Rebuilding the Schoolhouse: Making Army Training More Efficient and Effective

摘要

Competition for scarce resources -- both dollars and soldiers -- has driven the Army to explore ways to reduce the costs and infrastructure needed to conduct military education and training. Resources devoted to military education and training are substantial; in FY00, the Active Component training institutions cost the Army $5.7 billion to run and absorbed 44,500 staff and 74, 000 trainee man-years. The Army not only wants to reduce the resources it devotes to the training base, it also seeks to improve the performance of its schools. To achieve these goals, the Army has undertaken various initiatives to restructure and modernize its individual training system, including, for example, establishing the Total Army School System and The Army Distance Learning Program (TADLP). The task is a tough one: improve performance while reducing resources. The range of strategies the Army could pursue complicates the task. Which of them offer the best chance for success. RAND Arroyo Center has examined the Army's recent initiatives along with a number of others, and its analysis suggests that four strategies could help the Army achieve its goal: (1) Integrate Active (AC) and Reserve Component (RC) training institutions, (2) Expand the use of educational technologies in Army schools, (3) Leverage 'flexible' distance learning technologies, and (4) Increase the use of the private sector in Army training. (3 figures, 10 refs.).