The Army in late March will launch a Digital Job Book that allows soldiers to track their critical tasks, data such as Army Physical Fitness Test and weapons qualification scores, and upcoming school and training dates all in one place.
The Digital Job Book is designed to replicate the old-school job books that soldiers would carry in their pockets, and it will introduce a standardized way for all components — active, National Guard and Army Reserve — to track individual soldier training and readiness, said Sgt. Maj. Richard Johnson, the senior enlisted soldier for Combined Arms Center-Training.
Once it's up and running, the Job Book will be auto-populated with each soldier's information as contained in the Army's Digital Training Management System. Soldiers will be able to log on to the Army Training Network or Army Knowledge Online to access the Job Book (click on the "My Training" tab) and see where they stand. Soldiers will not be able to manipulate the data in their profiles; instead, the information will be uploaded and updated by DTMS. The Job Book, which is also accessible on mobile devices, will follow a soldier through his career and permanent change of station moves.
"If that soldier PCSs, their Job Book follows them, so you don't have to start all over," Johnson said.
The Job Book is designed for soldiers to know where they stand, but it also is a tool for leaders to track their soldiers' progress, Johnson said.
"It provides a capability to leaders to track and assess the individual readiness of soldiers," he said.
Leaders will be able to pull up a dashboard that contains information on all of their soldiers, Johnson said.
"He can then look at all the data for all his soldiers without having to go click on each individual soldier's information," he said.
Soldiers will be able to track their training using the Army's new Digital Job Book, which is scheduled to be launched in late March.
Photo Credit: Army photo
The Job Book will contain individual critical tasks for each soldier by military occupational specialty and skill level. It also will have the soldier's APFT scores, height/weight data, weapons qualification scores, the approved training schedule for his organization, and any scheduled training or education courses he is supposed to attend.
"For the leader, this will provide a snapshot of the training readiness of their organization," Johnson said. "For the soldier, it will provide awareness of where they stand with their peers on training readiness, it will provide information on upcoming training, and what priorities are being set for tasks that are being trained."
Michelle Tan is the editor of Army Times and Air Force Times. She has covered the military for Military Times since 2005, and has embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Haiti, Gabon and the Horn of Africa.
