PART I. TRAINING IN THE ARMED SERVICES

1. Scope and Objectives of Armed Forces Training

"THE ULTIMATE purpose of all military training is the assurance f victory in the event of war. Such assurance will guarantee the domestic eace and the international security of our people. The conditions which ice the Army of the United States in war cannot be definitely foreseen. : must be trained to function effectively in any type of war, in any imate and terrain." This statement of the purpose of military training, und in the Basic Field Manual on Military Training of the United tates Army, illustrates the spirit and scope of the training program that as created our great army which is the spearhead of victory and liberaon throughout the world. A similar philosophy actuates those who have uilt and led our naval forces to victory. The leaders of our Army and avy have faced a stupendous task in bringing their great forces to their resent fighting peak. In September, 1939, when war broke out in urope, there were less than 200,000 men in the United States Army, nd less than 100,000 in the Navy. By January 1, 1943, there were 7 illion men in the 2 Armed Services, and 2 years later, at the end of 944, there are approximately 12 million persons on our military and aval rolls. Moreover, our international security has been menaced, our ighting services have had to face many unforeseen conditions, and have ad to fight in every climate and terrain.

In order to train 12 million soldiers and sailors, marines and coast. quardsmen, and their feminine counterparts, the Army and Navy have organized and conducted one of the greatest adult schools in history. One out of every 9 adults in this country-11 out of 14 able-bodied men beween 18 and 38 years of age-have been students in this school. Nine out of 10 graduates of the school are trained as specialists for more than a thousand different military and naval tasks. In the Army alone there are 650 different specialized jobs to fill. As of June, 1944, the Navy maintained 947 different schools to give the kinds and degrees of training which it requires.1

Some idea of the nature, scope, and extent of the training programs. which have had to be provided can be gathered from a summary of the training and experience required for the crew of a battleship and the members of an infantry regiment.

1Admiral King's Report to the Secretary of the Navy, March 1945.

The crew of a large battleship represents at least 1,500 aggregate years of training and 2,500 years of experience. Of the 2,000 enlisted men in the crew of a battleship:

1. All are required to have 8 weeks' basic training.

2. Five hundred are required to have an additional 16 weeks' naval technical training beyond basic training.

3. Another 500 must have this training and an additional advanced training course (32 weeks or more).

4. Another 500 must have had sea experience, and at least one term in Fleet School, or another of the advanced training schools.

5. About 80 percent of the men must complete the equivalent of trade schoo courses during their naval service.

6. All must continue to study and undergo training as long as they are active service.

For the complement of 2,000 men there are 2,000 assigned jobs, each one specialized.

Of the 3,000 men in the average infantry regiment each combat soldier must have:

1. 14 weeks' individual training.

2. 12 weeks' unit training (which prepares the infantry regiment to operat as a unit).

3. 12 weeks' combined training (which prepares the infantry regiment to operate in combination with air, artillery, and other units).

4. 8 to 10 weeks' field maneuvers.

The service specialists in the regiment (drivers, cooks, clerks, com munications experts, mechanics, armorers, reconnaissance and intelligent men, ammunition and pioneer details, and medical sections) are detailed somewhere in the process for 8 to 12 weeks' specialized training, then returned for continued training with their units. It is estimated that it takes 3,000 man-years of training to put an infantry regiment into the field.'

2. Pattern of Military and Naval Training

The need for training has grown rather than diminished as our armed forces have reached their peak strength. Prior to our entrance into the war and during the first year of the war a substantial proportion of the requirements for skilled men was met from the skilled civilian specialists who were inducted. In June, 1941, 424 inductees out of every 1,000 had specialized skills useful to the Army; in January, 1943, only 205 out of every 1,000 had such skills. Out of every 100,000 men inducted as of January 1, 1943, the Army needed 1,193 radio operators. It received 30 per 100,000. Out of the same number of inductees it needed 2,092 tele

2 Office of War Information Report on Education in the Armed Forces. The OWI Washington 25, D. C., August, 1943.

phone linemen. It got 83. Early in 1943, there also began to appear shortages in auto mechanics, construction carpenters, clerk-typists, elecEricians, hospital orderlies, medical technicians, riggers, telephone operators, and utility repairmen. Thus the cream of the civilian specialists was drawn off early.

Furthermore, at the same time that the supply of trained civilian specialists available for military service was beginning to be exhausted, the ge characteristics of the incoming inductees began to change quite apidly. The 3,800,000 inductees drawn into the services in 1943 represented the last of the pool of 18-38 year olds. Dependence for additional ncrements of manpower has, therefore, had to be placed increasingly ipon young men just turning 18 years. The training programs of the Services have had to be geared to the need for making efficient soldiers ind sailors out of youth without substantial technical training or occupaional experience.

