Common Sense Training: A Working Philosophy for Leaders [Paperback]

Leadership is so much a part of the conduct of training that at times it is difficult to tell where one stops and the other starts. . . . 

“The best book on military training from platoon to division level that has been published in any army.”—Army magazine

“His message is that whatever works and gets results by the most direct and efficient means is good. All else should be eliminated.”—Air University Review

“A utilitarian book that talks intelligently of leadership, management and common sense.”—ARMORmagazine

“A hardhitting and unvarnished . . . authoritative work that should be read and reread by everyone who aspires to be a truly professional soldier.”—General Bruce Palmer, U.S. Army (Ret.)

“A gem, with few peers, invaluable . . . [Arthur Collins'] advice is always performance oriented. Don't talk so much about it, he says, Don't make so many fancy charts about training. Instead, do it. Teach it. Perform it.”—ParametersLt. Gen. Arthur S. Collins, Jr., (1915–1984) graduated from West Point in 1938 and received an MA from George Washington University. He served in the U.S. Army for 40 years and was a combat veteran of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Collins commanded at every level from platoon to field army, before his 1974 retirement.This is more than just a book on training. The ideal treatise on training would be shorter by a third—better still by a half—and would contain only suggestions to stimulate thought and action by commanders in the field of training. But the training environment that now exists is not conducive to good training. This environment must be analyzed critically, and this book attempts to do so.
 
Two major themes predominate in this work: first, that training is the number one business of a peacetime lÄ