Lifelong learning: a new look at training - Chief of Signal's Comments

While the Army transforms into a leaner, more deployable and lethal formation, with state-of-the-art equipment and highly trained soldiers, Army training needs to also move into this century with a "new look." To achieve a transformation in how we train, the Signal Center has been moving forward with a concept of training called Lifelong Learning. This winter, we've made some good progress, and the initiative is moving forward. We have a plan, and we are making it happen, getting good results, and capturing lessons learned. We have lived it for a year, and preliminary feedback from the field at Fort Hood and Fort Bragg is good. My personal thanks go to COL Alan Lynn and COL Howie Cohen for helping make that happen.

The University of Information Technology is the umbrella organization under which Lifelong Learning has been nurtured. The UIT Division, in the Directorate of Training, is the staff coordinating organization for each of the four tenets of lifelong learning. The four tenets are:

(1) Assignment Oriented Training:

We reorganized four Military Occupational Specialties into their own "AOT model," if you will, starting in October 2001, and by the end of FY 03 we will have over 5,000 graduates in the field! Initial results from TRADOC Analysis Center interviews with AOT graduates' supervisors indicate that these soldiers are just as well trained as graduates from the original (longer) courses, and are ready to go to work when they arrive at their new stations.

(2) Simulations:

We're pursuing a vigorous program of simulations to reduce equipment for training in the institution, home station, Combat Training Center, and deployed units. Our goal remains to reduce equipment costs down to 30 percent or less of that required for traditional approaches in the schoolhouse. Our first simulation, developed for the AN/TRC-173B, will be deployed this winter. In the late summer of 2002 we began developing three more simulations, built on the same basic architecture as the TRC-173B. These products will support satellite training, MOS 31U training, and the STRYKER Brigade Combat Team. In January of this year our simulations architecture was approved by TRADOC as the standard architecture for all TRADOC simulations. SFC Phil (Army of One)Arnold is the engine behind the simulation development, and he's impressing leaders across our sister schools.

(3) Resource Center and (4) Virtual Campus:

Our Resource Center is the hub for lifelong learning, and it is continuing to mature. Today, close to 3,000 Fort Gordon students use its online courseware and there are about 200 active classes involved. Our UIT website had about 700 unique visitors in February alone, taking advantage of the on-line forums, digital library, news items and more. I encourage you to visit! (http://uit.gordon.army.mil). We are excited about future developments in this and the Virtual Campus tenet as we establish a Signal presence on the AKO web page, conduct pilot digital training programs with The Army School Systems Battalions, and work with other Regimental units to establish additional virtual campuses. To keep our soldiers and leaders current in information technology, they must become lifelong learners; the institution must provide them the tools they need to continue honing their skills from the classroom to the foxhole, and unit commanders must provide them the opportunity to do so.

We've had developments in our officer training as well. The need to provide ultra-reliable voice and data connectivity for the Warfighter is more important today than ever before. As the Army transforms into a mobile force that is more reliant on data networks, the need for a Signal officer with a different skill set has become evident. We need our officers to be grounded in technical skills that are relevant to what units are using today and well versed in the tactical language of the combat arms.

We redesigned the Signal Captains Career Course so that instruction focuses more on the theories and concepts of networks, switching, and telecommunications rather than teaching officers about the "boxes" they are most likely to encounter. Feedback from the first graduates of this retooled SCCC was very good. Previously, when officers came to the SCCC they received instruction on TRADOC common core subjects, automation training, and a heavy dose of Mobile Subscriber Equipment, Digital Group Multiplexer, and Combat Net Radio. Now, the course is divided into modules such as automation, telecommunications, network management, information assurance, echelons above corps and echelons corps and below network planning, and company command topics. Our intent is to make this a more interactive course where the officers will learn about a subject and then apply that knowledge through scenario-based practical exercises and integrated Map Exercises. The end result is an officer who has the tools to succeed in a dynamic communications landscape. We are continuing to work the details of our captain Officer Education System. The jury is still out on its final look. The new concept is scheduled for implementation in FY06.

Our lieutenants are getting a course face lift, too. Officer Basic Course will become the Basic Officer Leadership Course, with three phases. BOLC Phase 1 is pre-commissioning, i.e., Reserve Officer Training Corps, United States Military Academy, Officer Candidate School, other. BOLC Phase 2 is a combined arms leadership laboratory where all Army officers attend a 6-week training course prior to branch training. The perception is that our OBCs have become too branch-centric, and BOLC Phase 2 will provide junior officer training that is Army/officer-centric. Phase 2 is scheduled for implementation in third quarter of FY06. The sites for that training have not been selected yet, but we expect them to be combat arms schools. BOLC Phase 3 is the resident course at the branch school. Our current Signal OBC is 18 weeks long and taught at Fort Gordon. While the overall length of the course remains constant, resident training at Fort Gordon will become 12 weeks and focus on signal skills (branch centric). The Signal Center is preparing a training strategy and will solicit your thoughts.

Just as how we fight is changing, how we train to fight must change. Your ideas are important to me. Please look for announcements and information about Lifelong Learning, OES, and many other training topics, and let me know what you think. Neither the Signal School nor TRADOC has cornered the market on good ideas. Every member of the Regiment is a valuable contributor to getting it right. Let me hear from you. Pro Patria Vigilans!

COPYRIGHT 2003 U.S. Army Signal Center
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