What do you think: Battle Assembly or Drill?

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 16:44:15 -0500

What do you think weekends in the Army Reserves and National Guard should be called?

When I came into the Army Reserves it was drill and it made sense you practice and train or DRILL...during the weekend.

Do we really battle assemble most weekends? Most weekends tend to be filled with administrative items such as medical tracking and mandatory briefings and stand downs with the focus on metrics during these administrative weekends. So it is truly a battle assembly or a metrics assembly?

What do you think they should be called?

Response by CPT Chris Loomis made Dec 31 at 2014 6:40 PM

CPT Chris Loomis — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 18:40:08 -0500

Or how about, "unit training assembling?"

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 31 at 2014 8:15 PM

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 20:15:49 -0500

I'd never heard of "Battle Assembly" till I got on RP. It must be a Reserves thing.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 31 at 2014 8:18 PM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 20:18:12 -0500

o Power Point Party

o Check the Block Battle Drills

Response by SFC Josh Jackson made Dec 31 at 2014 8:54 PM

SFC Josh Jackson — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 20:54:38 -0500

Barbecue?

Response by LTC Stephen C. made Dec 31 at 2014 9:25 PM

LTC Stephen C. — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 21:25:34 -0500

LTC Private RallyPoint Member, we all know that Battle (Training) Assembly is a total misnomer. Whoever came up with that was mistaken, I think. Everyone used to call it Drill, but it was actually a Multiple Unit Training Assembly (MUTA), with a number after identifying the number of assemblies that were to be used. Just leave it at that.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 1 at 2015 7:29 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 01 Jan 2015 19:29:48 -0500

I have never heard of such a thing. In the Guard we just have drills. Does everyone in the Reserve also have a battle position. I am curious if the support units, Finance or AG, also have Battle Assembly.

Response by CSM Charles Hayden made Jan 1 at 2015 8:23 PM

CSM Charles Hayden — Thu, 01 Jan 2015 20:23:29 -0500

Captain Brian Maurelli, Historically the "Guards", (also a historical name), have always had, drill nights and drill weekends. When will changing everything for someone's whim ever cease?

Response by CW5 Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 1 at 2015 8:27 PM

CW5 Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 01 Jan 2015 20:27:21 -0500

Drill = Tradition and Old School, so it gets my vote (not that I know what I'm talking about ... but I like to vote!)

Response by COL Jason Smallfield, PMP, CFM, CM made Jan 1 at 2015 8:51 PM

COL Jason Smallfield, PMP, CFM, CM — Thu, 01 Jan 2015 20:51:57 -0500

Battle Assembly or Drill. A few thoughts.
- Part of me says toMATo, tomatO. Does it really make a difference what it is called?
- Part of me says that words have meaning. Battle assembly implies a war time Army while assembly implies a peace time Army.
- Part of the answer depends upon what the target audience is for the word(s) used. Are we trying to communicate internal to our Soldiers (getting them thinking prep for war) or are we trying to communicate to external stakeholders such as the Soldier's primary (civilian) employer?
- A final consideration is ease of understanding by all. We make things for difficult to understand if we are changing our words frequently, especially for external audiences who generally do not keep up with our every change within the Army.

Response by SPC(P) Jay Heenan made Jan 1 at 2015 11:33 PM

SPC(P) Jay Heenan — Thu, 01 Jan 2015 23:33:29 -0500

Maybe we should call it Bob, Joe and the boys getting together on the weekend? Okay, okay, I am just kidding...

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 2 at 2015 12:23 AM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 02 Jan 2015 00:23:59 -0500

I prefer to call it "The Reason You Will Have Twelve Days of Work With No Break"

But "Battle Assembly" always sounded like what I did with Legos as a kid.

Someone probably got their star for the idea though.

Response by SSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 2 at 2015 12:27 AM

SSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 02 Jan 2015 00:27:18 -0500

Random Formation Assemblies

Response by SSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 2 at 2015 12:31 AM

SSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 02 Jan 2015 00:31:05 -0500

MST - Mandatory Sharp Training Weekends

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 2 at 2015 12:04 PM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 02 Jan 2015 12:04:48 -0500

I never liked "Battle Assembly." I used "Drill" well past when we Army Reserve Soldiers were told to stop. It always felt like "BA" was an attempt to mimic something of the Active Component out of fear of looking weak.

That said, for the past few years I've been in the D-IMA program, and in that we use "IDT" (Inactive Duty Training). Every now and then you'll hear "Drill" or "UTA" (Unit Training Assembly), but usually that's in reference to the time-blocks for which we get paid, while the IDT is the duty itself.

