8/3/2019 Army Leader Course Changes

1/1 NCO JOURNAL

By JENNIFER MATTSON NCO Journal

The Advanced Leader Course-Common Core, taught

via distance learning rom the U.S. Army SergeantsMajor Academy at Fort Bliss, exas, is in the process

o updating its course material to reect the changing at-mosphere on the ground. ALC-Common Core ocuses ontasks all sta sergeants need to know, regardless o militaryoccupational specialty.

Sgt. Maj. Scott Denson, director o ALC-Common Core

distance learning at USASMA, said the new course ocusesmore intensely on conducting counterinsurgency tech-niques, monitoring electronic warare, counseling subordi-nates and supporting Soldiers amilies.

We looked at the course, and it is a little outdatedbased on the lessons learned during the Global War onerrorism, Denson said. Were looking at what Soldiersneed to be doing when theyre in that midgrade-NCOlevel. In the new course, we tried to incorporate tasks thatare more relevant to todays Army.

Tough some o the content will change, the purpose,length and acilitation o the course will remain the same:

Te course will still be taught through distance learning;Soldiers will still have 90 days to complete it; and it willstill be broken down into ve modules, Denson said.

Te length o the course wont change, Denson said.Big Army tells us this is a 90-day acilitated course andthat its 80.4 hours [o online instruction]. Te only thingsthat change are some o the tasks. We look at whats need-ed, but we also bring NCOs to a critical-task site selectionboard every three years. Tese NCOs come [to USASMAto] sit down, examine the tasks and select the tasks theythink are the most critical to the Soldier.

Afer the last critical task site selection board heldSeptember 2010 at USASMA, the group determined there

were some things that needed to be taught in ALC to makesure the sergeants and sta sergeants who graduate romthe course are equipped with the inormation theyll needto lead troops, Denson said.

Te main ocus o our course now is on leadershipskills, NCO duties, and on responsibilities and authority,and how to conduct perormance-oriented training thatis the nucleus o this course, Denson said. Te tasksthat we have outlined in this course eed into one o thoseareas.

Te course remains important and should not be takenlightly, Denson said. Now that the Army is in a slower

operational tempo,sergeants will havea harder time beingpromoted to stasergeant i they ailto take the coursebecause there willbe no more waiv-ers or those who ail to completeor pass the course.

Te course had an 82 percent graduation rate or scalyear 2011. Soldiers ail to graduate the course or a varietyo reasons, including not communicating eectively withthe acilitator o the course, not staying within the time-lines and not understanding that the course is taught todoctrine.

Some sergeants and sta sergeants, though, have ailedthe course through no aulto their own, Denson said.Soldiers are enrolled in thecourse by Human ResourcesCommand at Fort Knox, Ky.

HRC then sends an email toSoldiers AKO accounts to letthem know they are enrolledin the course.

I Soldiers ail to under-stand the importance o theenrollment or ail to checktheir AKO accounts, theycan unwittingly jeopardizetheir careers, Denson said.Te leaders o ALC-CommonCore are working with HRCto identiy a solution in the

notication process or theseSoldiers, he added.

Graduates o the coursereceive a DA Form 87 (acerticate o training). Tecourse is part o the NCO Education System course andtakes the place o Structured Sel-Development level 2,Denson said.

Tis is part o NCOES; its not just a correspondencecourse, Denson said.

Its a course that people have to complete in order tomove on in their career.

ALC-Common Coregets an updateLessons learned infuence revisions toonline portion o midgrade-NCO course

Content changes

The revised content of the 80.4-ho

Advanced Leader Course-Common

Core now features new topics,which include:

X Communicating effectively

X Implementing the Army Famil

Team Building Program

X Integrating newly assigned

Soldiers

X Counseling subordinates

X The history of the NCO Corps

X Supervising range operations

X Training for full-spectrum

operationsX Understanding public affairs

principles