How Dl Can Improve the Effectiveness of Cross-training and Mos Consolidation

When we looked in Chapter Three at the generic strategies that the Army uses to reduce personnel shortages, we identified crosstraining and consolidation of MOSs as two options. Since both strategies attempt to produce more effective soldiers by making them more capable of performing a broader range of activities, we treat them here as one strategy for discussion purposes. With crosstraining, soldiers already proficient in one MOS are trained to perform related activities in another MOS, so that they can informally fill in for that other occupation when necessary. With MOS consolidation, MOSs that perform similar activities are formally combined into one occupation, and soldiers in each of the old MOSs are given additional training to become proficient in all aspects of the new MOS.