U. S. Army

Problem

The Army is always trying to keep new recruits and regular soldiers well-trained on the latest battlefield techniques. This helps meet the Army's goal of keeping troops as safe as possible while accomplishing military missions.

With the tactics of war changing so quickly, it was becoming extremely difficult to keep the printed training manuals and trainers up-to-date.

Social Media Solution

The Army's desire to be nimble led them to test the viability of using a private wiki program to let soldiers of all ranks rewrite and edit seven field manuals. It was considered a natural, given that the bulk of the soldiers are part of the net generation, and are in the field, not air-conditioned command headquarters.

Success

While participation was slow at first, it is anticipated that virtual, collaborative manuals will become the norm because of the need for up-to-the-minute information on what's working and what's not.

True success will come when fewer soldiers are injured or killed because of the advance of training techniques.