Revised warrior tasks, battle drills set framework for new, seasoned Soldiers alike Published April 27, 2010 By Lisa Alley TRADOC Public Affairs FORT MONROE, Va. -- The foundational skills every Soldier must know, regardless of rank or military job-received a facelift when U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command recently released the Army's new Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills and the Critical Individual Supporting Task List elaborating on those tasks and battle drills. "The Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills drive training, not only in the training base but throughout the Army," said Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, TRADOC's deputy commanding general for Initial Military Training. "The tasks and drills incorporate many of the things we've learned from eight years of combat and related battlefield lessons-learned. They add some things, delete a whole lot more and adjust other tasks that will make basic training a lot more relevant and geared toward the kind of fight we're in now and we'll be in for the next several years." The Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills are not just relevant for Soldiers in basic training. The refined tasks and drills are the fundamental combat skills and key tasks required of all Soldiers-regardless of rank, component, branch or military occupational specialty-and serve as the foundation for all training, education and leader development. Hertling listed the operating force's perception of the tasks and drills being relevant only to Soldiers in basic training as one of the faults of the old list of Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills. Some of the other problems he outlined included: · The former list was too long. · It ended up designing an infantry Soldier as opposed to a "basic" Soldier. · Some of the tasks were not relevant to the majority of Soldiers. · Soldiers couldn't name the tasks and drills, much less perform all of them, and so were not speaking the truth when they claimed "I am proficient in my Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills" when they recited the Soldier's Creed. · Trying to train all the former tasks and drills caused "task paralysis." · The former list didn't account for the new generation of Soldiers, the "Millennials." The Army's last overhaul of the tasks and battle drills was November 2007, although the number of tasks and drills evolved in response to lessons-learned from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. The old tasks and drills list contained roughly 32 tasks-at one point containing 39 or 40 tasks-plus 207 subtasks and 12 battle drills. The new list is streamlined, with 15 tasks, 73 subtasks and four battle drills. "The Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills had almost become too onerous," Hertling said. "Some old tasks and drills introduced in basic training were not relevant-they were not things most Soldiers would use at any point in their careers." The Millennials are a group of Soldiers Hertling has a great interest in. "A new generation of Soldiers, the so-called Millennials, are bringing in capabilities and are very different than we've ever seen before," Hertling said. "The generation of young people coming into the Army now has tremendous talent in terms of being able work as a team, communicate well and not take mindless orders without asking why." Hertling is satisfied the current iteration of the Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills is much more relevant to all Soldiers. "This latest adaptation of the Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills reinforces the shared responsibility between the operating and generating forces in training Soldiers and leaders and building capable units and formations," he said. The quest to achieve a unified vision between operating and generating forces' training of Soldiers started with a review by a committee consisting of Soldiers of all ranks from both the training base and in operational units. After this committee revised the Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills, they were extensively vetted with all major commands. "Over a couple-month period, we pulled together some folks and really took a hard look at what should be the defining task of every Soldier-what should every Soldier be able to do?" Hertling said. Hertling listed two examples of tasks that were no longer relevant and were cut from the revised Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills: emplace a claymore mine and shoot a 50-caliber machine gun. "We were spending an awful lot of time and consuming an awful lot of resources just to give an introduction to something the great majority of Soldiers would never do again," Hertling explained. What Hertling said had not been cut was bayonet training. "We aren't giving up the bayonet; it's just not going to be attached to the end of the rifle. In fact, that's one of the major changes we've made is combatives," he said. "It's no longer the fighting of an inanimate object." "We're teaching Soldiers to stand up and fight, as opposed to wrestle on the ground, which the past combatives used to do," he explained. Another new aspect of the revised Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills is the additio of cultural training. "We show them how to adjust not only to the Army culture-from a civilian environment when they first join but also help them understand their career in the service will be a continual requirement to adapt to other cultures as they travel around the world and do what they do," Hertling said. Changes in basic training are already being implemented, but it will probably be July before IMT is "running on all cylinders" on the new program of instruction. After Soldiers are introduced to the new Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills during IMT, they will be expected to continue to gain proficiency during advanced training in the schoolhouse and in their operational units. The revised tasks and battle drills can be found at https://atn.army.mil.