Military Review English Edition September-October 2014 | Page 96

lengthy slide presentations and managing resources
to execute the approved training events. With a unit’s
final assessment consisting of an external evaluation
at an Army training center, the evaluation of the unit’s
leaders rested almost entirely on a two-week training
exercise. In effect, much of the preparation time of the
unit was not controlled by the leadership as various
tasks and color-coded training cycles required manpower to support installation maintenance.
The advent of conflict in 2001 changed unit dynamics and priorities significantly as they adjusted to
the challenges and rigors of managing deployment cycles and combat operations. However, in anticipation
of a reversion to peacetime after more than a decade
of conflict, the Army published Army Regulation
350-1, Army Training and Leader Development. It
“prescribes policies, procedures, and responsibilities
for developing, managing, and conducting Army
training and leader development.”19
Revised in 2011, AR 350-1 prescribes the official
methodology for managing training and developing
leaders within the Army. It outlines 24 different tasks
that units are required to perform in an annual training cycle together with the majority of legally required
training events for Army personnel. The number of
tasks as written is not overwhelming, and some of
them are completed as a by-product of larger training
events, but if combined with other (excessive) assigned
tasks imposed by sources who bill them as ‘other
requirements’ a pattern could emerge similar to that of
,
the pre-combat era which would serve to detract from
mission readiness and erode the warrior ethos.
For example, reverting to a checklist of mandatory training that consumes training resources
and available time can limit energy expenditure
on achieving more than the minimum standards.
Warriors who are deployed do not necessarily have
the constraints of an extensive training checklist
placed on them by a higher headquarters, allowing
most deployed leaders to address only those training requirements that they identify as valuable.
However, as the Army transitions to a peacetime environment, exhaustive managerial routine produced
by the burden of checklists and excessive training
requirements has great potential for stifling leader
creativity to plan and execute valuable combat training that produces a high level of readiness.
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Building Talented Leaders
Fortunately, a road map to preserve and continue
building heroic leadership is part of the Army’s doctrine. Army Doctrinal Publication (ADP) 6-22 Army
Leadership de f