The U.S. Army has reduced its list of mandatory training requirements, following a directive by Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George to eliminate tasks that do not directly contribute to combat readiness.
The updated Army Regulation 350-1, released this week, cuts the number of required training courses from 27 to 16. The revised policy gives commanders more authority to determine what training their units need based on mission demands. It was in 2017 when the regulation was last updated.
Training that is no longer required includes courses in combat lifesaving, the law of war, the code of conduct, chemical and biological readiness, and survival and recovery skills. These modules remain available but are now optional.
Resiliency training, which helped soldiers and families manage stress and deployments, has also been removed from the list of mandatory training requirements.
Command Sgt. Maj. Chris Mullinax, the Army’s senior enlisted leader for operations, planning, and training, explained that while soldiers were not expected to complete online training on their own time, many still spent hours during evenings and weekends working through lengthy courses.
He said senior leaders hope this new approach will allow commanders to focus on more relevant tasks and training, rather than spending time on administrative or online instruction. As Mullinax put it: “There are no distractions, no burdens, and our warfighters are focused on warfighting—specifically, tough, realistic training in the field.”
The update follows an earlier decision in May 2024 to eliminate “Distributed Learning Courses I-VI,” which had previously been tied to promotion eligibility. That change alone cut roughly 350 hours of online coursework
At the time, Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Weimer said the system placed an unnecessary burden on soldiers, calling it redundant and time-consuming.
