On the opening day of the Association of the United States Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition, several hundred Army ROTC cadets received a preview of the Army they will be leading as platoon leaders from the officer responsible for forging how they will operate.Gen. Robert Cone, commander of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, spoke on "Shaping the Army of 2020" at the annual ROTC luncheon.Cone said how this generation of incoming Army leaders, combined with 10 years of constant fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, is shaping how the Army is looking toward the future."Our world has been dominated by Iraq, Iraq and Iraq for the last 10 years," Cone said.But, with the vast majority of troops pulling out at the end of the year and the operations in Afghanistan winding down, Cone said the Army is preparing to shift focus to training."It is an art form — training your soldiers," Cone said. And for once, future commanders had better embrace [this] if they are going to be successful. "The commander has the moral responsibility for training his soldiers."In order to improve training, Cone said his command is looking at adapting the materials and media used to educate soldiers and commanders.Cone said instead of cramming as many words onto a printed page to create a long doctrine in book form, the doctrines of the future will be boiled down to 11-page documents a soldier can thumb through and understand easily.The details, and lessons learned, will move online, where the squad and company and higher-level commanders can interact and communication becomes multi-directional.The supporting material for specific doctrines on war-fighting will take forms such as "wikis."Cone also covered other areas of change coming to the Army. Cone said advanced degrees from rigorous academic institutions will become more important for an officer's career advancement. Training will become more realistic, based on actual operations and instances gathered from the past decade of reports and action reports the Army has amassed.And, more emphasis will be on empowering the squad-level unit, which he said, in his view, is the most vulnerable unit in current and future conflicts.In short, he said, the Army is gearing up for a momentous change, both in its operation tempo and how it prepares for the future conflicts.And his command is emphasizing adapting the curriculum to meet those needs of the digital personnel who will make up the force."We're willing to change," he said.At the beginning of the luncheon, Lt. Gen. Thomas G. Rhame, USA, Ret., AUSA’s vice president for finance and administration, made a special presentation to Maj. Gen. Mark McDonald, commanding general, U.S. Army Cadet Command, and Command Sgt. Maj. Hershel Turner to commemorate and recognize – during its 25th anniversary — this command’s outstanding contributions to the Army and the nation.The award’s plaque read: "Association of the United States Army Special Award – U.S. Army Cadet Command – 25 Years – Training Leaders, Growing Citizens – April 1986-2011."Following Cone's presentation, scholarships were presented to Army ROTC cadets including: The AUSA ROTC Scholarship ($4,000) to Cadet Miranda Doss, East Tennessee State University; the Lt. Gen. Timothy J. Maude Foundation Scholarship ($5,000 each) to Green to Gold Cadets Michael Postoak, Cameron University, and Sara Peters, Iowa State University, and the AUSA-Cribbins Scholarship ($2,000) to Cadet Daniel Sweeney, of Minnesota State University.Awards for ROTC AUSA companies were also presented for Best Company (Howard University), Largest Company (Saint John's University-Minnesota) and Most Active Company (Saint John's University-Minnesota).- See more at: http://www.ausa.org/publications/ausanews/archives/2011/12/Pages/Army20…