Oddly enough, many of the OPME courses (taken by many NCMs and required for all officers) spend considerable time discussing the importance of socializing new recruits to our military ethos and of inculcating those pers to our culture. The formative stage where this needs to happen is basic training (all of BMQ/BMOQ, environmental qual, and basic occupation qual).
The appropriateness of a smart-phone/PED policy (any such policy, not just this particular one here) can only be judged in the context of how it impacts the successful indoctrination to the military family and life. A policy that purges extraordinary quantities of candidates because it is so alien to the modern generation is just as bad as a policy which graduates service members without the necessary values and work ethic. It is possible that this new policy is an improvement when viewed macroscopically from the end product coming out of the occupational schools.
As I mentioned earlier, some US Army schools have integrated issued PEDs (iPhones) into their programmes to exploit the cultural addiction of the current recruit base. This does not have to be an all or nothing consideration.
Grimaldus said:
So more people are passing basic only to quit for other reasons down the road. 66% more recruits pass basic, the same amount apparently release shortly after for various reasons.
I hope you were not one previously complaining of the suspect nature of the statistics used to make the new policy. At best, there is also not yet the data to statistically assess this impact. Anecdotally, this may be the case. However, all the other uncontrolled variables all ready identified continue to exist and impact on the courses beyond BMQ ... including the nagging fact that the numbers are boarder-line statistically significant and the individuals were a sample biased full of questionable performers.
MAJONES said:
It needs to be pointed out that BMQ is not only about teaching, it is about selection. One of the objectives of BMQ is to filter out those individuals that just can not or will not be able to function in the military.
"
They" would tell you that the recruiting center is to be the point of selection, and the job of training systems is to get the selected to the required standard. Maybe "
they" are right or maybe "
they" are wrong. In any case ....
MAJONES said:
What is currently acceptable or normal in society as a whole has no bearing whatsoever on what the military needs from it's members.
True, but where a requirement of service culture is so alien, to the current generation of recruits, that it is a principle driving-factor in training systems failures - should we throw candidates into the deep-end of the pool on day one and demand them to swim or could we gain greater success building them up and throwing them into that same deep-end at the start of environmental training instead
I know of Army schools that have established indoctrination policies that apply to all DP1 training (across MOS trained within those schools) and with additional protocols specific to officer DP1 courses to further emphasis leadership characteristics. The specific stressors used for indoctrination are specifically prescribed (including access to cellphones/PEDs, access to base amenities, working hours, lights-out times, limitations on movement, participation in sports/fitness/team-building, restrictions on alcohol, etc), minimum durations of indoctrination are given, and the the standards (both team and individual) of evaluation are defined to earn progressive levels of independence.
I would hope every CF training establishment has such a policy if it is responsible for such training. Earlier in this thread it was suggested that the iPhone/PED standard was not uniform across CFLRS. If true, this lack of uniformity is equally as bad as a questionable policy now in place on PEDs. Given the importance of CFLRS as the first stage of indoctrination - the level of indoctrination should be clearly defined. PED policies can then be measured both against the quality and quantity of out-put. Subsequent training establishments could then also count on a specific standard of service member arriving for further training (and in turn develop their indoctrination plans/policies from this start point).
I would hope that the Army also has an indoctrination policy for BMQL because it is run at four different training establishments - if such a policy exists, I am unaware of it. This would ensure a uniform standard of soldier arriving at Army schools for occupational training.
... So, for those in the know, what is the CFLRS plan for indoctrination (or is there such a plan)?
