Army cuts time spent on training (Boston Globe)

[Eugene]

Source: Boston Globe

Army cuts time spent on training
Aims to bolster front lines quickly

By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff | August 19, 2007

FORT MONROE, Va. -- The US Army, struggling to cope
with stepped-up operations and extended deployments of
its soldiers to Iraq, has shortened the duration of several
of its bedrock training courses so that troops can return
to fighting units on the front lines more quickly,
according to senior training officials.

One training course that is considered the "first step" in
educating newly minted sergeants -- the noncommissioned
officers considered the backbone of Army units -- has been
cut in half to 15 days. Meanwhile, an intensive program
designed to prepare young officers for advanced leadership
has been compressed from eight months to less than five
months so that the Army can fill positions in constant
demand from commanders in the Middle East.

In a series of interviews in recent weeks, Army training
officials expressed confidence that soldiers are able to
master the skills they need to perform their jobs, and
stressed that their units are gaining invaluable, real-time
experience in both wars. But they also acknowledged that
it is becoming increasingly difficult to prepare them for
all the missions they are assigned, such as tank crews and
artillery battalions that are participating in patrols and
counterinsurgency operations.

"We are doing everything we can without jeopardizing the
quality of the training to make it more efficient and
compress it," Colonel Joe Gallagher, chief of plans for the
US Army Training and Doctrine Command, said in an
interview earlier this month. "The whole intent is to get the
soldier into the unit where he can be used faster. Time will
tell if something is missing."

-snip-

Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/08/19/army_cuts_time_spent_on_training

[Prophet 451]

1. How much training do you need to be cannon fodder?

Hate to say it but that's what your troops are now. This bloody war is already lost and was probably unwinnable in the first place. We know that, the (honest) media know that and the bastards in power know that. All that the troops are now is cannon fodder, Bush's investment so he can say you're in too deep to pull out.

[Benhurst]

2. Yeah, how long does it take to teach someone to click his or her

heels together and shout, "We who are about to die salute you!"