Why does the army go to the field?

2019-07-25T01:36:25-04:00

Why does the military go to the field so much. I want people's imput on whe we stay in the field so much. I have been to JRTC and almost spend 1/3 of my military career in the field.

Response by SFC Melvin Brandenburg made Jul 25 at 2019 1:38 AM

2019-07-25T01:38:04-04:00

The army by design is a field organization

Response by Capt Michael Wilford made Jul 25 at 2019 1:50 AM

2019-07-25T01:50:38-04:00

You train as you fight; wars are not fought from the comfort of your living room. I am not sure how long you have been in the military, but if you have been in long enough to have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, then you know that the enemy is not fighting from their living rooms, they are bringing the fight from hills, mountains, caves, valleys, and other remote areas. By going to the field, an environment for combat is being created that will give you what you need to survive in combat and to be mission ready when you have to deploy. The old adage, "the more you sweat in training, the less you will bleed in combat," rings true. The other part of going to the filed is to build unit cohesion. Knowing you can trust, in your case, the soldier on your right and on your left, is critical in combat and by training in a combat environment in the filed, you will build that trust. Hope that helps. Best of luck.

Response by SSG Laurie Mullen made Jul 25 at 2019 2:29 AM

2019-07-25T02:29:58-04:00

As much as the field can suck some times, I had tactical MOSs that were best done in a field environment. If you stay in long enough you may end up in a unit that seldom goes to the field and you'll find that the garrison stuff gets old real quick. Embrace the suck, it won't last forever.

Response by SSG Brian G. made Jul 25 at 2019 3:46 AM

2019-07-25T03:46:02-04:00

Simple. The military does not wage war from the barracks. Field time is as close to a simulation of battlefield, real world conditions as one can get.

We train as we fight.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 25 at 2019 8:32 AM

2019-07-25T08:32:29-04:00

Haha! This made me shoot air outta my nose.

Response by SFC Michael D. made Jul 25 at 2019 10:12 AM

2019-07-25T10:12:48-04:00

Have you ever deployed? If not, when you do you'll understand why. If you have deployed then you should already know the answer.

Response by SGT Dave Tracy made Jul 25 at 2019 10:13 AM

2019-07-25T10:13:37-04:00

Because we don't fight wars in day spas anymore.

Response by LCDR Joshua Gillespie made Jul 25 at 2019 11:18 AM

2019-07-25T11:18:53-04:00

The Navy's equivalent is going to sea. What if the Air Force only flew once a year, or the Marines never did amphibious operations rehearsals? I've been fortunate enough to have participated in all four; sleeping (and freezing) on the ground with the Army...spending months out at sea with the Navy...flying aircraft...and launching Marines in shallow water from an LPD. All of it "sucks", and all of it sucks a great deal more when lives are at stake. When it counts, people don't have time to figure out that the rear diff on an up-armored likes to snap, that steering gear on a ship can malfunction, that avionics crap-out, or that there's a "right" and "wrong" way to wear/use your gear. Apart from the obvious "upside" to field time...which is preparedness...all of that "suck" is where we get the "cool points" that separate what we do from other professions, and leads to all sorts of cool t-shirts and Velcro patches (just kidding...Velcro is never cool).

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Jul 25 at 2019 11:50 AM

2019-07-25T11:50:09-04:00

Field training is often more effective than learning from a manual. You learn by rote, doing this over and over again until it becomes secondary in nature.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 25 at 2019 12:56 PM

2019-07-25T12:56:04-04:00

Because Starbucks hates it when we run thru "war games" in their shops. Seriously, the wars and battles are fought in the field, therefore you must train in the field. War/battle theater of operations are some of the most austere environments you can be in. Train as you fight. It's like football practice. You hone your skills in training that way the (hopefully) battles will go your way a lot smoother....or as smoothly as they can go in war.

Response by SGM Bill Frazer made Jul 25 at 2019 1:57 PM

2019-07-25T13:57:46-04:00

Really Lady? 1. Old Axiom- Train as you will fight, Better to sweat than Bleed, etc. My unit in the 82nd Abn Div once had the record of 279 days i the field out of 365- Exercises, Emergency Deployment Exercise/tng, Joint Svc exercises, etc. Unless you are a drone operator, then your 4th POC had better be in the field till your combat/survival craft is perfect.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 25 at 2019 3:42 PM

2019-07-25T15:42:52-04:00

Garrison commander frowns upon the Field Artillery from shooting fire missions from the motor pool.
The experience develops skills required to successfully deploy, fight, and win. Every step, from load plans, loading. PCCs, PCIs, convoys, maintaining equipment in the field, personal hygiene, etc., etc.

