FORT RUCKER, Ala. — After a scathing authorities watchdog probe into tactical automobile rollovers, Army leaders are working to overtake the service’s driver coaching program, in keeping with the Army’s prime security official. Any modifications ought to roll out in a couple of yr, he informed Army Occasions.
The Authorities Accountability Workplace report “actually resonated with each the Army and the Marine Corps…it informed us what we wanted to listen to,” stated Brig. Gen. Andrew Hilmes in a Monday afternoon interview.
Hilmes instructions the Army Fight Readiness Middle, which oversees service-wide security efforts and investigations. He additionally serves because the service’s prime security officer advising the chief of workers.
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One of many GAO’s findings faulted the Army’s decentralized driver coaching mannequin, saying that native grasp drivers and company-level license instructors and examiners weren’t capable of constantly implement the coaching program, which was “weak to competing” with different priorities and continuously condensed.
These issues have been due partly to a scarcity of “efficiency standards and measurable requirements” for licensing and coaching past an preliminary highway check designed to certify daytime driving on flat terrain.
In response, Hilmes revealed, a Pentagon planning group has been working to fully overhaul the way in which the Army trains its drivers. Beforehand, the service’s solely publicly acknowledged change to driver coaching was to enhance program oversight by establishing a centralized course for grasp drivers and delineating roles and duties for troops concerned in executing the coaching.
“I feel you’ll see one thing within the subsequent yr,” stated Hilmes, who added that the working group has been creating the brand new program since final summer time.
The explanations for the replace transcend the GAO report, too, defined Hilmes.
“With regards to driving…tactical autos, the goalposts are sort of transferring on us slightly bit,” the final stated. “Proper now, one in 5 troopers getting into the Army doesn’t have a civilian driver’s license…20 years in the past, it was 10%.”
What modifications could also be coming?
Hilmes stated the core of the upcoming driver coaching modifications shall be “clearly delineated” duties, circumstances and requirements that drivers should full for every automobile they function.
There’ll probably be totally different units of requirements for various driving environments, too, he stated. That shall be a significant shift in philosophy. The present program certifies troops to easily drive in the course of the day on flat surfaces, and different expertise, like nighttime driving, are left to particular person items.
“It’s going to be much more prescriptive,” Hilmes defined. The forthcoming program will probably embrace a structured development mannequin for floor drivers that mirrors people who develop aviators.
Hilmes hinted that the service is leaning in the direction of creating proficiency ranges for drivers that will signify a soldier’s expertise with a particular automobile. When somebody passes the preliminary highway check for a automobile, they’re a “primary driver” beneath this idea.
“I feel the place they’re going is after you accumulate so many hours accident-free, perhaps now you’re thought-about an intermediate driver,” he stated, suggesting that sure missions might require automobile drivers to have a sure stage of certification. “I feel that’s the route the place we’re headed.”
The updates to this system will probably embrace extra outlined coaching eventualities for every automobile, Hilmes added, although these particulars received’t be accessible till the brand new program is unveiled.
The overall additionally believes that the shift will power items to raised observe how skilled their drivers are, which is able to assist commanders higher pair skilled drivers with inexperienced ones to mitigate dangers throughout coaching.
“We stink at logging miles for drivers,” Hilmes stated. Many accident investigations discover that items haven’t correctly tracked mileage for his or her drivers following their preliminary highway exams.
Hilmes additionally hopes that the up to date requirements, no matter their closing type could also be, will power items to be extra intentional about how they conduct coaching.
“We haven’t investigated a tactical automobile accident [since 2019]…the place [the unit] had a to-standard driver’s coaching program. It’s a downside,” he stated. “It’s not horny. However, man, it’s foundational.”
Army grasp drivers echoed that sentiment within the GAO report, with one telling investigators that “driver’s coaching is just not a excessive precedence for the items, and it’s by no means a problem till it turns into a problem.”
Davis Winkie is a workers reporter masking the Army. He initially joined Navy Occasions as a reporting intern in 2020. Earlier than journalism, Davis labored as a army historian. He’s additionally a human assets officer within the Army Nationwide Guard.
