FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (June 17, 2015) – The Army is pushing knowledge to the point of need by making e-Publications, or EPUB, available for download to Soldiers’ mobile devices.
Doctrinal publications are accessible as Portable Document Formats, also known as PDFs, on personal computers and some mobile devices, but viewing them on mobile devices is less than optimal.
By the end of June, the Army will have converted many Army doctrinal publications to an EPUB format – making it easier to read on computer tablets and smart phones. Depending on the device’s sophistication, users can bookmark, highlight and insert notes on the publications.
Doctrinal publications, including the Army Doctrine Reference Publication, or ADRP 1, the Army Profession are available at the Army Publishing Directorate: http://www.apd.army.mil/ProductMaps/TRADOC/ADRP.aspx in both PDF and EPUB formats. By the end of the month, FM-6-22, Leader Development, will be converted to an EPUB as well.
“E-publishing represents a new era for the Army,” said Helen Remily, TRADOC capability manager for the Army Distributed Learning Program. “It enables the Army to deliver training and educational materials to Soldiers and Army civilians where and when they need them.”
Now some Soldiers spend their own money purchasing publications from online services or find out-of-date Army publications on the Internet.
“Soldiers deserve to have the most current authenticated material at their fingertips when it’s needed and without spending their hard-earned paychecks,” said Remily, who leads the Fort Eustis, Virginia, organization responsible for the move to electronic publishing.
In addition to EPUBs, select doctrinal manuals will be available as e2Book Doctrine Supplements. These publications will have videos, animations and other imbedded multimedia. You can find the first e2Book, ADRP 1 Doctrine Supplement at http://cape.army.mil/adrp-1/ and the Central Army Registry, or CAR: http://www.train.army.mil/adrp1/.
“These innovations will immerse the individual in the content and improve learning by increasing understanding and retention, which improves performance,” Remily said.
The doctrinal publications were natural first candidates for e-publishing. The information is essential, unclassified and non-sensitive.
Preparing publications for e-publishing is a complicated task. Remily’s team had to ensure that the publications were compatible with Android, Apple and Windows devices.
Col. Greg Williams, deputy director of the Training Support Analysis and Integration Directorate, or TSAID, said more publications will be converted.
“We will lead this effort on the training publications and continue to work closely with the Army proponents to determine which publications should be converted to EPUBs,” he said. TSAID ensures publications are processed for authentication by the Army Publishing Directorate.
Remily said the e-publishing effort will greatly increase the accessibility of publications and will reduce printing costs as e-publication gains more readers.
Remily’s and Williams’ organizations are part of the Combined Arms Center – Training on Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
CAC-T manages Army training support and training development programs.