An Assessment of Selected Army Technical Manuals

Abstract

Five series of Army technical manuals were examined, and users of these books were interviewed in order to compare objective measurements with user attitudes. Soldiers at several installations expressed their satisfaction with the new Army manual format of proceduralized instructions in simple language accompanied by numerous line drawings. As demonstrated by the UH-60A manuals, technical manuals could be improved by reducing the extent of cross referencing between volumes. Further, it should also be possible to reduce page counts by including more information on each page. Verification of three major Army end items resulted in only approximately 20 percent of maintenance tasks being published without change being required. This shows the continuing need for 100 percent verification of technical manuals. More detailed guidance could improve the verification process. Poor durability of technical manuals is the most frequent user complaint, but this can be substantially improved without incurring unreasonable cost increases.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 1983
Accession Number
ADA132680

Entities

People

  • Gerald D. Nielsen

Organizations

  • United States Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Classification
  • Complex Systems
  • Composite Materials
  • Contractors
  • Contracts
  • End Items
  • Fire Extinguishers
  • Instructions
  • Job Training
  • Logistics
  • Maintenance
  • Materials
  • Mechanics
  • Personnel Management
  • Test Equipment
  • Training
  • Wiring Diagrams

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  • Instructional Design and Training Evaluation.