Linking Future Training Concepts to Army Individual Training Programs

This report presents the results of research seeking to link new Army training concepts for changing institutional training programs to specific occupations and courses. It analyzes, across a range of occupations, alternative training approaches that may be more affordable and flexible than current techniques for individual skill training. The report examines training-related characteristics of Army occupations and identifies general training-related dimensions that characterize Army entry-level enlisted military occupational specialties (MOS). The authors find the principal training-related dimensions include ability requirements, dominant task characteristics (procedural or verbal), similarity to civilian occupations, and resource intensity. The dimensions can be linked to new training concepts under consideration by the Army (i.e., distributed training; use of training aids, devices, simulators, and simulations; use of civilian training sources). The authors find these results useful in suggesting MOS in which particular training concepts and strategies may prove most feasible and cost-effective.