Militaries level up individual soldier skills as range of threats grow

Militaries around the world are beginning to restructure how they train their soldiers as methods of war continue to evolve in the high-intensity warfare environment demonstrated in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Most recently, the US Department of Defense awarded a $14.26m contract to Alutiiq Solutions on 1 July 2024. The company will provide I Expeditionary Operations Training Group (I EOTG) the ability to teach “select special skills” to US Marine Corps expeditionary units.

I EOTG currently uses contractor personnel to provide the specialised training needed to deploy forces such as Maritime Raid Force training, sniper training, and uncrewed aerial vehicle training in order to prepare I Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Expeditionary Units, Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Forces, combat advisors, and other designated deploying forces to support geographic combatant commands.

Just as the Army has committed to changing its equipment and platforms best suited for counter-insurgency warfare to meet the needs of frontline infantry in a more direct conflict with near-peer powers, this must be reflected in how soldiers operate.

The contract will also see the contractor “conduct and evaluate the collective training” of the Marine Corps.

This commitment to evaluate soldier training demonstrates the changing face of warfare as infantry will need to change the way they fight to confront new innovations such as uncrewed systems, artificial intelligence (AI) and, in some cases, space-based assets.

Trickle-down effect in Ukraine

“When everyone has all the equipment – both the Ukrainians and the Russians have jets, air defence, armoured vehicles – what really makes the deciding factor is the quality of the people, the actual human soldier,” argued GlobalData Defence Analyst Tristan Sauer. 

This comes down to Western training principles where responsibility trickles down to the lower levels of infantry, giving frontline soldiers a greater level of independence and decision-making.

Sauer added that this is where “the divide comes between the quality of the Russian and Ukrainian forces,” and this was true throughout most of 2022 and early 2023. “But no one stays stupid forever when they’re losing people” on such a vast scale.

Controlling drones for all these people used to be the remit of the commander but we now realise that is no longer tenable. When you take out that commander, you take out that drone and a hundred people do not have coverage. So, the idea is that every small squad needs to have its own systems and the batteries to power them; it is important to promote self-sufficiency.

New Western training schemes

Back in the West, the British Army has implemented a new vision for training its soldiers, known as the ‘Land Training System’ (LTS). This new structure aims to cultivate the sub-unit level with a wide range of skills and competencies in a combined arms environment.

LTS is a programme partitioned into three development phases: Tradewind, Cyclone and Storm.

Tradewind will hone the skills and competencies of troops, with the aim of making training more self-sustaining; Cyclone involves building teams in which a sub-unit trains together (in a ten week timeframe every year) to master individual and collective skills; while Storm constitutes the scale and mass of 21^st century fighting.

The Army aims to ‘cyclone’ 70% of its personnel by next year; and by 2027, the service will have fewer courses and more blended learning.