US Army examines training options

The US Army is examining a number of new training initiatives to ensure the infantry retains overmatch as near-peer adversaries and terrorist organisations continue to pose a threat.

Brig Gen Christopher Donahue, Infantry School Commandant, Maneuver Center of Excellence, said: ‘We still have the capability to defeat them all but we are at a point where we have to improve the mental and physical toughness of the infantry and ensure we're incorporating new technologies and capabilities to ensure we remain the decisive force for the military.’

First up is a reform of the infantry talent management system to ensure that the right people are being selected for the infantry branch. At higher echelon, the attributes of a successful infantryman are being examined with the Close Combat Lethality Task Force.

In July, the army will run a pilot to extend the Infantry One-Station Unit Training out to 21 weeks, in order to ‘help ensure we're producing the right person that can walk into a unit, ready to fight, win and survive,’ Donahue said.

In another initiative, the army will transition to a new marksman qualification test. Soldiers will still be given 40 rounds, but instead of just shooting prone and from a foxhole, they will shoot prone, prone unsupported, kneeling and then standing - all within six minutes, to better reflect combat situations.  

Soldiers will also be trained to fight in austere environments where communications are degraded or denied, including space, cyber, urban and subterranean battle.

Dealing with the use of social media utilised by adversaries to gain an advantage is also being incorporated into training; as is greater use of virtual reality training technologies. Virtual reality enables soldiers to get a lot more training in than they normally would with live-training only, and allows commanders to run trainees through many more repetitions, at no extra cost, before going to validate in a live environment.

The army is also developing a functional fitness test that will better prepare soldiers for the rigors of combat.