APRIL 6, 2015, FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, Md. – Recently the Marine Corps underwent another change in its training and education spectrum as Marine Corps Bulletin 1500, in its third iteration, was altered Feb. 20 to enhance the overall quality of operational readiness and the commander’s flexibility in training.
The motivation for this set of changes to Marine Corps Bulletin 1500, a comprehensive list of all required annual training, was to optimize available training time so unit commanders can be provided with more flexible training schedules to conduct mission-oriented tasks.
It was Gen. James F. Amos’, the 35th Commandant of the Marine Corps, push for the an overall reduction in ‘rocks in the rucksack,’ which includes annual training, surveys, Marine Corps Orders and collateral billets, according to Maj. Bret Morriss, the values-based training task analyst with Marine Air-Ground Task Force Training and Education Command Standards Division.
The bulletin provides the references to governing orders that allow Marines to conduct some of the requisite training via an option of multiple mediums including an auditorium lecture, using MarineNet, the online course website for the Marine Corps, or through a hip-pocket interactive class.
Essentially, the bulletin is a ‘catalog’ of mandatory training, affording guidance for battalions, squadrons and training shops.
The training of these events is required for all members of the service, regardless of Military Occupational Specialty, rank or component unless otherwise exempted or waived.
“The Marine Corps is moving more towards interactive small unit training like guided discussions and case studies over large group lecture and computer based training methods used in the past,” said Morriss.
The impact of the bulletin’s changes may be felt mostly in the reserve community where they may gain as much as ten percent of their training-time back as a result of the changes.
The flexibility of annual training is vital to a noncommissioned officers ability to embrace values and concepts and use small team leadership to instil them, according to Morriss. NCOs will also have the opportunity to guide and mentor junior Marines in a way that instills the Marine Corps core values and concepts through training.
In support of the bulletin the Unit Marine Awareness and Prevention Integrated Training office has been created at Manpower and Reserve Affairs in order to combine overlapping training topics allowing for more efficient and effective courses. Overlapping training can become redundant. For example, similar themes can be found in suicide prevention, substance abuse, & family advocacy.
The changes to the Marine Corps Bulletin 1500 will support of the commandant’s training guidance providing unit commanders with more time to mold training into what their Marines would most benefit from.