Whence the Soldier of the Future? Recruiting and Training for the Obje

This paper analyzes the U.S. Army process for recruiting and training soldiers to determine if Army Transformation is properly geared toward manning the Objective Force. The study begins by analyzing the nature of the battlefield of 2020 in order to determine what skills and traits will be required of the Objective Force soldier. The study then goes on to review the Army process for selecting and recruiting soldiers, as well as any planned changes in those processes. Finally, the study reviews lessons learned from pertinent Army training and experiments, to include the Digital Division, the Army Experiment Program, and the Interim Brigade Combat Team (IBCT) to determine if there are any relevant lessons for training future soldiers. This study then concludes that the Army's manpower needs in the future will be for a far more qualitatively superior soldier than the Army of today: a soldier that is older, more educated, more computer literate and more capable of operating independently on the future battlefield; that Army recruiting and training systems are postured to deliver that soldier in 2020; that in lieu of universal service, the Army will need to be more competitive in recruiting in order to recruit soldiers with the requisite skills of the Objective Force.