Professional-writing feature:
Transformation of the Officer Education System and the Air Missile Defense Basic Officer Leader Course III

By Capt. Robert L. McCormick

The U.S. Army’s Officer Education System was designed to prepare officers to lead Soldiers in combat to fight our nation’s wars and win. Surprisingly enough, OES has seen little change since the end of the Cold War and is progressively under-resourced and out of synch with current and future Army needs. The Army’s OES needs to change if it is going to meet the needs of a transforming Army and an Army at war operating within the realities of a contemporary operating environment.

A 1999-2000 report submitted to the Army by the Army Training and Leader Development Panel Officer Study concluded that OES does not provide company-grade officers (second lieutenant, first lieutenant and captain) the necessary skill sets for success in full-spectrum operations. The panel recommended that the Army change its current officer basic course for lieutenants from a one-phase design lasting anywhere between 11 weeks and 20 weeks to a phased training approach. Based on that recommendation and in conjunction with OES’ transformation, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command adopted the concept and created the model for the new Basic Officer Leader Course.

The first phase for officer leadership development begins in pre-commissioning. The second phase is conducted as an initial-entry course that provides basic small-unit combat training to all lieutenants at four central locations, providing a shared experience. Following the second phase of BOLC, each proponent school (military intelligence, air missile defense, armor, etc.) provides training on platoon-level, branch-specific technical and tactical skills, culminating in the award of a branch-specific occupational specialty.

Transforming OES

OES is undergoing the biggest change so far in the 21st century. Initial officer training as we know it today will transform from the old paradigm of awarding a commission and attendance at an OBC to the three phases of BOLC. Also, BOLC will implement some of the ATLDP recommendations such as providing a common training experience at the small-unit level and producing an Army-specific officer (every-Soldier-a-rifleman-first mentality) rather than a branch-specific officer. BOLC will also encompass lessons-learned from the Global War on Terrorism, Warrior Ethos and the warrior tasks and battle drills.

The endstate for BOLC is a lieutenant who is trained in warrior tasks and the warrior battle drills; who is self-aware and adaptable; who will not accept defeat and will never quit; who demonstrates the characteristics of an Army leader while living the Army Values and embodying Warrior Ethos.

TRADOC – led by Gen. Kevin P. Byrnes – has the mission to recruit, train and educate the Army’s Soldiers; develop leaders and doctrine; establish standards; and build the future Army – and therefore has the lead on transforming OES. One of the subordinate commands of TRADOC is the U.S. Army Accessions Command – led by Lt. Gen. Robert L. Van Antwerp – which is the functional proponent for all initial military training, where BOLC I and II fall under.

BOLC III is currently being considered professional military education. Branch-proponent commandants will control and implement the third phase of BOLC. In the case of air-defense artillery, the Fort Bliss commanding general, Maj. Gen. Michael A. Vane, is the approving authority for air missile defense BOLC III.

BOLC phases

BOLC I is the pre-commissioning education source that cadets/officer candidates receive prior to commissioning. This first step of a progressive, development instructional concept assesses their readiness and potential for commissioning as second lieutenants and is usually accomplished at a federal/state officer candidate school, in a Reserve Officer Training Corps program or at the United States Military Academy. BOLC I tasks encompass leadership, general Army knowledge, basic Soldiering and physical training, and will ensure a common goal that each graduate possess the character and skills needed for a successful career as an Army officer and will lay the foundation on which BOLC II and BOLC III are derived.

BOLC II is a seven-week course that incorporates the common training experience mentioned in the ATLPD recommendations and will be conducted at four TRADOC school sites: Fort Benning, Ga.; Fort Bliss, Texas; Fort Knox, Ky.; and Fort Sill, Okla. BOLC II tasks will teach lieutenants how to shoot, communicate, render medical aid, perform advanced land navigation and warrior tasks and battle drills, and they will participate in rigorous physical training.

According to Byrnes, “BOLC II will have a pilot course this year and will be introduced by the fourth quarter of 2006; it is a six-week plus five days in-processing common-core instruction for all officers on combat leadership. Eighty percent of it will be conducted in a field environment. All officers will receive common instruction before going off to their branch technical courses. [This is a] major shift.”

Each BOLC II site, and subsequently each class, will have an even mixture of commissioning sources represented from ROTC, OCS and USMA. In addition, all branches and service components (Active, Reserve, Army National Guard, specialty branches and allied students) will be equally divided at each of the four sites – based on the numbers commissioned from each branch and service – to foster commonality of training across the junior officer ranks. The endstate for BOLC II is a competent and confident warrior-leader capable of leading soldiers in today’s COE who embodies Warrior Ethos and is self-aware and adaptive from Day 1 upon successful completion of this phase.

