The U.S. Army and Marine Corps support units are not receiving their required combat training, and the training they do receive is often inconsistent, according to the government’s watchdog agency.

Government Accountability Office (GAO) auditors focused on U.S. Central Command (CentCom) requirements for support units to receive combat training before deployment to Afghanistan and Iraq.

“Interpretations of the requirements vary and some trainees receive detailed, hands-on training for a particular task while others simply observe a demonstration of the task. In addition, while the Army and Marine Corps are training their forces on most of CentCom’s required tasks, service members are not being trained on some required tasks prior to deploying,” the report states.

The report cites Humvee rollover training as an example of inconsistency, which it blames on a lack of CentCom standards. See cover story, Page 16.

“At one Marine Corps site, training officials explained that [Humvee] rollover training could be completed in less than a half hour,” the report states. “On the other hand, trainers at one Army training site noted that their [Humvee] rollover training consisted of a full day of training that included a classroom overview and hands-on practice in a simulator with both day and night scenarios, pyrotechnics to simulate improvised explosive devices, and the incorporation of casualty evacuation procedures.”

CentCom requires nonlethal weapons training for support units, but the Marines told GAO the requirement doesn’t apply to them, and the Army says it doesn’t have the resources for it, according to the report. CentCom also requires improvised explosive device and first-aid training to include classroom and practical instruction, but doesn’t specify what training materials are to be used or standards for success.

Neither service can fully track whether support units have completed their required training, according to GAO. Despite the advent of the Army’s Digital Training Management System, training for many support units is still tracked with paper and spreadsheet.

Assigning support units combat training once they are in theater won’t work because support units aren’t notifying CentCom that the training was skipped in the first place.

GAO credited the services with collecting after-action reviews but faulted trainers for not sharing with each other changes made based on lessons learned.

“At one training site we visited, trainers were teaching Army Reserve support forces who had not been mobilized specific tactics for entering and clearing buildings, while other trainers at the same site were teaching soldiers who had been mobilized different tactics for the same task,” the auditors said.

GAO recommended that CentCom promulgate clearer standards for mandatory training, while the Army and Marine Corps should include CentCom minimum training standards in their own service requirements.

— Michael Peck