The United States (U.S.) response to events in Africa in the 1990s--warlords in Somalia, the genocide in Rwanda, the crisis in Burundi, and the destruction of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania--was the development of the African Crisis Response Initiative (ACRI) followed by the African Contingency Operations Training and Assistance (ACOTA)…

Physical training is a significant element of Marine Corps basic training which may affect nonfitness basic training outcomes in addition to improving fitness. If so, physical training side effects should be considered when designing and evaluating physical training programs. This study capitalized on naturally occurring platoon differences in…

Symposium papers presented are: (1) The Perspective of a Testing Psychologist Who Conducts Orientation Programs for New Test Constructors by Walter Birdsall; (2) The Perspective of a Military Supervisor of Test Constructors Who Are Temporarily Brought in from the Field to Write Tests by David Vaughn; (3) The Perspective of a Civilian Test…

This paper identifies, structures, and defines a list of cost elements that is intended to describe fully the life-cycle cost of any formal program, course, or device for individual training of Department of Defense personnel. It was developed to provide consistent, comparable, and credible evaluations of the cost-effectiveness of alternative…

Currently, there is concern about the quality of Navy training. This concern is best exemplified by the present debate over the adequacy of "self-pacing" in Navy training courses. This paper illuminates some perceptions surrounding self-pacing in Navy training, explores some realities of Navy training, and presents a recommendation about…

Twenty-five experienced F-4 and F-16 Air Force pilots were instructed in carrier landings in the Visual Technology Research Simulator (VTRS). The training was conducted under three instructional conditions, two of which employed the simulator's "freeze" feature. Additionally, two methods of defining errors for carrier glideslope tracking…

Methods for better utilizing simulated combat systems for training officers are required by the Marine Corps to ensure efficient acquisition of combat decision-making skills. In support of this requirement, a review and analysis of several combat training systems helped to identify a set of major training problems. These included the small number…

Basic skills training in the United States Navy has become increasingly important as the quality of the recruit population has declined and the job demands faced by enlisted personnel have expanded. This training is aimed at that group of recruits who cannot read well enough to be successful in service schools. The Navy first initiated programs…

This report evaluates the effectiveness and efficiency of individualized instruction compared to conventional instruction. The report provides information concerning relationships among student ability, school performance, and fleet supervisory ratings for 5,811 graduates of 19 Navy "A" schools and three pre-"A" school basic…

The Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO) has applied human factors and behavioral science principles to improve the training and performance of Army personnel. Military training now emphasizes decentralized decision-making, use of individualized instruction, and increased flexibility in training approaches. Research conducted by HumRRO…

Military training parallels vocational education in that both systems are preparing students for specific jobs, and both systems are concerned with the productivity of that training, i.e., how effective training is. A private human resource contractor provided training help to the Army for two programs: TRAINFIRE, in which the contractor provided…

A training effectiveness evaluation of the Navy Advanced Fire Fighting Training System was conducted. This system incorporates simulated fires as well as curriculum materials and instruction. The fires are non-pollutant, computer controlled, and installed in a simulated shipboard environment. Two teams of 15 to 16 persons, with varying amounts of…

A study of U.S. Air Force simulator training was conducted to identify factors that influence the effectiveness of such training and to learn how its effectiveness is being determined. The research consisted of a survey of ten representative Air Force simulator training programs and a review of the simulator training research literature. A number…

Programed instruction is defined here as the use of a set of engineering techniques for applying learning principles in an instructional situation. Military commanders and their staff who may be interested in programed instruction for their training programs are offered a general view of what is involved in automating instruction. The…

A transfer-of-training design was used to evaluate the contributions of simulator training with synergistic six-degrees-of-freedom platform motion to aerobatic skills acquisition in the novice pilot. Thirty-six undergraduate pilot trainees were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups: motion, no-motion, and control. Those in the control…