Army Educates Civilians to be Pentathletes

By J.D. LeipoldMarch 23, 2007

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, March 23, 2007) - The Army's Civilian Education System is offering four courses to Army civilians to empower them to become pentathlete leaders of the 21st century alongside their Soldier counterparts.

Three of the courses are a combination of resident and online training taught at Fort Belvoir, Va., and Fort Leavenworth, Kan. They include the basic, intermediate and advanced courses. The 57-hour exclusively online foundation course launched yesterday.

According to Alice Muellerweiss, chief of the Civilian Leader Development Division, Training Directorate, Army G3, the courses are progressive, sequential as well as integrated, and it's the first time the Army has ever had this type of educational system for the civilian corps.

The new program was a necessary shift to better align civilians with their uniformed counterparts. As the Army transforms to a more operational environment with uniformed leaders focused on warfighting missions, more of uniformed leaders' other responsibilities are being shouldered by civilian employees. Many uniformed positions are also being replaced by civilians.

Muellerweiss said the approach to civilian pentathelete training is holistic.

"Students will learn how to see things differently; they'll learn how to think, not what to think, and they'll understand some decision-making processes much better," Muellerweiss said. "Since these are resident courses for the most part, they also get the opportunity to learn from other civilians who are assigned to commands throughout the world."

The CES leader-development courses include:

<b>Foundation course</b> Entirely online, this is for civilians new to the Army. It

gives students an understanding and appreciation for Army values and customs, and what it means to be a professional in the civilian corps. Students acquire foundation competencies for leader development, develop communication skills and learn how to assume leadership roles.

<b>Basic course</b> A combination of two weeks resident instruction at Fort Leavenworth and 43 hours of online training, this course teaches students to understand and apply basic leadership skills so they can lead and care for small teams as well as develop and mentor juniors.

<b>Intermediate course</b> This is three weeks of residential instruction taught at Fort Leavenworth and Fort Belvoir. It also consists of an additional 91 hours of online training. Designed for civilians who exercise direct and indirect supervision, students learn skills to manage human and financial resources, and to direct program management and systems integration.

<b>Advanced course</b> A four-week resident course at Fort Belvoir with an additional 67 hours online training, this course is for leaders who exercise predominantly indirect supervision. Students learn additional skills to enable them to lead a large, complex organization, and how to inspire vision, creativity and focus on mission accomplishment.

For class dates, locations, eligibility, application and selection process, visit: <a href="http://www.amsc.belvoir.army.mil"target=_blank> www.amsc.belvoir.army.mil</a>.