I__. - International Military Testing Association

oad marches and unopposed cross-country movement. Then there
were several movement to contact and other simple offensive
missions with light simulated enemy contact. Defensive exercises
began the relatively advanced level of training. Complex offense
and defense mission exercises were intermingled in the later days
of the MTT. The student platoons were in the field continuously
during the lo-day MTT training period. The students' positions
in crews were rotated frequently, and new individuals were chosen
to serve as platoon leader, platoon sergeant, and TCs after most
exercises. Usually each student served once in both the platoon
leader and platoon sergeant positions during the MTT in either
order. The sequence of events in field exercises was like that
used in SIMNET. The Team Chief gave a company mission order, and
then the leader and sergeant planned, prepared, and executed the
platoon mission under the command of the Team Chief.
Measures
Crew instructors rated performance of students acting as
platoon leaders or platoon sergeants in the field exercises, with
final review and approval of the ratings by the Team Chief.
Elements of planning, movement and control, and conduct of the
operation were rated on a three-point scale. More than 80% of
the ratings were in the middle (average or satisfactory) category,
showing a strong central bias. Ratings coded as 1, 0, and -1
were averaged for 17 items, omitting items judged "not applicable"
in a particular exercise, to form a field performance index
ranging between +lOO, with zero set at the middle scale category.
The number of ratings was also used to indicate the relative
number of field exercises completed in a platoon. The number of
ratings roughly corresponds to twice the number of exercises.
Separate counts were made for the categories of elementary
movement and contact exercises, and for advanced exercises.
At course graduation, the crew instructors evaluated overall
leadership qualities exhibited by the students during the platoon
tactics phase of the AOB course. Team Chiefs also reviewed and
approved these Comprehensive Student Evaluation ratings. The
ratings showed a strong ceiling effect, with over 90% of the
ratings judged in the highest category (*'yes,@@ indicating the
student possessed the rated quality) on a three-point scale. The
platoon average percentage of lo items given the llyesll rating was
used as a measure of graduate quality. The inverse sine transformation
was applied to the percentages before analysis.
Statistical Analyses
A quasi-experimental comparison of time trends between the
baseline and SIMNET-trained groups was used to assess transfer
effects from the added training. The date of graduation for each
Class was the main independent variable in regression analyses.
The effects of primary interest were changes in intercept and
slope Of the trend over time from those shown by the baseline
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