Fort Eustis, Va.- Leaders from across the entire U.S. Army Initial Military Training (IMT) enterprise assembled on Fort Eustis from August 11th through the 14th to discuss how the Army is transforming the way new recruits evolve into U.S. Army Soldiers.
This annual forum, hosted by Lt. Gen. David Francis, Commander U.S. Army Center for Initial Military Training (USACIMT), focused on how the IMT environment is focusing on taking real-time lessons learned from ongoing conflicts to prepare the next generation of Soldiers for the rigors of the modern battlefield.
“The world around us is changing, and we need to change the Initial Military Training environment with it”, said Francis. “The Initial Military Training environment is a no fail mission for the U.S. Army; we are foundational to building the fighting force of tomorrow. We are taking a hard look at what skills we teach our newest Soldiers to be prepared to fight and win our nations wars”.
IMT is the gateway to the Army for the brave individuals that volunteer for military service. It encompasses their time learning basic Soldier skills during Basic Combat Training, their Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) skills during Advanced Individual Training (AIT), and for new Officers includes their Basic Officer Leader Course (BOLC).
Army Training Center’s Fort Jackson and Fort Sill briefed how they’re rapidly transforming their focus to a near-peer adversary that the Army expects to face within a Large-Scale-Combat-Operations (LSCO) fight.
Fort Jackson, Sc, the largest Army Training Center, explained how they’re utilizing small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) to expose Trainees to what they look like in their major Field Training Exercises (FTX).
“Trainees will gain familiarity with assets that are commonly used within operational units from all echelons, squad through company, during their Situational Training Exercise (STX) lanes within their culminating exercises”, said Lt. Col. Brian Forester, Fort Jackson Operations Officer. “This familiarization reinforces the importance of their ability to camouflage, conceal, and react to unmanned aerial systems that will directly increase their survivability on the modern battlefield”.
Fort Sill, Ok, home to the Army’s Fires Center of Excellence, relocated Trainees' exposure to the Night-Infiltration-Course (NIC), within the BCT pipeline, to the conclusion of their initial FTX, ‘The Hammer’.
“Moving the NIC earlier in the training cycle prioritizes critical skills earlier in the cycle for maximum impact during their next two FTXs while also reducing strain on installation resources”, said Col. Reginald White, Commander 434th Field Artillery Brigade. “Exposing Trainees earlier in the cycle to the sights and sounds of the modern battlefield reinforces the importance of their Skill Level 1 Tasks and how they directly relate to their survivability”.
The forum concluded with a brief by the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Intelligence Directorate focusing on the glob
al threat overview, observed lessons learned, and characteristics of the modern battlefield.
“The character of war is rapidly changing, and the U.S. Army is vigorously working to ensure our Soldiers are prepared for the modern, evolving battlefield”, said Gerald Leverich, Senior Intelligence Analyst, TRADOC G2.
To meet the rapidly evolving landscape of war, the IMT environment is going through the most intensive review of how the next generation of U.S. Army warfighters are trained, since the Global War on Terror began, and how we conduct our core mission of transforming American volunteers into members of the world’s most potent and lethal land-based fighting force.
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