New Army Training Network videos help with training management

By Mike Casey, CAC-TSeptember 11, 2013

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FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (Sept. 10, 2013) -- The Army's primary website for training resources recently added eight short videos to improve unit training management throughout the force.

Brig. Gen. Mike Lundy, deputy commanding general of the Combined Arms Center-Training, instructed the Army Training Network, known as the ATN, to develop the videos following post visits by Unit Training Management Mobile Training Teams. At several posts, the teams found that many Army trainers lacked important skills that the videos address.

"For more than a decade, our Army has largely relied on top-down training management to prepare us for deployments to Iraq or Afghanistan," said Lundy. "With [Operation Enduring Freedom] coming to closure, unit commanders will once again have the primary responsibility for fully developing their own training to develop agile and adaptive leaders and versatile units."

"More than ever, it's essential for leaders to reinvigorate their home station training management skills in order to prepare the Army for decisive action in any operational environment," he said.

The ATN at https://atn.army.mil/ is the one-stop shop for training products and resources. The site is maintained by the Training Management Directorate, a subordinate organization of the Combined Arms Center-Training, or CAC-T.

"The videos provide a quick one-over the world guide to training management," said Jimmy Davis ATN team lead. "They'll help anyone involved in training from squads to corps."

Here are short descriptions of the videos:

• Training Doctrine Overview discusses ADP 7-0 and ADRP 7-0 and how those two manuals cover the Army's training doctrine.

• METL covers the basic concept of the Mission Essential Task List, or METL.

• HQ DA Standardized METL describes how these are standardized for brigade and higher units with a table of organization and equipment.

• KCT discusses the concept of Key Collective Tasks, and their relationship to the unit METL.

• Commanders' Dialogue is the briefing and discussion with the next higher commander on the mission analysis phase of developing a training plan.

• T&EO covers Training and Evaluation Outlines and explains how they support evaluations and assessments of collective and individual tasks.

• Training Briefings discusses why briefings are critical to the Unit Training Management process.

• Unit Training Plan provides a tutorial on developing and executing a focused plan to train the unit.

The training management videos are located on ATN's scrolling banner called Featured Content near the top of the page, or at: https://atn.army.mil/dsp_template.aspx?dpID=371.

The videos are entitled, "Training Management Shorts," and last from 4 minutes to 10 minutes. The ATN requires a common access card to access the site.

CAC-T delivers training doctrine, products, resources, and services to the Army in support of Army unit readiness and leader development.

Its web site is: http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/CAC-T/. Its Facebook is: https://www.facebook.com/usacactraining. Its Twitter handle is: usacactraining.

Related Links:

Combined Arms Center

Army.mil: Inside the Army News

Army.mil: Professional Development Toolkit

STAND-TO!: Army Training Network

ATN Training Videos (CAC required)

Combined Arms Center-Training Facebook