In the military, we train. And we train, and train and train. We have major training scenarios (exercises) that involve multiple services and other countries, we have them for a single military installation, single unit training, all the way down to military specialty and ancillary training for each individual. It’s time consuming, but well worth the effort. After all, lives are at stake.
This amount of training is what you would expect from a superb military- training to ensure everything goes according to plan- from the big-picture war games down to the single individual who needs to upgrade to the next skill level. And as a former Air Force Unit Education and Training Manager (UTM, for short), I am well aware that training forms the foundation of all we do.
The Master Task List/Master Training Plan
One of the key tools that every shop or office has is the Master Task List (MTL). As you can guess, it is a list of all of the tasks, broken down by skill level for each military job: MOS/AFSC (Military Occupational Specialty/Air Force Specialty Code).
Sometimes combined with the MTL, the Master Training Plan (MTP), as the name states, is a description of the plan for upgrade/recurring training that each member of the shop/office follows.
The Training Record
The other document of which every single service member has a copy, is their On-the-Job Training Record. This stays with you while in the service and has every task imaginable for a specific specialty. Many are electronic now with very few probably still in a folder in a file cabinet.
What all of this has to do with you
If you are on an honor guard, I have already created a downloadable PDF Training Record for you, one that covers every aspect of honor guard duties. Here is the MTL/MTP for download.
If you are on a drill team, you can use the same kinds of documents to track training. In JROTC/ROTC it may not be the most practical since cadets are on the team for four years and then gone- however, if schools adopt this system, those who move from high school to college could take their training plan with them. Here is a sample Drill Team Training Record and here is a sample MTL/MTP to get you started.
Have plan, that is what is going to be your best bet in the long run. Write things down- even drill move ideas or additions you think should go into the training plan. Discuss training: who, when, how long. The more planning you do, the less running around you will do later.