At what point do we revamp "basic Soldier skills"?

Interesting topic...

This has probably been stated, but training to tradition (I call it being brilliant at the basics) means that if your soldiers technology fails, they still have the basic skills to fall back on in order to complete the mission.

I understand you feel that modern technology should be emphasized but remember this, one EMP weapon or faulty equipment will kill all of your technology. Not know what to do in that situation or how to properly pace yourself in a ruck patrol will lead to mission failure.

If you have never been issued a compass, fire your supply NCOIC. It should be part of your basic load. Think about this, if that day comes when something goes wrong. an Analog compass will not get fried by an EMP. A set of LPC's won't get fried by an EMP but a HMMWV will. Basic should mean, the lowest common denominator of skills to be effective. It is the same reason aviators train land navigation with a compass, sometimes our metal horses take a crap on us.
Edit for LPC's = Leather Personnel Carriers = boots.

Excellent question SSG Woods.

It's my opinion from the last 15 years that we have changed our focus from a "we're soldiers first", to a "we're our occupational specialty first" mentality. By that I mean some specialties learn some of the basics in IET and then flush all of that down the drain when they get to their duty station. When I was in a combat service support unit we trained on all of the basics all the time because at the end of the day our element would have to defend itself, or get tasked with defending another unit. That would happen a lot during rotations to JRTC. Nowadays I need land-nav and map reading skills to do my job in a launcher.

There's nothing antiquated about ruck-marching and dismounted/mounted land nav with a compass and map, even in this modern age of wiz-bang gadgetry. And while the BFT can be an excellent tool, a little bit of moisture in the transceiver turns it into a useless hunk of plastic. A radio on the other hand is absolutely necessary for me to drop warheads on foreheads... No radios, no fire-missions, no fire support for the guys on the ground.

No doubt we need to make some changes to IET, but I feel the whole organization would benefit from ALL occupational specialties knowing how to better shoot, move, and communicate. For example, if a 68E ever has to pick up a rifle at least they'll know what to do with it until QRF shows up.

From what I have been reading, the training being given seems to ultimately be determined by MOS. Being a Scout, I was issued a compass as a brand new private and have never been to the field without one. When we train on land nav, we start with a compas and map and do that until it is second nature. Once task is complete, you can introduce a GPS and see how well technology can benifit you. But at no time does that mean you do not have a back up plan. As stated by others, technology WILL fail and we must be proficent with our fundamentals.

As for ruck marching, it is all mission depentant for us. My unit is based on strykers, but certain situations call for the vehicles to be placed in hides and the dismount teams to ruck up and move out to complete the mission. As for the BFT, we have very few people who have even been to a class on how to use it. Pretty much everything I know about them has come from trial and error. They can be a great tool but normally only about 75% of our troop has them operational. That doesn't mean we don't train our Soldiers on them, but you must constantly remind yourself that it is only an extra tool to make the basics easier.

So everything that you deem to be useless and haven't trained on in your time, I have personally used and trained hours upon hours on in my 3 years so far. If you want your Soldiers to be trained on these things, read some FM's or find someone who can teach you and then pass along that knowledge. Too many people today are too focused on what has been done the past 10 years in an unconventional war and need to retrain on the traditional skills of our jobs. With that being said, yes I expect all of my Soldiers to be proficent with a map and compas because it is crucial for my job. At the same time, I wouldn't expect my units S1 clerk to have the same proficiency as my men. So going back to my original statement, it seems to be mostly MOS dependant on the type of training being taught to Soldiers.

As an ait instructor, I think we focus too much on technology. We need to train on basics. Technology fails. If you don't know how to read a map and use a compass, and perform resection and intersection, what will you do when your dagr batteries go dead???

Technogy should be the icing on the cake.... Not the dough it's made of.

I understand your point. However if you should ever get lost the basic land nav skills from the old doctrine will save your life. Such as intersection and resection will come in handy when the blue force tracker fails or runs out of power. The tasks that are laid out in doctrine are essential and should be taught no matter how advance we get with technology because at the rate that technology is going we are soon able to speak with our minds.

To maximize the use of technology requires understanding the basic fundamentals it relies on. Others have already mentioned that technology fails, that seems obvious. Less obvious is the cognitive conditioning that occurs by repeatedly placing a demand on the brain. In the case of map and compass you are developing over time an innate understanding of topography, time, and distance. It speeds decision making under stress. The same can be said of ruck marching. There is a mental discipline as well as physical as you develop the knowledge of moving by foot under load in various terrain over various distances. It develops your mental model of "how the world works" which allows for more accurate intuitive decision making, particularly under stress. Training on BFT and radios is important, particularly in developing the fine motor skills of placing them into operation, loading COMSEC, and troubleshooting. Much like training malfunction drills with your weapon.

I use a compass to orient my Satcom antenna.....

Some of it is just good training...like ruck marching. Some of it is just because it's what we've always done. From my perspective it's good to learn how to do things the old fashioned way so you appreciate the modern way. When I was in Wheeled Vechical recovery school we had to pull a HMMV out of a ditch by hand using rope and pullies. Not because we didn't have a vechicle that could do it....but in case we had to we could.

Best question ever....