The Chief of Staff of the Army's vision for the 21st century Army is "a total force trained and ready to fight, serving our nation at home and abroad; a strategic force capable of decisive victory, as the cornerstone of readiness, training remains the Army's most important peacetime mission."
While the focus has changed, the Army's mission today remains much the same as it has been for many years. We have worldwide commitments with missions ranging from Major Regional Conflicts (MRC) to peacekeeping, peace enforcement and humanitarian assistance. Now, more than ever before, the Army operates in joint, combined or coalition environments. To carry out these operations, the need and sharing of information to command and control today's battlefield is essential to success. The impact of the surge in information age technology with its rapidly, spiralling growth is without equal in past military history. To meet these and future needs, the Army must train the soldiers of today and tomorrow on how to survive on an ever increasing lethal, digital battlefield.
The challenges of 21st century, high technology warfare call upon us to redesign the force structure and assess how it should be equipped, armed, and trained to fight tomorrow's battles. Using Joint Venture (JV), the Army is executing a series of advanced warfighting experiments and demonstrations to design the force of tomorrow: Force XXI. As we create Force XXI, we must concurrently develop the training strategy to achieve its maximum potential. WF XXI is the concept for total Army training in the 21st century. WF XXI integrates the entire spectrum of Army training programs and provides a strategy to integrate ongoing initiatives into a coherent, integrated training system. As the training component of JV, WF XXI focuses on the development of training strategies for Force XXI. To ensure training is included in every phase of the Force XXI development, WF XXI will integrate the numerous on-going initiatives and future developmental efforts to produce a coherent, integrated training system for today's and tomorrow's trained and ready power projection Army.
The mission of WF XXI is to develop a training strategy and a training system for individual through Joint Task Force (JTF) level using the best combination of live, virtual and constructive simulations and simulators to create the Synthetic Environment (SE) training battlefield. Implied in this task is to:
The WF XXI strategy is based on assumptions supporting JV and Force XXI objectives. These assumptions are:
To achieve the WF XXI vision, we must: (1) define a structured, Combined Arms Training Strategy (CATS) based, training development system for planning, execution, and assessment of training; (2) identify the three pillars of training; (3 )identify the five components of training;(4) integrate five components of training into a system, and (5) assign responsibility for action plans for the future development of Army training.
(1) Define a structured, CATS based, training development strategy
The CATS are the foundation of the structured training development for WF XXI. As the Army's over arching training architecture, CATS are the framework for establishing Army training. Current CATS provide doctrine based training strategies including events, gates, and training resource options for the institution or unit trainer and integrates training horizontally among levels of a type unit and vertically across the combined arms and services team. Future CATS must guide training, combat, and material developers in development of future combat equipment and combat systems to support Force XXI and the Land Warfare University (LWU). Inherit in this task is embedded training in all new systems and the evelopment of Training Support Packages (TSP)to support Force XXI.
In the future, CATS will be the foundation of the "unit oriented" training strategy used by the Standard Army Training System (SATS). CATS and SATS will assist both AC and RC trainers in design training programs, determining unit readiness, planning for mobilization and developing training budgets.
CATS provides direction on how the Army trains the force. It provides standardized training requirements and resources to execute the training. Under the purview of the CATS, proponent LWU schools develop unit training strategies for tactical units at Corps level and below. These strategies propose the frequency of annual training events to achieve desired levels of proficiency and readiness to accomplish battle-focused METL requirements. The proposals are prepared as matrices of training event menus correlated with unit levels and critical training gates. CATS include prescriptive training tasks for the basic training requirements (e.g., gunnery, physical training, etc.) and descriptive training tasks for advanced training requirements (e.g., power projection, large unit tasks, etc.). The matrices also identify the training resources (e.g., Combat and land, and Training Aids, Devices, Simulators and Simulations (TADSS), including Tactical Engagement Simulations (TES) Training Systems Devices) required to support each proposed training event. Current CATS are governed by AR 350-41 (Training in Units), TRADOC REG 350-35 (The Combined Arms Training Strategy), and TRADOC PAM 350-10 (Combined Arms Training Strategy Development).
Today's training strategies, and funding trails, are based on input from each school-house proponent. CATS are supported by a training resource management system consisting of master and modernization plans for major training resources (e.g., Tactical Engagement System-Master Plan (TES-MP) training system, range modernization, and Combat Training Centers (CTC) master plans). Master plans such as the TES-MP, define the current baseline and forecast future resource requirements, while modernization plans align training resource requirements contained in the proponent developed future CATS with available resources. Current CATS reflect the baseline and apply to the execution, budget, and program years. Future strategies are influenced by projected threats, operational missions, weapons and training technologies, and budgetary guidelines.
(2) The three pillars of training
CATS support the three mutually supporting pillars of training: unit, institution, and self development. Unit training, outlined in the WF XXI Campaign Plan, reflects the collective training effort and captures all of the institutional and self development training as supportive of the collective training task. Future institution and self-development training effort is outlined in the WARRIOR XXI Plan.
Unit training strategies are prepared by proponents in the form of current CATS describing how Table of Organization and Equipment (TO&E) units train and identify those resources required to execute the training. The strategies depict a fully supported annual training plan enabling a unit to maintain required combat readiness. The strategies consist of a soldiers matrix, a maneuver or collective matrix (depending on the type unit) and a gunnery matrix. The strategies are descriptive in nature and provide the foundation for the trainer to develop a training program.
