC does make you less tolerant and more cranky :p
Thank you so much for saying this
Quote:
Originally Posted by
marct
Hi TAB,
Not interpretive dance per se, but a study of poetry would be extremely useful to understanding the underlying narratives of most of our current opponents. In addition to that, a large number of AQ inspired engagements are quintessentially performative in that they are designed as performative acts for a broader audience than those in theatre (think diasporic communities). The problem with the engineering mindset that dominates most militaries is that you/they think in terns of immediate geographic effect, while most of our opponents are looking towards a much broader audience, hence the necessity to study performance arts.
Been searching for a simple way to explain exactly that and hadn't been able to do it.
Army Learning Concept 2015 and the TSLC
Army Learning Concept 2015 and the TSLC
by General Martin Dempsey
In my last SWJ blog entry, I introduced the Army Learning Concept 2015 being “championed” by the TRADOC G3. Following up on that post, I want to briefly highlight our discussions on this subject during last week’s TRADOC Senior Leader Conference.
What resonated most clearly was the shared agreement that in order to increase rigor, maintain relevancy, and prevail in the competitive learning environment we have to change. Our current models have not kept pace with the rapid pace of change, the demands of Soldiers rotating in and out of the fight, and a continuous influx of Soldiers with significant “digital literacy.”
We all recognize the challenge and are working to adapt our learning models. We’re changing our assumptions to look at the problem differently, because we know we can’t afford to come up with the same solutions. We’re reaching out to those both inside and outside the military to help in this effort. I’ve asked the TRADOC G3 to draft a white paper that we’ll circulate among the communities of interest in the next 90 days. I welcome views from across the force on ways to ensure we get this right.
GEN M. Dempsey
Army Learning Concept for 2015
The most recent TRADOC Senior Leaders' Conference put the nascent Army Learning Concept under the microscope. While the 400-lb gorilla and a hotel full of 375-lb gorillas analyzed the need for, scoping of, and drafting of the Army Learning Concept into a reality, DCG-IMT (Initial Military Training) began manually moving the tectonic plates of basic training. Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills were revamped, streamlined so that recruits could be put through their paces...all with the goal of transforming the new generation of overweight first-shooter game enthusiasts into some semblance of the game avatar they fancy themselves to be. The initial analysis shows that these efforts are paying off. I eagerly await the second- and third-order effects, which, perhaps naively, I believe will show progress and be aligned with Army Leader Development Strategy, too.
While DCG-IMT is quietly making these improvements, HQ TRADOC is developing the Army Learning Concept document. They are treating this much like the Army Capstone Concept; they are crowdsourcing it. Currently, that crowd is an active-duty Army-only crowd -- not quite as large a crowd as had access to the Army Capstone Concept -- but a crowd nonetheless. This shift (I dare not use the term "paradigm shift," for as soon as I do, the world will backslide to spite me) signals an ever-so-slight open-kimono policy with the Army writ large and, to some extent, the military-centric online community. Hell, with the Marine Corps opening the YouTube flood gates on work computers, Operation Pandora is going to make for very interesting times.
As a jarhead who grew up with Mission Orders, commander's intent, and body-breaking physical fitness requirements (I blew out one knee and fractured both legs during OCS -- thus ending any dream of jumping out of an airplane), I like where the Army is going. Let's get these Soldiers in shape; let's improve marksmanship; let's train leaders how to incorporate commander's intent into their decicion-making process; let's get better at what we do so that we can kill more of the people who need killing (to paraphrase Gen Mattis).
