Additional Training to be assigned to a Brigade Combat Team?

SGT James Elphick — Fri, 09 Jan 2015 13:31:06 -0500

As the Army continues with the Brigade Combat Team unit of action alignment should there be additional training required to be assigned to such a unit? The BCT holds only mission critical units and MOS's and can be deployed rapidly to austere conditions (especially in the case of the light/airborne BCT's). Is Basic Training really enough to prepare a soldier for such an endeavor? My proposal would be Expeditionary Warfare Training. This would be similar to the Marine Corps Marine Combat Training in that it would prepare all soldiers who went through the training to fight. However, on top of that because of the modern nature of warfare it would help all levels of personnel understand the mission and complexity of expeditionary warfare and how it relates to them personally in their unit. I would even recommend that the infantry go through this as well to ensure proficiency and to increase their knowledge of their units mission should they be called to deploy. To keep costs down this course would only be a requirement if a soldier was going into a BCT and once completed would not need to be done again.

Response by CW5 Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 9 at 2015 1:35 PM

CW5 Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 09 Jan 2015 13:35:58 -0500

I haven't been there, SGT James Elphick, but I like your proposal. If there were time to allow all Soldiers to train with the unit, the course you propose might not be required. That's probably not going to be the case, so I like a higher baseline for folks going to BCTs, and I think this type of training can bring folks up to that baseline. I vote yes, good idea.