The institutional pillars are developed by the proponent schools and define the requirements for training soldiers to standard in resident course instruction. These Army courses span the gap from initial entry training of a new recruit to the Army War College for the Army's senior leaders. Training at all levels focuses on the individuals development of basic skills and the development of future leaders. The institutional pillar is connected to CATS by the proponent based training requirements or training strategies being directly reflected in the Programsof Instruction (POI) of each Army school.
The self development strategies are designed by TRADOC through its proponent schools. The strategies provide the soldier with a road map to improve his skills. Currently, the Officer Foundation System (OFS) serves as the officers self development CATS for individual development and the Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) self development career map serves as the NCO self -development CATS.
(3) Identify the five components of training.
The five components of the WF XXI Campaign plan are: the Standard Army Training System (SATS); Training Support Packages (TSP); Training Aids, Devices, Simulators and Simulations (TADSS); Standard Army After Action Review System (STAARS) and the Army Training Digital Library (ATDL).
(4) Integrate five components of training into a system
When integrated with the three pillars of training and the structured training development system, the five components of WF XXI form a total, self sustaining , automated, training management system. The trainer of the future will use an integrated training management support system to help optimize available training resources as he budgets, plans, prepares, and assesses the execution of this training.
Like today, the trainer of the future will derive a training plan from an assessment of the unit's training proficiency on its Mission Essential Task List (METL), guidance from higher headquarters and the automated quarterly training brief, and availability of training resources. Future automated training management tools will provide the trainer the ability to integrate the guidance and his METL into objective oriented, structured training events to enable his soldiers to first conquer the basic tasks and then move, through a series of exercises and successes at critical training gates, to progressively more difficult advanced tasks. Using the training management database, available resources and the trainer's priorities, the SATS program will consider how best to train the unit and present the trainer with a selection of training program options for a decision or further prioritization. Using the resource roll up and the multi-echelon training plans generated by SATS, the trainer makes the final adjustments to his training program before SATS publishes a training calendar and locks in the required training resources.
In designing the unit training program, SATS uses CATS and an automated task database stored in the ATDL based on unit Mission Training Plans (MTP) to integrate horizontally and vertically across the Battlefield Operating Systems (BOS). This database provides a complete directory of critical combat functions for integration into the unit training plan. This database is designed to evolve continually based on the lessons learned from CTC Observer Controllers (O/C), doctrinal proponent changes from analyzing automated unit training feedback systems and lessons learned from deployed forces.
The Interactive Training Event Menu (ITEM) implements emerging technology to merge maneuver/collective, gunnery and soldier CATS matrixes to replicate combat conditions. Based on the trainer's input to SATS, ITEM selects the best mix or combination of the available live, virtual, and constructive environment resources and recommends event templates and models for a sequence of training events. Next, the training event model generates unit and threat systems, scenarios, environments, and Semi Automated Forces (SAF) for unit training and provides the information back to SATS to request the required training resources to support the plan. Using SATS the trainer can adjust any of the variables to better meet his training requirement throughout the process.
The final piece of the training event model is the STAARS. Throughout each training event, the unit's performance is automatically assessed against the trainer's structured training objectives using Army standardized, automated MTP training evaluation outlines in the task database stored in the ATDL. Unit gunnery performance captured during the exercise and O/C input provide additional feedback to the trainer. The automated assessment tools allow the trainer to replay key portions of the training event or change scenario characteristics using the event generator to increase or decrease the intensity of the training environment during the event or for future exercises.
Using the automated assessment tool, the trainer can automatically update his unit training status. Transparently, the system tracks unit success and weakness as part of the data studied for upgrades of the task database, doctrine, and Tactics, Techniques & Procedures (TTP) manuals. Training resource usage and costs are also compiled for the trainer to use in his future training planning and for capturing total training cost to help program training requirements.
Since the institutional and self-development pillars of training are tailored to provide soldiers who can meet unit collective training requirements, the Warrior XXI Plan is prepared to compliment the WF XXI Campaign Plan. The mission of Warrior XXI is to assess and implement investments in technology and installations to produce competent, confident soldiers and leaders in the 21st century. The intent is to retain the essence of TRADOC in a nucleus of fewer, high technology schools organized as the LWU. The LWU will leverage information age technology and use small group methodology to provide relevant training and leader development to challenge quality men and women to meet ever changing demands of the Army.
To move us from today's proponent based instruction to the high LWU of the 21st century, the WARRIOR XXI plan is comprised of three main efforts.
The linking units to institutions using the information highway establishes a two way transfer of information between the unit and individual training pillars. Classroom XXI will "plug in" electronically to on-going training and operations, for classroom examples, demonstrations or active participation in classes by students. Students will be exposed to information age technology and new requirements for training will be identified. New technologies will require new skills to call for and adjust fire, when all friendlies are looking at the same near real time representation of the digitized battlefield. Resupply will be streamlined through this common picture of the battlefield, causing institutions to upgrade logistics instruction to reflect reality. The linkage of WF XXI to Classroom XXI will produce soldiers who are better qualified to meet the Army's needs. Additionally, institutions are the key link to the continued education of Force XXI soldiers by providing dynamic, relevant self-development courses through a variety of electronic media for the soldiers of tomorrow. Some examples are:
The road ahead for the development of Army training is a rough one. The continual decrement of resources forces us to design new paradigms, integrate stovepipe structures, and break old "rice bowls" to form a systemized process to support Total Army training. To be successful, we all must work together for the benefit of today's and tomorrow's soldier. The cornerstone of our Army's success, both today and in the past, has been the high quality training of our soldiers and units, we must ensure the soldiers of the 21st century are able to maintain this standard.
Last Update: 24 Jan, 1996