Four kinds of training go into the building of an Army combat force: asic, technical, tactical, and logistic. Basic training makes a soldier out of a civilian. Technical training teaches him his specialty assignment. Tactical training teaches a soldier how to be effective in battle, a combat eam how to work as a unit, an officer how to control a combat team. ogistic training teaches the science of housing, moving, and supplying roops. The proportion of these kinds of training will depend upon the Assignment of the man. Training is organized to meet the needs of the job, and insofar as possible the needs of the man.

A typical pattern of training for the Army develops somewhat as follows:

From the Induction Center, where he is taken into the Army, the soldier proceeds to:

1. A Reception Center, where he is assigned to a Receiving Company, outfitted with uniform and equipment, and given the Army General Classification and other tests to ascertain the specialized job for which he is best fitted. He is next sent to:

2. A Replacement Training Center or Training Unit, Such as a Division. At the Replacement Training Center he receives 17 weeks of basic training, although he may be detached during the course to go to a technical school. Here he is taught the basic military disciplines and undergoes rigorous physical conditioning.

He is then assigned to Advanced Training in:

(a) A combat unit.

(b) An Army technical school for 8 weeks or more.

(c) An Army Specialized Training Unit-prior to its recent discontinuance— for 3 months or more on a college campus.

(d) An Officer Candidate School.

If the inductee is assigned to the Navy, he proceeds from the Induction | Station to:

1. A Naval Training Station ("boot camp") for 8 weeks. Here he is taught the basic naval disciplines and undergoes rigorous physical conditioning. At the end of 8 weeks he is:

2. Recommended for Midshipman Reserve School and a commission.

3. Recommended for an immediate rating as a petty officer and assigned to land or sea duty.

4. Assigned to sea service, where his training goes on as part of a combat unit

or

5. Sent to a Navy Service School for 16 weeks' technical training, after which he is detailed to sea or shore duty, or more advanced training.

If the serviceman is selected for Navy pilot training, his progress will be as follows:

1. Flight Preparatory School for 12 weeks on a college campus where he will study mathematics and physics and take a course in physical conditioning 2. Preliminary Flight School. Here the flight screening is done. In 12 weeks the student pilot receives about 50 hours of flight training and 240 period of ground school.

3. Pre-Flight School-if he qualifies-for 12 weeks of gruelling physical com ditioning.

4. Primary Flight School for another 12 weeks, where he receives 168 periods of ground school and 85 hours of flight training.

5. Intermediate Flight School for 14 more weeks, during which he gets 14 periods of ground school and 120 hours of flight training.

6. Operational Training for 8 weeks, including 80 more periods of grom! school and 100 hours of flight training. Only then after 70 weeks-1,40 periods of ground school and 300 hours of flight training, during which time 35 percent of his fellows have washed out-is the serviceman assigned to active duty in a Navy plane.3

Office of War Information Report on Education in the Armed Forces. The OWI Washington 25, D. C., August, 1943.

IN THE ARMED SERVICES

. Scope and Nature of Training Aids Used in the Armed Forces REFERENCE HAS BEEN made in a previous section of this report the belief of the Committee that one of the three most important spects of the training programs of the Armed Forces is the "utilization I the tools and procedures of experiential learning to the utmost degree, $ specially exemplified in the widespread use of training aids, includig audio-visual aids." The Armed Forces are using training aids in every onceivable physical situation. Their quantitative production may in some ses stagger the imagination of civilian educators, accustomed as they re to limited budgets.

For example, the Bureau of Naval Personnel has distributed more an 3,000,000 small blinker gadgets for use in learning code. It is estiated that the Armed Services have since 1940 created six times the uantity of audio-visual aids created for use in civilian education in all he time before World War II. The creation and use of other types of aining aids has been on an equally impressive scale.

Virtually all forms of training aids have found use in the programs f the Services. The most important training aids observed by the Comittee are as follows:

1. Textbooks and manuals.-The Field Manuals, Technical Manuals, and Field Service Regulations of the Army are examples. These contain the official doctrine and procedures to be followed in training. It is through these media that instruction is standardized.

2. Bulletins, pamphlets, and periodicals.—Our War, which is a news periodical published monthly by the Army for use in Special Training Units, is an example. The Bureau of Navy Personnel Training Bulletin (formerly the TRAINING DIVISION LETTER), a monthly magazine, is another.' A wide variety of these materials are published in both Services. They carry information and serve to stimulate those responsible for training and are valuable supplements to the more formal official orders and the like. 3. Training films and film strips.-Both films and film strips are intensively used. They have been prepared in 35-mm size on a wide variety of subjects and for many different purposes. Some film strips are accompanied by Illustrated Instructor's References.

4. Pictures and graphic portfolios.-Every variety of presentation is found under this group. A common approach is the use of graphic portfolios, sets of display boards about 3 x 4 feet. They are frequently used to show

Availability of Navy training aids to civilian educational activities is currently imited to a few films released through the U. S. Office of Education, and to several special preinduction training programs. Extension of availability and liaison in this Connection is anticipated as naval requirements permit.