Cost Effective Soldier Training

Prior to deploying overseas, U.S. Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) provides soldiers with realistic training regarding what they can expect to encounter when they get to their new duty stations. FORSCOM does this at two specialized training facilities within the U.S., and uses outside contractors to perform a variety of cultural awareness, foreign language and role-playing functions within the training. In order to standardize training at both locations, increase its effectiveness and reduce costs, FORSCOM used Lean Six Sigma to analyze operations at both training sites. Extensive Voice of the Business and Voice of the Customer (actual soldiers and the overseas posting locations that needed their services) data was collected which showed that the amount of contractor support could be reduced substantially. Savings of $17 million were realized through a 58% reduction in labor cost for training exercises. 

Problem

U.S. Army Forces Command (FORSCOM)—headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia-- trains, mobilizes, deploys, sustains, transforms, and reconstitutes conventional forces; thereby providing relevant and ready land power to Combatant Commanders worldwide.  This extensive mission includes mobilization and training of continental U.S. based resources (roughly 80% of the Army) at various locations.

FORSCOM uses two Combat Training Centers (CTCs) in the United States to train soldiers prior to overseas deployments. These are the National Training Center (NTC) located at Fort Irwin, California and the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) located at Fort Polk, Louisiana.  These training centers are staffed and operated to accurately simulate on-the-ground conditions at various overseas locations. In order to operate these facilities efficiently, HQ FORSCOM leadership needed to determine the appropriate size and funding for the “Civilians on the Battlefield (COB)” contingent required to conduct Mission Rehearsal Exercises (MRE) at the CTCs.  (Note: The term “Civilian on the Battlefield” means non-solider individuals that provide training simulation at the CTCs .The U.S. does not deploy civilians at actual “battlefield” locations). The MRE events needed support from non-soldier personnel to provide cultural awareness training, perform a variety of role-playing parts and serve as linguists and foreign language speakers to make them as authentic and useful to the soldiers as possible.

 Approach

To define the Voice of the Business and Voice of the Customer (soldiers and overseas locations receiving soldiers) requirements for COB personnel, FORSCOM leadership assigned a Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Black Belt team to analyze the issue.  The objective was to create an efficient and effective training methodology and to standardize contractor and civilian resource support (COB personnel) at the CTCs during training operations. 

The team started with collection of historical data on MRE training practices at the two CTCs.  This information was compared in order to define the current state of the training process, and to identify differences between the two locations (NTC and JRTC).  The current state data from the NTC and JRTC training scenarios was evaluated by FORSCOM senior study groups for differences.  These study groups evaluated each location for alignment of soldier training with the needs of current overseas engagements and the needs of forward operating locations.  This Voice of the Business analysis enabled the team to identify opportunities for improvement and training standardization between the CTCs.  The study groups made recommendations for a new standardized MRE training scenario which included the numbers of foreign language speakers, civilian training resources, and contractors needed to support a MRE.  These recommendations became the FORSCOM interim training guidance for regulatory control. 

Results

These recommendations reduced the resources needed to support training while improving overall training effectiveness.  This effort provided an annual cost reduction of $17 million that was realized from a 58% reduction in labor cost for the Mission Rehearsal Exercise.  Additional benefits were realized through standardization of training delivery. The improved training consistency also increased the effectiveness of the training and better prepared soldiers for deployment.