Should the AIT units have the best equipment to train the future soldiers of our military ?

AIT Soldiers must be proficient at the basic tools of the trade. They do not need an M4 with an ACOG, 5x adapter, a PEQ2 and a PSQ20. They need an M16 with iron sights. They don't need a DAGGR, they need a compass and a map and a great NCO to show them how to use it. Equipment is too specialized to the modular brigades right now to ensure that AIT can provide them the breadth of the modern equipment that they are going to see across the Army. Teach them the basics...with the basic tools. The operational force will then add to that basic knowledge by teaching them what they need to know about the enhanced tools they are going to do their job with.

Seems to me the proper answer is both. What good does it do to train individuals on equipment in AIT that they will not use when when they get to their unit. They need to be trained on the current equipment that is used in the operational force. Granted, timing is everything since fielding of new equipment takes time and can't realistically be accomplished simultaneously across the force, but the AIT units should be included in the initial fielding plans on any new equipment.

I feel that if Active duty or National Guard is still using a piece equipment and it is still on MTOE, I am going to use the Transportation Corp as an example, then we should expose our Soldiers to training on all the types of equipment they may encounter. For example: there is a major difference in a M1070A1, M916, M1075, M1083, M1114, and the various MRAPs if we only expose our Soldiers to certain family classifications then we have burdened the units these Soldiers go to with the job of completely training these individuals from scratch. Yes, it is a units responsibility to conduct drivers training and yes Soldiers come from AIT with a permit and only receive license upon completion of drivers training at their duty station. However, having a Soldier come to you with at least a basic knowledge of a piece of the equipment helps immensely. This also gives yours Soldiers more confidence and motivation when they look in the motor pool and recognize the equipment you are assigning them to. I am all about trying to set Soldiers up for success and the more exposure and training they can get the more successful they will be, if that means they need to stay in AIT longer to be able to cover the various different types of equipment then so be it. If we train Soldiers with the "best" equipment in AIT what happens when they get to their unit and the unit's MTOE still has the old equipment on it and these Soldiers are lost because they have never seen it. This is why we should train to what is out there and include a range from the equipment that is being phased out to the equipment that is getting ready to be issued and then we have created a bridge for our Soldiers to work with. Some things will still fall through the cracks but we will have a broader span of knowledge in our new Soldiers and we won't pigeon hole them to certain equipment knowledge. Just my opinion.