Training Aids

The eight-step training model is the sequence a leader works through to prepare and execute a single training event. It is not the training management cycle -- that is the larger planning framework. This is what you do for the event itself.

1. 1

   1. Plan the training

   Pick the task, the conditions, and the standard from the training and evaluation outline. Identify the resources: land, ammunition, time, transportation, and people.

2. 2

   2. Train and certify the trainers

   The leaders running the event have to be able to perform the task to standard first. Certification is a distinct event with a date, not an assumption.

3. 3

   3. Reconnoiter the site

   Physically walk the ground or the range. Confirm what is actually there against what the range packet says.

4. 4

   4. Issue the order

   A real order for the training event, in the five-paragraph format, issued far enough out that subordinates can prepare.

5. 5

   5. Rehearse

   Trainers rehearse the event. This is where the timeline problem, the missing training aid, and the safety gap surface -- while there is still time to fix them.

6. 6

   6. Execute

   Run the training to the standard in the T and EO. Do not lower the standard to fit the schedule.

7. 7

   7. Evaluate the training

   Assess performance against the task standard and conduct after action reviews. Evaluation is against the T and EO, not against how it felt.

8. 8

   8. Retrain

   Train again to correct what did not meet standard, ideally before the unit leaves the site. Untrained is a valid outcome; ignoring it is not.

Step 8 is what separates training from an event. A unit that executes, evaluates honestly, and then retrains on the spot gets more out of one range day than a unit that runs three clean iterations of something everyone already knew.

Risk management is a decision-making process, not a form. The form exists to record the decision and route it to the leader who has the authority to accept the residual risk. ATP 5-19 carries the doctrine; AR 385-10 and DA PAM 385-30 carry the policy and procedures.

1. 1

   1. Identify hazards

   Work through the mission systematically -- METT-TC (I) is a useful frame. A hazard is a condition with the potential to cause injury, illness, death, damage, or mission degradation.

2. 2

   2. Assess hazards

   Judge probability and severity to get an initial risk level for each hazard.

3. 3

   3. Develop controls and make risk decisions

   Build controls that eliminate the hazard or reduce probability or severity, then determine the residual risk with the controls in place. The decision goes to the level of command that can accept that residual risk.

4. 4

   4. Implement controls

   Put the controls into the order, the training schedule, and the brief. A control that exists only on the worksheet is not a control.

5. 5

   5. Supervise and evaluate

   Enforce the controls during execution and assess whether they worked. Feed what you learn back into the next assessment.

Risk management applies to training, operations, and off-duty activity alike. Deliberate risk management -- the worksheet -- is for planned events. Real-time risk management is what a leader does when conditions change during execution, and it is the reason step 5 exists.

Training management is the commander's business and it cannot be delegated to a staff. FM 7-0 re-established the training management cycle as the framework: assess where the unit is, plan training that closes the gap, prepare it, execute it, and assess again. The unit training plan is the product that carries it.

1. 1

   Start from the METL

   The mission-essential task list is what the unit was designed to do. It is approved by the higher commander and it is not negotiable to fit the calendar.

2. 2

   Assess current proficiency

   Rate each mission-essential task against its training and evaluation outline. Honest ratings here are what make the plan defensible.

3. 3

   Receive the higher commander's guidance

   Training objectives, priorities, and the events higher has already locked in.

4. 4

   Build the unit training plan

   Sequence events so proficiency builds -- individual and crew tasks before collective tasks, squad before platoon, platoon before company.

5. 5

   Brief and lock the plan

   The plan is briefed to the higher commander, who approves it. Once approved it becomes the basis for locked training and protected time.

6. 6

   Publish training schedules

   The near-term product. Schedules turn the plan into specific times, places, tasks, and named trainers.

Mission-essential task (MET)

A collective task a unit must be able to perform to accomplish the mission it was designed for. Standardized for the unit's type and echelon.

Mission-essential task list (METL)

The unit's full set of METs, approved by the higher commander. It defines what the unit trains, and the commander does not get to edit it for convenience.

Training and evaluation outline (T and EO)

The standard for a specific task: the conditions it is performed under, the standard that must be met, and the performance measures an evaluator uses. It is the objective basis for a rating.

The commander assigns the rating after evaluating the unit against the T and EO. It is a judgment, but it is a judgment anchored to written performance measures rather than to impression. That anchoring is what makes the rating mean something to the next echelon up.

The training meeting is the center of gravity for unit training management at company level. It is held on the same day and time every week as part of the battle rhythm, run by the commander, and attended by the leaders who will actually run the training.

• Company commander -- runs the meeting and makes the decisions.
• Executive officer -- resources, maintenance, and the coordination the company owes higher.
• First sergeant -- personnel availability, individual training, and NCO-led training.
• Platoon leaders and platoon sergeants -- report last week and lock in the near-term weeks.
• Supply sergeant, training NCO, and any supporting section leaders.

1. 1

   Review training just completed

   What was the assessed proficiency against the T and EO, what came out of the after action reviews, and what needs retraining.

2. 2

   Confirm the current week

   Anything already published is being executed as written, or it is being changed with the approving authority's concurrence.

3. 3

   Lock the near-term weeks

   Confirm tasks, trainers, resources, and the risk assessment for the weeks approaching execution.

4. 4

   Look at the weeks further out

   Identify what has to be requested now -- ranges, ammunition, transportation, instructors -- so it is not a crisis later.

