Improvements Needed in the Army's Program for Developing Extension Training Materials for Use by Soldiers in Field Units

GAO reviewed the Army's program for developing extension training materials to improve individual soldier proficiency in field units, including: (1) indications of low usage of Training Extension Course lessons by soldiers in the field; (2) improvements needed in the process for developing extension training materials; and (3) the need for further evaluation before the Army commits itself to procuring a new electronic information delivery system.

GAO noted that: (1) Army studies, audits, and other data since 1979 have characterized the use of training materials as low for the extension courses; (2) the Army did not have criteria specifying what acceptable usage levels for individual training materials are; and (3) none of the studies or surveys fully explored the reasons for what was characterized and reported as low usage levels. GAO found that the Army has initiated actions to improve its process for developing extension training materials by issuing guidance for development. The U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) stated that materials must be needed and wanted by field units on the basis of the identification of critical tasks; however, GAO found that TRADOC schools were not obtaining field unit input on needs for extension training materials. GAO also found that: (1) the Army planned to procure a new electronic information delivery system to be distributed on the basis of user demand; (2) the Army needs to proceed cautiously in procuring the new system for field use until after it has made the needed management improvements in the program for developing extension training materials; and (3) TRADOC needs to define what the determination of field needs for training products means and include it in its guidance procedures for obtaining field unit input.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Richard Davis Team: General Accounting Office: National Security and International Affairs Division Phone: (202) 275-4141