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20.06.2023. SEASON 1 / EPISODE 10.

Harder than your worst day in combat

The best training many of us experienced has always taken us outside of our comfort zone. For military forces this is of critical importance – you can master personal or section, even company drills well enough in a variety of places, but when you start to operate with different parts of the military you get force integration stresses. These tensions need to be worked out well before you meet an adversary on the battlefield – ideally with a thinking team of professionals acting as a dynamic adversary who will thrash you, while giving you the opportunity to learn, grow and master new skills in extremely testing conditions. It is a big ask – it costs a lot of cash, and uses a huge area of space. More than that, the training itself needs to be conducted by people who really know what they are doing.

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OTHER EPISODES IN SERIES

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SEASON 1 / EP.Trailer
Trailer episode: Why now and why is this an important conversation?
Military training budgets are getting hot in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. Holding big live exercises is expensive....

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SEASON 1 / EP.1
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SEASON 1 / EP.2
Simulation has changed military training. A lot.
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SEASON 1 / EP.3
First learn, then train, then fight
You can train a military as much as you want, but if you are not training the right skills for the coming fight, it is...

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SEASON 1 / EP.4
Whither the intellectual renaissance in education and training?
After their experience in Vietnam, the US military actively pursued thinking about warfare in different ways – and...

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SEASON 1 / EP.5
What could the military learn from civil teaching and training?
Teacher training includes education processes, systems, human behaviours and methods of engagement with students. That...

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SEASON 1 / EP.6
Money, exercises and simulation
Peter talks to Professor Jim Storr about the use of simulators in the British military since the 1980s. Why and how...

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SEASON 1 / EP.7
Military training, Primes and SMEs
As simulators have taken an increasingly prominent role in military training since the 1980s, their complexity – and...

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SEASON 1 / EP.8
Credibility is about training people not buying equipment
The capability of a military force is often measured by the equipment it operates. If a cursory examination of combat...

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SEASON 1 / EP.9
Combat, Training and Culture
Different cultures conduct military training and education in very different ways. The Israeli Defence Force might be...

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SEASON 1 / EP.13
Fighting and Debating
Good wartime commanders are very different to those who excel in peace. How do we educate and train people for both...

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SEASON 1 / EP.14
Best Tank on the Battlefield?
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SEASON 1 / EP.15
So What Did We Learn?
This first series of this podcast on military training has taken us from World War One to modern day combat operations,...

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SEASON 2 / EP.1
Naval Training: Putting People First
For decades, navies have crewed the ship ‘cos the ship fights (the people – apparently – didn’t). According to...

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SEASON 2 / EP.2
Can Partnering Work in Military Training?
Commercial arrangements with providers of military training are usually transactional: most will have experienced how...

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SEASON 2 / EP.3
Combat Engineers – trained to fix stuff under fire
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SEASON 2 / EP.4
The Captain’s Warfare Course
The CWC provides junior officers with the skills they need to plan and execute operations at the Battlegroup to Brigade...

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SEASON 2 / EP.5
The Engine
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SEASON 2 / EP.6
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SEASON 2 / EP.7
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In 2023, a report by the Royal United Services Institute on military training didn't make headlines. And that's a shame...

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SEASON 2 / EP.9
CWC – The Directing Staff
The Captain's Warfare Course in Warminster delivers the key skills to the people expected to execute 'the fight' in the...

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SEASON 2 / EP.11
The Grizz
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SEASON 2 / EP.12
CWC – The Graduates
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SEASON 2 / EP.13
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SEASON 2 / EP.14
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