The Army's Infantry School is running a test on a new kind of officer training. Currently, each branch (infantry, engineers, ordnance) conducts its own officer training with a "basic course". The new system being tested would send every officer to the Infantry School at Fort Benning for seven weeks of common training in basic military subjects and in basic infantry tactics. The theory is that every officer, even a finance officer or a transportation officer, should know the basics of patrolling, manning a battle position, local security, ambush, and counter-ambush. Three test classes (each with about 100 infantry officers and 40 officers from other branches) will be run over the next 18 months. Female officers will also get the training, although Fort Benning will have to import female instructors as it currently has none (since women cannot be in the infantry).--Stephen V Cole