Photo: Maj. Gen. Stephen Maranian speaks to members of the media following an exercise on Bornholm Island, Denmark in May 2022.
The military education of officers is a vital factor in the U.S. Army’s leader development strategy. A combination of training, education, and practical experience, leader development takes many forms and continues periodically throughout the entire span of an officer’s career. Professional Military Education (PME) refers to the periodic professional schooling of military personnel at critical points in their career, and is an essential component of leader development. The U.S. Army does this well. Throughout an officer’s career, it is critical that they attend PME courses at key points to solidify past experience and prepare them for future assignments.
What is Officer Professional Military Education?
New officers are commissioned as Second Lieutenants following graduation from the United States Military Academy (West Point), a civilian university’s Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program, or Officer Candidate School (OCS). Following commissioning officers attend branch related training at various Army posts in the United States. Once an officer is selected for promotion to the rank of Captain, they typically return to their branch school for the Captain’s Career Course. Both courses focus on ensuring that officers are tactically proficient in their specialty. As officers are selected to the rank of Major, most will attend the Command and General Staff Officers Course (CGSOC) which provides a curriculum focused on the skills Majors will require as staff officers in Brigades and Divisions. For those who stay beyond 20 years of service, about half are selected to attend a Senior Service College (SSC). At SSC students receive graduate-level instruction to prepare them for senior leadership assignments and service at the strategic level.
The Traditional Method
Throughout my 35-year career, I have attended all the Army schools highlighted above, plus a few other specialty courses. All of them followed a similar pattern of instruction. All students received the exact same instruction as young officers. Great care was taken to ensure that all instructors presented material according to a lesson plan with standardized examinations at the end to assess learning. At the more senior courses, small group discussions were included, but aside from a small percentage of exceptional officers who followed an advanced program of study, all students received the same education.
Assessment Based Individually Tailored Education
In 2019 U.S. Army PME for officers began moving towards a more tailored approach. This occurred due to several reasons. The Army had begun assessing the preparedness of new Captains to serve in their next assignments by requiring them to take Graduate Record Exams (GRE) and other assessment tools. Likewise, Lieutenant Colonels and Colonels who wanted to command a unit were run through a rigorous assessment process to determine strengths, weaknesses, and ultimately readiness to command. These things, combined with innovative virtual training methods which evolved because of COVID-19 drove a new concept in how the Army endeavored to approach PME.
Students at mid to senior level courses were able to look at a history of assessment tools and discuss with a faculty advisor a strategy of courses and school offerings to address shortfalls and reinforce knowledge in areas of strength. Multiple paths through these courses were piloted with the goal of creating an approach which is much more tailored to an individual officer’s educational needs. Ultimately, a tailored approach, informed by an individual’s history of assessments will be the most efficient, and effective use of both student and faculty time as well as resources. It will take time to fully realize this goal, but the hard work of implementing this optimized strategy is well underway.
