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).