Page 116 - JSOM Winter 2019

An Ongoing Series

Applying Swiss Armed Forces Training Didactics and Methodology for
Tactical Combat Casualty Care Training

Anonymous*

ABSTRACT

Some of the current methods of instruction used within inter- involved. Listening to an instruction will result in 20% of
national armed forces courses are not always goal oriented the total content being retained; seeing and listening to the
and satisfactory for both the teaching staff and the student. content results in 50% being retained; the additional action
The Swiss Armed Forces approach presented here has been of talking about the instruction allows 70% to be retained;
historically effective in preparing and sustaining national con- and adding practical application will provide comprehensive
scription with large numbers of recruits and new cadres every understanding.
year.
The training must have plausible connections to potential and
Keywords: comprehension; goals; learning; training; NATO past missions. Theoretical and practical training should be ap-
Special Operations Combat Medic; NSOCM; Swiss Armed plied early and often with conditions close to a real mission.
Forces Maintaining variety prevents lessons from becoming stale,
sparks new interest, and might aid students who have different
strengths or learning abilities. 2
Introduction
The student’s preparedness for a task is the goal. For an in-
Some of the current methods of instruction used within inter- structor, these four steps drive the process: planning, execu-
national armed forces courses are not always goal oriented tion, assessment, and consequences. 2
and satisfactory for both the teaching staff and the student. Ef-
fectively, the results are often unsatisfactory and the ability to Step 1: Planning
reproduce what is asked of the student is limited as a problem The instructor must always be prepared and use appropriate
of learning and comprehension but, more often, as a problem didactic tools, as well as consider lesson plans and concepts
of the applied teaching methodologies and didactics. A misun- of exercise before completing products. Any preexisting cur-
derstanding of the instructed material or a faulty manipulation ricula, regulations, training concepts, and critical or essential
may lead to injury or death. task lists or guidelines will come into play when preparing les-
sons. The higher echelon must also be clear about limitations,
The Swiss Armed Forces approach presented here has been especially legally, because international differences can affect
historically effective in preparing and sustaining national alliance or partner training; for example, field blood transfu-
conscription with large numbers of recruits and new cadres sion or live tissue training (LTT) might not be allowed on the
1
every year (11,200 recruits and 3000 cadres in 2019). These armed forces premises but are accepted at off-base locations. 3
dynamics are comparable to a medic who receives an initial
train-up of several months and then sustainment training of no For the basis of planning, first ask these questions:
more than 2 weeks a year.
Who Number of participants
Methods What Overall theme of the instruction
Where to Objective to be achieved
In methodology, there are some basic principles to respect.
Proper teaching always begins with a demonstration of the Where Location of the instruction
end goal or result desired to be achieved, while taking into When, how long Which day, time—the duration of the lesson
account the factor of the student’s current level of knowledge. With what? Material, ammunition, equipment
The lessons should include as many senses as applicable, as The appropriate methodical approach is based on several cri-
the learning process is augmented by the number of senses teria: content complexity, target audience, level of knowledge,
*Correspondence to union156@gmail.com
The authors are currently students at the University College Cork in Ireland, Course / Program Special Operations Medicine Module.

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