5. 5

   Assign responsibility with a suspense

   Every action leaves the meeting with a name and a date. A training meeting that produces no tasked actions was a status brief.

T-week

A backward-planning framework that ties each week before and after an event to the actions required to prepare for it and follow up on it. The week of execution is week T; T-6 is six weeks out; T+1 is the week after.

An after action review is a structured professional discussion that lets the people who did the training work out for themselves what happened and what to do differently. It is not a critique and it is not a performance counseling. The leader guides; the participants talk.

1. 1

   1. Plan

   Decide who conducts it, who attends, when and where it happens, and what will be observed. Planned before the training, not after it.

2. 2

   2. Prepare

   Review the training objectives and the T and EO, collect observations during execution, select the site, and prepare the terrain model or aids.

3. 3

   3. Conduct

   Walk the four questions, keeping the discussion on the task standard and on the participants rather than on the facilitator.

4. 4

   4. Follow up

   Retrain what did not meet standard and carry the sustains and improves into the next plan. This is the step units skip and the step that produces the improvement.

1. What was supposed to happen?
2. What actually happened?
3. Why did it happen that way?
4. What do we sustain, and what do we improve?

A range is a training event with live ammunition attached, so it follows the eight-step training model like anything else -- with a layer of safety and ammunition requirements on top. The binding requirements come from range safety policy and, more immediately, from your installation range regulation and range control. Nothing on this card overrides either.

1. 1

   Request the range and the ammunition

   Land and ammunition are the two long-lead items. Both are requested in the long-range horizon, not the week before.

2. 2

   Appoint the OIC and RSO in writing

   The officer in charge and the range safety officer are appointed by memorandum and must be certified per installation requirements. Certification is a prerequisite, not paperwork you catch up on.

3. 3

   Build the risk assessment

   Deliberate risk assessment on DD Form 2977, approved at the level the residual risk requires. Live fire drives risk levels up quickly.

4. 4

   Conduct the site reconnaissance

   Walk the range with the OIC, RSO, and the primary trainers. Confirm the surface danger zone, firing points, the medical evacuation route, and communications with range control.

5. 5

   Certify trainers and rehearse

   Coaches, ammunition handlers, and tower personnel rehearse the sequence, including the misfire and cease-fire procedures.

6. 6

   Brief before anyone draws ammunition

   Safety brief, medical plan, communications plan, and the specific conduct of fire. Every person on the range gets it, including drivers and observers.

7. 7

   Execute and control

   Ammunition accountability from draw to turn-in, positive control of the firing line, and continuous supervision of the controls in the risk assessment.

8. 8

   Close the range out

   Amnesty and brass and residue turn-in, police the range, clear with range control, and conduct the after action review before the unit leaves.

Surface danger zone (SDZ)

The ground and airspace that must stay clear for the weapon and ammunition being fired. It defines the range's limits and it is not adjustable by the unit.

Officer in charge (OIC)

Responsible for the conduct of the range and the accomplishment of training. Appointed in writing.

Range safety officer (RSO)

Responsible for the safe conduct of firing. Has the authority to call and enforce a cease-fire regardless of who is present.

Ammunition accountability

Every round issued is fired, turned in, or accounted for. Discrepancies are reported, not resolved informally at the amnesty box.

The training schedule is the near-term product that turns a plan into a directive. Once it is approved and published, it is an order. That is the reason it carries the weight it does, and the reason changing it casually damages everything upstream of it.

1. 1

   Draft from the unit training plan

   The schedule executes the approved plan. If a line on the schedule does not trace to a mission-essential task or a directed requirement, ask why it is there.

2. 2

   Confirm resources before you print it

   Trainers certified, land and facilities booked, ammunition forecast submitted, transportation requested, medical coverage arranged.

3. 3

   Attach the risk assessment

   The event's risk level determines the approval authority, and that has to be resolved before the schedule is signed.

4. 4

   Get it approved by the correct commander

   Company training schedules are approved by the next higher commander. That approval is what makes the schedule binding and what protects the training time.

5. 5

   Publish and distribute it

   Post it where Soldiers can see it and load it into the unit's training management system so higher can see it too.

6. 6

   Change it only through the approving authority

   Once published, changes go back through whoever approved it. Informal changes at platoon level are how locked training quietly disappears.

Sergeant's Time Training is dedicated, protected training time that belongs to the NCO. The squad leader plans it, resources it, runs it, and evaluates it. The commander's role is to protect the time and hold the standard, not to fill it.

• Hands-on training of individual and small-unit tasks, to standard, on real equipment.
• Planned by the NCO who will conduct it, against a specific task with a T and EO.
• On the published training schedule like any other training, with a named trainer.
• Protected from details, appointments, and administrative taskings.
• Followed by an after action review and by retraining what did not meet standard.

1. 1

   Pick a task with a standard

   Pull it from the T and EO or the Soldier's manual of common tasks. A task without a written standard cannot be evaluated, which means it cannot be trained.

2. 2

   Prepare and rehearse

   The NCO conducting it has to be able to perform the task cold, and should walk the setup before the Soldiers arrive.

3. 3

   Resource it

   Equipment, training aids, ammunition if applicable, and a location. Request through the training meeting so it is on the schedule with everything else.

4. 4

   Train hands-on

   Demonstration, then repetition, then evaluation against the standard. Not a slide deck.

5. 5

   Evaluate and retrain

   Go or no-go against the performance measures. Retrain the no-gos before the period ends.