Soldiers Get Mobile Training via QR Codes

Don’t look now, but QR codes are helping to train our country’s soldiers.

The General Dynamics LandWarNet School in Fort Gordon has released a series of mobile training content that uses QR codes to link soldiers to this content. LandWarNet School General Dynamics and C4 Systems business manager Thomas Clark says that QR codes are the most popular of the link codes and was chosen because of the ease of use and deployment. Clark points out that you can decode a QR code with a smartphone, while the code itself may be placed on any flat surface.

Clark also explains that a QR code can help you do away with tapping and typing; you just scan it and it takes you to whatever useful information you need to access.

Clark relates that the codes may be used to bring information when it is needed. For instance, you can scan a QR code found on any piece of military equipment and be taken to an online user’s guide, a how-to video or a maintenance manual.

For its particular purpose, however, the school uses QR codes to help train soldiers who are learning military specialties such as satellite communications systems and multichannel transmission systems. The soldiers use a Motorola Zoom Android phone to scan the QR codes and access learning manuals and reference materials that they could learn from.

This is not the first time that the U.S. military employed QR codes for their use. The U.S. Army had used QR codes to help them in their recruitment activities. The QR codes were placed at the Army Career Centers in Sacramento. When scanned, it takes prospective applicants to a site where they could learn more about the Career Center, about the U.S. Army itself, and other information deemed valuable to the public. It can also direct users to download the Army.mil mobile app. The QR codes augmented the US Army’s presence on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.