Response by SGT Justin Singleton made Jan 2 at 2015 4:01 PM

SGT Justin Singleton — Fri, 02 Jan 2015 16:01:47 -0500

I drilled for six years. If at any point it was called a "battle assembly" we would have laughed about the name and made fun of the officers who came up with the name.

Response by SFC Michael Jackson, MBA made Jan 2 at 2015 4:26 PM

SFC Michael Jackson, MBA — Fri, 02 Jan 2015 16:26:48 -0500

You're reporting to duty. call it DUTY. on duty, you may do training, admin, drills, whatever... its all inclusive

Response by SSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 2 at 2015 4:37 PM

SSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 02 Jan 2015 16:37:05 -0500

12 years in the Guard, never heard it called Battle Assembly...it has always been Drill.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 2 at 2015 4:46 PM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 02 Jan 2015 16:46:27 -0500

Once again, Army leaders putting ridiculous window dressing on a non-issue. "Warrior" task training. Battle assemblies. Warrior skills.
What a crock.

I've got an idea. How about we mess around and try training like we fight. Being what we are, not what we'd like to pretend to be.

I am a proud Civil Affairs Soldier. Not Special Forces. Not Infantry. Not even Public Affairs. I have a technical job, and it is difficult to train others to do it. I need all the time I can get to teach my soldiers how to analyze motives, biases and tendencies and give them the tools to problem solve. Anything else is secondary. I would much rather have a unit full of technical experts than crummy infantrymen or barrack lawyers well-versed in the nuggery of AR 600-20. A dirty little secret: Soldiers already know right from wrong. You just need to supervise and enforce. Problems solved.

Can we go and train now?

Response by SFC Dr. Joseph Finck, BS, MA, DSS made Jan 2 at 2015 5:01 PM

SFC Dr. Joseph Finck, BS, MA, DSS — Fri, 02 Jan 2015 17:01:22 -0500

LTC Private RallyPoint Member When I hear Battle Assembly I think "bounding overwatch" not DD 93, SGLV 8286, etc.

Response by COL Jon Thompson made Jan 3 at 2015 7:41 PM

COL Jon Thompson — Sat, 03 Jan 2015 19:41:12 -0500

I have always disliked the term Battle Assembly. When my reserve unit met for the weekend, we did not assemble for battle. To me it was term created to make it sound more warrior like whereas most weekends were anything but that.

Response by SFC Cindy Paris made Jan 3 at 2015 7:54 PM

SFC Cindy Paris — Sat, 03 Jan 2015 19:54:40 -0500

My last 5 years in the Army Reserves were spent as liaison between the Reserves, Army National Guard, Active Duty units and FEMA. No matter where we were across the states, we "drilled". When referring to the length of the drill for purposes of orders we had MUTA's. I never heard the called battle assemblies.

Response by SSG Christopher Parrish made Jan 7 at 2015 3:09 PM

SSG Christopher Parrish — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 15:09:47 -0500

I'd stick with drill. Or we could always adopt what my Wife calls it. On second thought, let's just stick to calling it drill.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 7 at 2015 3:29 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 15:29:42 -0500

Metrics Assembly sounds like the best description of it. The whole point of the weekend is to make a metric go from red to green. It seems as if three weekends a month a unit is actually doing something in the field that you may have seen in a recruiting video. The other months are spent doing death by power point presentations, PRT/APFT with Ht/Wt, a urinalysis, or a standdown briefing.

Response by CW3 Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 12 at 2015 4:45 PM

CW3 Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 16:45:26 -0500

I don't really care what it's called, so long as I get paid.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made May 22 at 2015 9:02 AM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 22 May 2015 09:02:37 -0400

I think everyone will always call it drill, despite any different title it may be given. I know new Soldiers who look confused when you call it BA, BTA, etc.

Maybe we should just call it something to being the "new" generation into the fold. How does "Call of Duty" sound? I wonder what that would do for recruitment? I am just kidding of course, but I think drill sticks no matter what.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made May 24 at 2015 11:49 AM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 24 May 2015 11:49:15 -0400

I think it should be called drill. Battle assembly is went your get ready to do battle. That's my opinion.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made May 24 at 2015 12:33 PM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 24 May 2015 12:33:18 -0400

Most assemblies are not doing drill nor out in the field except may a couple weekends a year. Most accurate desciption would be "training assembly". Drills has been a more traditional way of saying it when I was in. I think Canada and UK call it Parade!

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made May 24 at 2015 9:22 PM

MAJ Ken Landgren — Sun, 24 May 2015 21:22:01 -0400

Drill is more appropriate as we don't want the unit to percolate into paper tigers while watching power point slides.

Response by LCDR Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 17 at 2015 8:32 PM

LCDR Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 17 Aug 2015 20:32:36 -0400

I actually wasn't aware it had changed from "drill." I don't have a dog in the fight but I think it should still be called drill.