Can training increase with less cost?

2013-12-17T23:50:05-05:00

I have been spending some time now researching training in the Army. I think one way that the Army's budget can be helped is by localizing more major schools at each duty station and eliminate TDY costs. Thoughts or ideas? Thinking about putting a Lean Six Project together to present since TRADOC HQ is across the street from my office.

Response by SSG Robert Burns made Dec 18 at 2013 12:01 AM

2013-12-18T00:01:56-05:00

SSG Redman, great thought.  As far as a LSS project you would definitely need to scope this down.  At a max I would limit this to just one MOS which will still be an enormous project.  But it may give you a starting point to at least get an idea of what your Define phase would look like.<br>What belt are you and have you done a project yet?<br>

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 18 at 2013 2:00 AM

2013-12-18T02:00:00-05:00

SSG Redman,

This is a great thought and ideas like this would be where progress gets made. As someone who's job it is too find the details I would have some ideas for you to put into your brief.

1) What schools are you talking about. Being able to say: Putting an SLC at each post or migrating more SCCC (COMSEC class) at each post would save $$$.

2) Find out how many of seats these classes have and then how often they are taught. This would allow you to generalize how much money could be saved with an average costs.

3) You hard part is, like every small business, is going to be the start up costs. Take a look at that SCCC course which is always back logged about 10 months and is only taught at Gordon. You are not only going to have to find buildings, which on some bases is scarce, but the cadre to fill those positions. We are sizing back considerably so this is may be a sore spot for people. a SCCC course is going to take at least 4 instructors plus who ever else has to do the admin side and that is just for one location.

I hope these points help you out and help you give the best presentation possible. Please post back and let us know how it goes and let me know if you have any questions.

Response by SFC Lamont Womack made Dec 18 at 2013 2:26 AM

2013-12-18T02:26:31-05:00

I think this is a good idea. When I was at Fort Hood they had MTTs for all types of schools come to the base. I'm sure this saved a lot of money and got a lot of Soldiers the training they needed without leaving the base.

Response by 1SG Michael Blount made Apr 14 at 2014 2:41 PM

2014-04-14T14:41:50-04:00

Absolutely. I've been campaigning for joint training with our USMC, USAF and Navy counterparts since forever. I still think it's a good idea. Of course, crawling through the spider's web of bureaucracy has been the sticking point.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 25 at 2014 10:14 AM

2014-08-25T10:14:12-04:00

We have tackled this at Group and the simple answer is 'yes and it depends'. The 'yes' portion depends upon you tapping your own organizational talent/experience, using your own supplies/training aids and your classrooms/outdoor space. Consider, we had a cancellation of our water jump and wanted to make use of that time. My 1SG and I decided to do pocket training similar to Ranger Stakes and training with our SF communication and location equipment. The suspense was too short to seek funding so we I contacted my colleagues and we traded. I will explain... I agreed to be a safety swimmer for 'wet silk and drown proof training', my buddy and fellow commander has a Comm section and agreed to lend his 'experts' and we had a few 18 series weapons SGTs and 2 Ranger qualified individuals in our Battalion. Between that motley crew we assembled a training plan and staff and ran a weekend long event at NO additional cost to our companies.

Obviously you are not going to run HALO or closed circuit diving training at no cost but there are many ways to develop enhanced training without increasing costs. You just need to be creative, tap that organizational talent and think out of the box.