A BOLC II pilot course will be conducted at Fort Benning in the summer of 2005 with more than 200 students from all branches being represented. Fort Bliss will receive 10 of these BOLC II students to participate in a BOLC III pilot course during the summer of 2005, prior to full implementation in Fiscal Year ‘06.

BOLC III consists of branch-specific technical and tactical training conducted at each branch proponent school. Course length will vary by branch (five weeks, two days, to 13 weeks, four days) and will focus on preparing lieutenants for success as future platoon leaders. Fort Bliss and the U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery School, under the auspices of Leadership Division within the Directorate of Training, Doctrine and Leader Development, are at the tip of the spear for OES transformation at the ADA School.

Comparison: BOLC and OBC

The old ADA OBC school model consists of 20 weeks of training split into two phases: core and track.

Currently, ADA OBC core instruction consists of 10 weeks of general common skills training that provides the young officers a basic foundation to become platoon leaders. The OBC cadre (generally a captain and noncommissioned officer per 30 students) trains and mentors the lieutenants by placing them into certain scenarios/positions and assessing their leadership, management and communicative skills. The culminating event is a 72-hour situational-training exercise conducted at McGregor Range Training Area that is designed to test the leadership capabilities of the students under stressful conditions. (click on thumbnail or text for larger version of table)

ADA OBC track currently consists of 10 weeks of technical and tactical training divided into two courses, depending on which weapon system the lieutenant has been assigned to: either maneuver air missile defense or high-medium-altitude air defense. The MAMD course is for all lieutenants assigned to a divisional battalion that has an Avenger, Stinger, Bradley Stinger Fighting Vehicle or Linebacker as its primary weapon system. The HIMAAD course is for all lieutenants assigned to a Patriot unit. Although there are two different courses for the track phase, all lieutenants are trained on the capabilities and limitations of the individual system and the associated radar and communications equipment.

Although some of the classroom instruction will be the same from the old OBC to the new BOLC III, many classes will be omitted, and the overall design has changed considerably. ADA OBC will be shortened from 20 weeks to 13 weeks, four days, for BOLC III, which will have a single program of instruction focusing on AMD battalion operations. Every lieutenant attending the ADA BOLC III will be designated a 14A for AMD officer upon graduation instead of the traditional 14B for MAMD and 14E for a HIMAAD officer.

This design is consistent with the changes to the AMD operational environment and with Vane’s branch vision of creating an AMD battalion using both Patriot and Avenger weapon systems. Also, according to Vane, “AMD Soldiers must understand what it takes to win, have a winning mindset and adapt everything they do to winning. This requires the [ADA School] to produce Soldiers and leaders capable of going to combat within 30 days of their arrival at a duty station. The Army must inculcate into the psyche of every Soldier that when they leave a secure area, they are no longer on a convoy or resupply mission; they are on a patrol and ready to kill the enemy.”

ADA BOLC III incorporates classroom instruction that focuses on COE, communication skills, counseling, problem-solving and training-management skills. AMD system training consists of Plugger, communications, Avenger/Stinger and Joint-operations training, with the main focus on Patriot. Lieutenants will graduate as capable of being Table IV qualified (not certified) on the Patriot system so that within 30 days upon arrival at their new unit, they can be mission-capable and ready to deploy.

The culminating event for BOLC III will be a one-week STX that incorporates COE lessons-learned and gives the lieutenants a chance to demonstrate their adaptability and leadership styles. During the STX, lieutenants will be operating from a forward operating base and will have to conduct tasks such as negotiations, traffic-control point, convoy operations, security patrols and provide air defense using Patriot, Avengers and Sentinels – to name a few. This will be the first time a new air-defense lieutenant actually gets the opportunity to train with both the Patriot and Avenger at the same time while in a field environment.

Near future

BOLC III will be implemented Army-wide starting in fourth quarter 2006. This timeframe allows each branch to conduct a pilot course to test the new design before full implementation. Although there are obstacles still being worked before BOLC can be implemented, the BOLC concept ensures that junior-officer training stays relevant and that the training meets the needs of its students and the Army, today and into the future. Likewise, the ADA School stands ready to ensure that newly commissioned AMD officers receive the best possible training before leading the best Soldiers in the Army: air-defense Soldiers.

Capt. McCormick is the ADA OBC branch chief and a member of Task Force BOLC. He is assigned to Fort Bliss, Texas. A version of this article was originally published in ADA Magazine’s January-March 2005 edition.