The 21st century armed services professional needs to have new skills to deal with the complexities of human behavior and diverse cultural values.
In the past, technical skills including the dutiful works "assist, protect, defend," through armed response, training in paramilitary or policing operations in urban terrain better known as patrol and crime response and including, as needed, street-to-street and house-to-house fighting, SWAT and Bomb squad deployment.
‘Hard skills’ training associated with these paramilitary functions includes various weapons expertise and training, riot response, legal system understanding and hand to hand combat/martial arts. These skills have long been the core of what was provided for both Law Enforcement and the Military
Today, additional ‘softer’ skills are needed to prevent crime and sustain law and order both here and abroad. Crime prevention ‘marketing’, youth programs, community service, conflict resolution and even police intelligence require new soft skills for which professionals are often under-equipped.
In addition, leadership development, which has always had command and control at its core, is undergoing a much needed overhaul. Generation X, Y and the upcoming Millenials follow leaders because of earned trust. Terrorism and gang warfare require different and more complex solutions. Media, fairly or unfairly, is holding the feet of both Law Enforcement and the Military to the fire of accountability at a level like never before. Camcorder snippet recordings, often out of context, are broadcast to the internet within minutes. New levels of PR combined with non-violent law enforcement techniques are needed to build and sustain trust in the communities that our men and women at arms serve and protect.
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