Has the Army gotten away from training?

SFC Smith:

Not for me. Here's what goes down in my company at least (apologies for the length. I'm bored today)...

For me it's been all about my Company Commander blocking off white space in the training calendar for SGT's time. That happened after a little PL begging but now the boss doesn't touch us for those 4 hrs a week.

After that, the PLs work with their SLs and each SL comes up with a four or five slider and the PL approves the training, PSG resources, and boom it happens. The PL also has a collective task list nested off of the Company METL and sergeants time training needs to reflect the CTL.

The big thing I ask my SLs is: does your Sergeants time training reflect upcoming training events, e.g. Are you practicing battle drill 6 when we have an FTX coming up in a few months focusing on UO/MOUT?

If you don't have dedicated white space, it probably won't happen. Taskings arise so I doubt you'll ever have 100% participation but the majority of your platoon will be much better off during field problems.

I remember reading an article discussing the intensive amount of administrative requirements we have at the company level. The conclusion was if a Reserve Component unit executed all of the required administrative training and tasks to standard they would need more than the 39 days per year they're assigned.

I think we've lost sight of what our priorities should be. I've spent entire drill weekends doing nothing but mandatory briefs. While the administrative piece is certainly important, it does not win wars. The Marine Corps is leading the way on changing this, by lessening a lot of the admin requirements or allowing them to be done at the Commander's discretion. The Army would be wise to follow suit.

You're certainly not wrong. My somewhat brief experience has varied, some people push for training to standard, but other individuals side with "do we really have to know this? we're not *** infantry so why are we doing this?", and sometimes people just would rather go with the flow until they get off work.
Sometimes it's meeting or too many people have appointments. A lot of things just get in the way of sergeants time training in the rear. Sometimes command will organize and FTX, and while I hear the groans of having to go out in the field, I try to get what I can out of doing the training for a few days or however long.
I think maybe we rely on volunteering rather often, what do you think? I've seen the- ok who is doing what and when and how are you doing it- versus just assigning it and setting a standard to get the results and train to standard not time.
Example, I'm now answering directly to my Captain on deployment. We still find time to train. I'm only a few months out of training and she graduated Vet school and came into the Army the past year, and we still do our jobs and work hard, but make sure to train and be prepared for things like any kind of emergency situation or things we don't just pick up in our daily routine. It's good training, and yes sometimes at first it's like ahh we have to go practice this or whatever, but I'd rather get it and be confident in my capabilities.
My point is that it may not always seem like the most convenient thing in our schedule, but it needs done and can be an indication of who wants to be there.