Donald Vandergriff
Look, we’ve all seen it—the Army drowning in a sea of mandatory online drivel, ticking boxes for promotions while the troops sit idle in the motor pool, rusting like forgotten gear. That’s the old Second Generation Warfare mindset: top-down dictates from the E-ring, force-feeding everyone the same bland compliance chowder, whether it’s another hour on cybersecurity quizzes or Privacy Act reruns. It’s industrial-age nonsense, straight out of the World War I playbook, where leaders were micromanagers and soldiers were cogs in a machine. No wonder our units feel sluggish, disconnected from the fight.
But here’s the good news: the Department of War is finally swinging the axe. Secretary of War Hegseth’s push, we’re gutting this bureaucratic bloat to unleash the kind of agility that wins wars. Mandatory training? Slashed from 27 soul-crushing courses to a lean 16 essentials. That’s not just paperwork relief—it’s a declaration of trust in our commanders to call the shots on what keeps their units lethal.
Why This Matters—Straight Talk on the Cuts:
Dumping the Digital Deadweight: We’re torching about 350 hours of those promotion-tied online modules. No more staring at screens pretending to learn what you already know. Time saved goes straight to the range, the field, the fight—where it counts.
Tailoring to the Mission, Not the Memo: Cybersecurity and Privacy Act refreshers? Relaxed or axed entirely. Commanders now get the discretion to gauge risks and prioritize. One battalion drilling urban ops in Mosul doesn’t need the same safety seminar as a stateside logistics crew. This is commander-led, unit-specific sharpening for the edge of combat.
Consolidating the Clutter: Redundant stuff like Combat Lifesaver, Law of War, Code of Conduct, SERE, personnel recovery, and chunks of safety/occupational health training? Gone from the must-do list. What’s left gets bundled smartly, cutting the scattershot approach that dilutes focus.
The Big Win: Lethality Over Liability: No more one-size-fits-all straitjacket. Leaders assess, adapt, and drill what builds warfighting muscle—maneuver, initiative, combined arms. This frees up bandwidth for the hard yards: live-fire iterations, tactical decision games, the stuff that forges adaptive fighters.
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