I__. - International Military Testing Association

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platoons. Team Chiefs, coded as dummy control variables, were
used to partial out differences in platoon averages associated
with instructor teams. Other variables in the analysis of field
exercise ratings were leader position and day of MTT. Effects of
these variables were found to be independent of the time trends,
and are not presented here. See Bessemer (In publication) for
further details on the analyses and statistical results.
Results
In baseline AOB classes, the number of movement evaluations,
but not contact evaluations declined for elementary exercises, as, _.
Figures 1 and 2 show. The total elementary evaluations in Figure
3 combine these categories. The baseline change reflects efforts
made to conserve training resources. Contact evaluations were
reduced further in classes with SIMNET AND HMMWV training. In
contrast, for baseline classes in Figure 4, evaluations counted
in advanced exercise showed no trend. These evaluations then
increased in number after the added training began. Thus, SIMNET
and/or HMMW training produced some immediate savings in the
amount of elementary MTT training, which then was replaced by
more advanced training exercises in the later AOB classes.
The effect for field ratings shown in Figure 5 was like that
for advanced evaluations. Average student ratings across classes
gradually increased after the SIMNET and HMMW training was added
to the AOB course, indicating positive transfer to performance in
the student's initial MTT exercise emerged in later classes.
For the graduate quality measure, the best-fitting trends
shown in Figure 6 were not quite significant. Results for the
first SIMNET-trained class are aberrant owing to a change in the
wording of the rating scale in the next class. Omitting the
first class after the baseline, a rank-sum test showed that
graduate quality increased significantly in later classes.
Discussion
The tactical training added to the AOB Course was associated
with three major effects. First, elementary contact exercises
conducted in the MTT decreased in number, and were gradually
replaced by additional advanced exercises involving defense and
offense missions. Second, positive transfer in terms of improved
field exercise performance in the MTT emerged gradually after the
pre-MTT training was expanded by SIMNET training and HMMWV field
exercises. Third, there were indications that the transfer
effect persisted to enhance the judged quality of AOB graduates,
at least for the last classes examined. Careful consideration of
several possible confounding factors led to the conclusion (see
Bessemer, In publication) that SIMNET training, rather than HMMWV
training, was largely responsible for the observed transfer
effects. The gradual emergence of these effects over an extended
time was interpreted as reflecting the accumulation of instructor
experience in using SIMNET to train platoon tactics.
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