It used to be that to be in the military, you had to have a willingness to work hard, and to learn all the skills on the job. Guts, grit and determination were all that you need. But now we are in a different time, and with different times come different methods. Today’s military Servicemember has to be smarter, and more focuses on both traditional learning on the job, but also able to adapt to classroom and more formal education.
A Marine infantryman is on the front lines. He calls for fire support. In earlier times he would have received artillery fire from another Marine unit, or a Marine Air asset. But now he often will get help from a Naval unit, or a Air Air helicopter. Perhaps he will have a Navy fighter squadron respond to his call.
The military today is working together at a unprecedented level. Each of the Armed Forces has its own unique ability and identity, but they also are cooperating and helping meet the mission first, with the lines between the services being blurred. With the added cooperation comes the need for better education, and more standardizations of training methods. This was slow to begin, but starting after the Vietnam conflict we began to see a greater level of cooperation.
The joint forces of the United States is now not just an idea, but reality. The U.S. Armed forces Servicemember must fight as it trains. If the training, and the education is there, then the ability to work together and achieve the mission is dramatically improved. The United States Military no longer merely faces Army or Navy from other countries with traditional standing forces. Training now has to include both fighting for major combat environments, but also training and education for small, unknown contingencies. The ability to perform the mission is now largely based on the kind and the quality of the education that the soldiers and Servicemembers involved have received.
As a military force we are moving slowly from a huge, standing Army or standing Navy model, to more flexible, smaller units. We are seeing a large amount of cross training, between the services, and service units from one Service serving under the command and accomplishing missions with Servicemembers from another Service. Underneath all the cooperation is a basic fact: The need for trained, educated soldiers is growing, not getting smaller.
Training and increased education of our forces will result in a more adaptive, more successful U.S. Military. We will have the ability to truly continue to be a world leader in providing security and keeping peace throughout the world.
