Army and Marine Corps Training: Better Performance and Cost Data Needed to More Fully Assess Simulation-Based Efforts

Why GAO Did This Study The Army and Marine Corps use live and simulation-based training to meet training goals and objectives. Service officials have noted benefits from the use of simulation-based training both in terms of training effectiveness and in cost savings or cost avoidance. A House report...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Pickup, Sharon, Ferren, Michael, Burkard, Richard, Jones, Kenya, Rankin, Jeff, Silver, Michael, Tindall, Susan, Wilkins-McKee, Erik, Winsor, Richard
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
AERONAUTICS
AIR FORCE
ARMY
ARMY TRAINING
AVOIDANCE
BENEFITS
COMPARISON
COSTS
DECISION MAKING
DOCUMENTS
JOBS
MARINE CORPS
MARINE CORPS TRAINING
METHODOLOGY
MILITARY OPERATIONS
Military Operations, Strategy and Tactics
NATIONAL DEFENSE
SIMULATION
Online Access:Request full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Why GAO Did This Study The Army and Marine Corps use live and simulation-based training to meet training goals and objectives. Service officials have noted benefits from the use of simulation-based training both in terms of training effectiveness and in cost savings or cost avoidance. A House report accompanying the bill for the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012 mandated GAO to review the status of the military services training programs. This report follows GAO s reports on the Navy and Air Force, and assesses (1) changes in the Army s and Marine Corps use of simulationbased training, including efforts to integrate live and simulation-based training capabilities; and (2) the factors the Army and Marine Corps consider in determining whether to use live or simulation-based training, including the extent to which they consider performance and cost information. GAO focused on a broad cross-section of occupations (e.g., aviation, armor, artillery), and analyzed service training strategies and other documents; and conducted six site visits and interviewed service officials involved with training and training development for the selected occupations. What GAO Recommends GAO recommends that the services develop metrics, and a methodology to compare live and simulation-based training costs. DOD partially concurred, but noted that it captures all relevant costs needed for decision making. GAO continues to believe the services may not be considering some important simulation-based training costs and a specific methodology is needed to more fully identify the universe of costs needed for comparison purposes Report to Congressional Committees.