The soldiers refer to it as "death by power point." Every soldier must attend, including officers and command staff. They are a series of briefings that are intended to disseminate information on a range of topics that are considered essential for every soldier. The theory is sound; the execution needs polish.

A quick overview of the topics to be covered, and one could almost develop a keen anticipation for what is come. Mini-classes on Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), Rules of Engagement, Subversion and Espionage Against the Department of the Army, Preventive Health, Sexual Harassment, Media Awareness, Chaplain Brief, and Finance. However, any hope and expectation quickly passed with the reality of the day.

I was following Major Strong, since the majority of the soldiers had already attended these same lectures in mass. The group that the Major was with were all officers or senior NCO's. The live lectures had been reduced to poorly recorded DVD's which had the unnerving habit of skipping and stuttering. As I entered the classroom, the Major walked to the door to great me. "This is just painful."

There is no doubt that this portion of the training is challenging for any army, let alone rotations of 6000 soldiers. And in fairness to the Army, the fact that these classes are even held is statement to their desire to enhance the awareness of the soldier in a broad range of areas. That said, the idea of instruction, especially mass instruction requiring soldiers to literally sit in a seat for hours, requires innovative ways to present the topics while maintaining interest. Simply herding a mass of soldiers into a large room for a power-point lecture, or sitting a command staff down in front of a television monitor to listen to dry, mono-tone lectures on topics that should be of interest, is out of touch with the needs and demands of the soldiers of today's army. As one soldier said, "It's like being in prison for the day."

The room in which Major Strong was attending lectures was an additional complication. Littered with stacked tables and chairs, with an "Out of Order" Men's bathroom and a plugged toilet in the Women's bathroom, you would think that this was indeed some sort of trial by "prison." Even more frustrating was that these facilities are not maintained by the 41st Brigade, but instead, by the full-time component of this post, Camp Shelby. As another soldier stated, "Afghanistan will seem easy after this."

Preparing for deployment is a challenging process. It tasks a range of resources, requiring innovation, responsiveness and creativity outside the normal limits of drill and ceremony. As video stumbled through its attempts to play, I had to agree with the Army's own instruction on Media Awareness, "Our best spokesman are our soldiers." Indeed...

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Copyright, Scott Kesterson- 2006

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