Virtual learning helps train hard-charging MTMC unit

Translog: Journal of Military Transportation Management, May-June, 2002 by Lonnie Johnson, Jr.

These days, our lives are so fast-paced with mission requirements, that our learning has to lean on virtual media.

I am a prime example. Being newly assigned to the 840th just over six months ago, life here in Izmir, Turkey has been at a constant fast pace. I have been deployed to Rijeka, Croatia, as part of a Serbia Force deployment support team, and will go out again on an upcoming mission to Constanza, Romania.

My toughest mission for the 840th, however, was at home station. My commander, Lt. Col. Bill Gibson, asked me to create a distance learning/computer-based training program for members of the battalion. We now have a program that allows our people to attend Internet distance learning courses coupled with on-the-job training.

We ask participants to do the following:

Enroll and complete a minimum of at least one course, or subcourse, per quarter. If operations tempo is high, we will extend this an additional quarter.

The course should--directly or indirectly--relate to job descriptions or the battalion cross-training program.

Supervisors must also approve each course.

The training NCO must receive monthly status reports of the instruction. When completed, a certificate is filed in their personnel individual training records and posted on the battalion's individual training matrix.

Our prime-time training is Thursday mornings until noon. We schedule Thursday afternoons, to be used exclusively for distance learning via Web-based courses. With the nature of virtual learning, however, our people can work on their courses off duty, or even during missions.

Our distance learning courses come from the Fort Eustis Web Based Training at http://www.transchool.eustis.army.mil/training/web/. The available courses include strategic deployment planning and unit movement officer planning. You must have an Army Knowledge On-Line account to access this Web address. Once in the site, you go to "Army Wide Announcement," then click on the link for "Army Computer Based Training." This Web site includes such computer-based distance learning courses as Microsoft Certification and Windows. This is a good site for those soldiers and civilians who want to sharpen their computer skills.

Supervisors play a key role in the program. Their oversight ensures selection of courses that will be of prime benefit to our people--and our unit mission.

Several weeks after I started, Gibson approved my plan for implementation. Since then I have briefed it to members of my battalion in a town hall meeting. Later, in separate meetings, I briefed the plan to Maj. Gen. Kenneth L. Privratsky, MTMC Commander; and Col. John Brown, Commander, 598th Transportation Group. Both men were favorably impressed. In fact, each presented me a Commander's Coin.

Privratsky asked me to write an article on the program for TRANSLOG in order to share this program with the rest of the MTMC family worldwide.

So, that is what I have done here. The best compliment to the program is the enthusiasm of our unit members. Everyone, particularly our host nation nationals, embrace the program for its personal and professional values.