Response by SSG Brian G. made Jul 25 at 2019 3:53 PM

2019-07-25T15:53:29-04:00

Ok, first up, we do not stay in the field a lot. In peacetime we are in the field less maybe 15-20% of the time. We train as we fight. Going to the field helps keep the military sharp on skills they learned or should have learned in BCT and AIT. It regularly exposes troops to conditions that need to be rigorously trained in and that honestly there was just not time in BCT or AIT to fully task out. Basic touches on the basic elements of being warfighters, the conditioning and building. AIT instills specific skill set knowledge but without regular practice those skills atrophy.

Land Navigation, patrolling, tactical road marching, digging a fighting position, setting up fields of fire, tactical movement, and many other skills NEED that field environment to be used, utilized.

Response by SGT Philip Roncari made Jul 25 at 2019 5:41 PM

2019-07-25T17:41:08-04:00

The field is our Army’s workplace,if you read anything about our Military’s unpreparedness in past conflicts,ie WWll,Korea the highest casualties resulted when we fielded forces unused to fighting in difficult terrain and weather conditions.

Response by MSG Danny Mathers made Jul 25 at 2019 8:35 PM

2019-07-25T20:35:10-04:00

You bitching about 1/3 in the field? I almost forgot, you serve in the progressive Army; Barak the Destroyer that to you'll I spent at least 2/3 during my career. I spent more time in schools than I spent at home when not in the field or real world operation. CPT Wilford puts it best. However, the Army is not for everyone. You either love or leave it.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 25 at 2019 8:49 PM

2019-07-25T20:49:01-04:00

This is a joke right?

Response by 1LT Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 25 at 2019 11:55 PM

2019-07-25T23:55:00-04:00

I was enlisted for 6 years and spent over a year of that at field exercises (not including ranges, EFMB, etc). The Army’s function is to train to fight and win the nation’s wars. That training can rarely take place inside.

Response by CSM William Everroad made Jul 26 at 2019 1:00 PM

2019-07-26T13:00:11-04:00

As you see in other responses, this was an easy question to answer. Train as you fight. But to add to the discussion, the Army has a pretty deliberate training process. For example: the task of applying a bandage. You first learn how to do it in a controlled environment with no distracting variables. This is done to master the basic task. You do this repeatedly until you can perform the task perfectly and quickly. You build on that skillset by combining it with other variables, times of day, different location of wound. Each time you build in frequency and time. You gradually ramp up intensity by adding distracting variables. Then finally you are evaluated in a tactical field environment. This is just for individual tasks.
All individual tasks are part of larger collective tasks, like react to contact. Field exercises enable Commanders to practice and evaluate the collective tasks that support the mission essential tasks their Company is assigned to complete. So if you are a mechanic, you can fix a helicopter, but can you fix the same helicopter when you are not in the motor pool with access to only the tools the unit would deploy to an operational environment with? What if the flight line was under attack? Can your unit maneuver and engage the enemy to protect resources and lives?
Field exercises are the fundamental and primary way Commanders prepare and evaluate their units for mission readiness. For combat arms units, this is pretty much the only way. It can be difficult for a service support Soldier to see the value because their MOS conducts daily duties that are integral to the functioning of the unit. A mechanic's daily job it to go to the motor pool and maintain equipment, so it can be difficult to see this value just as a PAC clerk goes to the office and processes paperwork. But the mission of the Army requires all of us to hone our basic Soldier skills to ensure that if the day ever comes that our unit deploys to support a contingency operation, we are prepared, as a unit, to execute all individuals tasks that support the mission essential tasks our units are deployed to execute in an operational environment. We get this proficiency from a combination of garrison and field training.

Response by SFC Ralph E Kelley made Jul 26 at 2019 10:16 PM

2019-07-26T22:16:17-04:00

Its to figure out if you know your job as well as you can talk it.
Can you walk the walk?