IN QUEST OF EFFECTIVE SOLDIERS’ BASIC TRAINING SYSTEM FOR BANGLADESH ARMY IN LIGHT OF FUTURE BATTLEFIELD CHALLENGES

Abstract

Soldiering is as old a profession as human civilization. The gradual to rapid
transformation in basic soldiering is evident due to modern civilization, speedy
growth and industrialization and advanced technological development. In all the
ages, Armies were the vanguards to secure the national sovereignty and territorial
integrity and Bangladesh Army is no exception to that. Future battlefield is likely
to be chaotic; individuals might have to fight remaining isolated. It is not possible
to meet the challenges of 21st century warfare with the knowledge, mentality
and culture of 20th century. Future threats are enormous; both conventional and
unconventional either from an enemy state or from non-state actors. Focusing the
future realities, Bangladesh Army should continue to train and prepare its men. The
existing soldiers’ basic training system needs to accommodate future requirements.
In such situations, it is likely that the educated and physically fit soldiers would be
able to take correct decisions and initiative to meet future challenges. The topic
thus bears a great deal of importance to find out a recommended option that can
meet the needs of future battlefield challenges. The methodology in writing the
paper includes interviews from concerned officials, survey on the present state
of soldiers’ training, data and reports on soldiers’ basic training collected from
Army Training Doctrine Command (ARTDOC) and Personal Administration
(PA) Directorate and also few literatures review. The key findings are: (1) With the
passage of time and new challenges, subjects of soldiers’ basic training from 2014
till 2016 have not been adequately modified although the process is currently
heading towards modernization (2) Soldiers’ present basic training curricula does
not fully represent the future battlefield challenges that needs attention in syllabus
preparing (3) Major weaknesses among the trainees were identified in the fields of
physical fitness, weapon training and character quality building curricula/syllabus
(4) Major shortcomings of the present training system were identified in the fields
of limited training areas/infrastructures, less number of qualified instructors, less
quantity and quality of training aids. Basing on the analytical findings, the paper
recommends options to modify the soldiers’ basic training syllabus highlighting
the need for meeting the future battlefield challenges. However, this paper may
provide the basic platform for the future researchers to study further details on
the topic and the subject matters.