Say Goodbye To The Navy’s Online General Military Training

The Navy has deep-sixed most of its annual online General Military Training in response to sailors’ pleas.

Sailors will no longer be required complete several hours of annual online courses, other than the Cyber Awareness Challenge, Vice Adm. Robert Burke, chief of naval personnel, announced Monday in a message to the fleet.

“Bottom line we heard you, we fixed it,” Burke said, according to the message.

Local commands will conduct face-to-face training in small units on topics like suicide awareness, sexual assault prevention and equal opportunity regulations, according to the new guidance.

“It puts training back in the hands of sailors, eliminates passive, impersonal, and ineffective approaches to training, and enables a powerful and personal focus on integrity, accountability, and character through an interactive learning dialogue,” Burke said.

Topics like records management and operation security can be conducted at all-hands calls and divisional training times until leaders are satisfied that sailors understand the objectives, the statement said.

The online courses will still be available to serve as a guide for commands looking to create their own training programs. However leaders will not be required to “recreate” the online training material, according to the statement.

“There is no doubt this approach will yield an even greater competitive edge for the Navy … now let us get after it,” Burke said.

This story will be updated.

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