What 30 Years in the Army Taught Me About Training

Over my three decades in the U.S. Army, I trained new recruits in the U.S., Desert Storm teams in Iraq, anti-IED units in Afghanistan, and cadets at West Point. Today, I’m committed to using that knowledge to shape technologies empowering warfighters to own their future.

The U.S. is moving fast to counter threats, but the race keeps accelerating. Moreover, threats are always evolving. When I was on active duty, I saw this firsthand—most memorably during my time with the Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Organization (JIDO).

I had climbed the ranks from a drill sergeant at Fort Leonard Wood to a combat engineer serving in installations in the U.S., Germany, Iraq, and Kuwait, and now I was a command sergeant major in the JIDO. There I led road clearance patrols and traveled across Iraq and Afghanistan to help soldiers counter improvised explosive devices (IED).

It was challenging work: An IED could look like a letter, a can, a bottle, a rock, and many other common objects. Just as we thought we had a handle on a tactic, an ingenious new disguise would show up, fashioned from cheap technology that can be rapidly adapted. We’d send descriptions to a rapid prototyping lab so we could get a copy manufactured to incorporate in training that same week.

We were moving fast, but insurgents were moving faster, thanks to clever use of commercial technology. And today the dangers have multiplied, with sophisticated threats from competitor nations like China and Russia in addition to improvised weapons that can surface anywhere.

Now defense leaders are tapping into new capabilities to counter adversaries. They’re using commercial advances in groundbreaking ways, thanks to key developments like AI, higher processing power, and proactive cybersecurity. This opens powerful possibilities for training.

I’ve always been an advocate of live, hands-on training. Technology enables the Department of Defense (DOD) to speed results from in-person sessions on the shooting range or in the sky. I’m talking about supplementing physical training in the field with realistic scenarios using augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) and live, virtual, constructive, gaming (LVC/G). These, in turn, are supported by rapid prototyping along with modeling and simulation to ensure accurate routines and fast updates.

Today’s warfighters are technology-driven from the time they’re young, so they understand how to get the most out of new tech. I feel it’s imperative to use this aptitude to help them achieve their potential while moving the nation's defense capabilities forward.

Now we come to my favorite point: data. Metrics transform the way warfighters master the mission. When warfighters experience embedded metrics that deliver real-time data, every session is transformed into a personalized experience, empowering users at every level. Warfighters can train anywhere, anytime, optimizing that precious time on the physical field. Commanders can review individual and team results and receive recommendations for helping teams outperform every expectation.

And here’s the beauty of it: Data doesn’t lie. Over my career, I’ve heard plenty of guesswork and opinions—and I’ve held a few myself. Now commanders and warfighters have actual data to inform their decisions and guide their next steps. This is what accelerates results.

I enjoy walking DOD leaders through a few “I wish I had this when I was in the service” scenarios. For example:

• Mission planning. I remember the days of waiting until leaders at far-flung active-duty installations could gather in the combat training center to plan an exercise or operation. Now all can meet virtually via a digital twin or accelerated readiness app, look at the real terrain for that location, test simulated courses of action—and then use data to choose the best course of action.
• Human performance. If I’d had wearables for my teams in Iraq, I could have watched for metrics like sleep patterns and heart rate to determine the optimum time to have them on the road searching for IEDs. It would also have let me assess soldiers’ stress levels. My teams would have had mission metrics and biometrics to self-evaluate, and I could have viewed aggregate scores to see which team was best for each mission.  
• Accelerated training. Time and money were my two most precious commodities, and I know it’s the same today. I think how I could have saved both if I’d had my team doing virtual exercises to increase proficiency before they even hit the range—with ammunition left over for another live exercise. And if I’d had footage from a soldier’s training or operation performance captured with 360 video immersive training, I could have instantly pinpointed problem areas to speed improvement.
• Large-scale exercises. Imagine walking virtually through an entire cycle, for example, a multidomain exercise to build partnership capacity: movement to contact, calling for fire, taking casualties, and calling for a 9-line medevac. It would have been a dream for me in the field, but it’s a reality today.
  

I like that Booz Allen puts data, technology, and mission understanding together. Tech teams have access to experts in over 100 locations to rapidly design the right data-enabled tech—for example, an LVC scenario—and update it on the fly. Today Booz Allen is influencing training from curriculum development to LVC/G training to large-scale exercises.

Going back to my time at JIDO, there’s an incident I’ll never forget. I was at a checkpoint in Iraq when I heard an explosive go off in a truck behind me. I went back and saw the Iraqi driver was badly injured. It all happened so fast; there was nothing I could do. The man died in my arms.

If I had been able to virtually bring in someone to tell me how to stabilize his injury, I believe I could have saved his life. Today I’m privileged to work toward making telemedicine—and many other forward-leaning tools—an everyday mission capability. I can’t change the past, but I can use lessons from the past to transform the future.