When it comes to innovation and improving the quality of military instruction, sometimes it helps to think outside the box, or even the country. That's the thinking behind the 1st Brigade Engineer's latest push to establish a long-term instructor exchange with their Canadian counterparts, a move that not only helps strengthen the bond with the U.S.'s northern neighbor, but also provides a unique opportunity to learn from and improve the training for both countries' military engineers.
In July, Sergeant First Class LeRoy Bierfreund, the Senior Resource Coordinator Noncommissioned Officer for 1st Brigade, organized a small team of expert instructors and travelled north of the border to the Canadian Forces School of Military Engineering at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown in Oromocto, New Brunswick. His mission was simple: take a preliminary look at how the Canadians taught their engineering courses, evaluate the benefits of sharing knowledge and exchanging techniques, and establish the best plan of action for setting up a future instructor exchange. Thanks to the overwhelming success of the visit, the Canadians have planned a similar visit to the U.S., tentatively scheduled for November of this year.
Bierfreund praised his team for their excellence and he noted how valuable an instructor exchange could be for both Canada and the U.S.
"It's definitely a worthwhile thing," he said. "This will allow [our soldiers] to integrate with another army and learn different things...just to see that there are other armies out there and that they do operate differently, but yet, we all have a mission in common."
Major Calum Andrews, a Canadian Armed Forces Combat Engineer Reserve Officer, pointed out that working with other nations around the world has to be taken into consideration, especially in light of current events.
"I think it's extremely important," said Andrews. "Anywhere we go... we have to factor in interoperability."
Another important factor, Andrews added, is efficiency. "Our doctrines develop based on missions and we improve from lessons learned."
He explained that exposure to other techniques and methods can only lead to increased efficiency as troops can see firsthand what works and what doesn't and they can then incorporate those lessons into their own doctrines. "These guys are actually seeing the demonstration of it, seeing it live, seeing the full effect of it; you can't read that in an article or in just research."
The 1st Brigade, 102nd Division's Horizontal Construction Branch Chief, Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Williams said he was impressed with much of the Canadians' training methods.
"Across the board, I really enjoyed how they do things and how their training area is set up...they've developed some great ways to evaluate their students and they have some really good training ideas that I think we can apply to what we do. And I'm excited to show them what we have, because I'm pretty sure that we can help them increase their level of training, too."
Summing up the visit, Williams reiterated the tremendous advantages inherent in establishing an instructor exchange program with the Canadians.
"I definitely think it's going to help our guys get a lot more proficient...we'll wind up with better instructors and we'll learn a lot through the process."
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