WASHINGTON, DC, Oct. 9, 2007 – “Learning how to think” not “what to think,” is a change sweeping through intermediate officer education with implications in educating junior officers, warrant officers, noncommissioned officers and civilians, said Lt. Gen. William Caldwell IV, commanding general of the Combined Arms Center in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., in opening a Contemporary Military Forum on leader development.
           
Maj. Gen. W. Montague Winfield, commanding general of Cadet Command, said the common Basic Officer Leadership Course I for ROTC students is “focused on creating agile and adaptive leaders.  It is also synchronized with the training they will receive at the common Basic Officer Leadership Course and the branch Basic Officer Leadership Course. The Army is considering either requiring and offering an incentive for almost all cadets to take a foreign language.  “Fifty-one percent of our cadets are already taking a language.” he said. 
 
Winfield added that cadet training included 18 hours of cultural awareness training.  A question for the Army, he said was how to keep those language skills honed and retain cultural awareness as the new officers move into their first assignments.  He said that “Warrior Forge,” the 33-day long culminating event for cadets, looks at developing warrior skills and provides realistic situational training.  The cadets “are given eight chances to lead.”
 
 
POC:
John Grady
Director of Communications
Association of the U.S. Army
(703) 907-2613
jgrady@ausa.org