Developing Training Devices with an Effective Capability for Training Management and Readiness Assessment

Abstract

Army commanders and trainers need to know the current job performance levels of their troops. They need this information as the basis for making decisions about when and where to deploy units in battle, how much and where to allocate resources to training, what training readiness value to enter in the monthly Unit Status Report, and what specific training the soldiers should receive. The problems are that currently few data are gathered, infrequently (e.g., SQT data every two years on a decreasing number of skill areas; ARTEPs rarely!). The reasons for these problems are many. Principal among them are resource constraints (e.g., ammo, ranges, personnel time) and measurement capability limitations (e.g., lack of instrumentation and inability to directly observe in field/actual equipment situations, and nonevaluative training devices). The results are incomplete data that are out of date–and older data are of dubious value due to personnel turbulence and skills decay. At the 25th HFS meeting we presented a concept for improving this situation and our progress towards its application. (cf. Finley, Strasel, Schendel, and Hawley, 1981). Now we describe our progress in the last year.