Warrior Leadership Course comes to Camp Bondsteel

By Spc. Chris Erickson, 116th Public Affairs DetachmentApril 26, 2010

Warrior Leadership Course comes to Camp Bondsteel
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

Soldiers at Camp Bondsteel

recently had the opportunity to go

through the first level of leadership

courses offered by the Army.

Three groups of 54 students each

went through Warrior Leadership

Course, which is designed to

instill confidence and leadership

capabilities in younger troops.

Instructors were brought in from

U.S. Army bases where they teach

the courses full-time.

Sgt. 1st Class Christopher

Williams, senior WLC instructor,

said this is the first time these

instructors have taught to deployed

servicemembers, although they

were able to speak to instructors

who had before coming.

"It wasn't so much difficult as

much as it was 'who do I need to

call to get this resource or that one

and what resources are available to

us," Williams said. "Once you're

in the classroom, for the instructors

it's no different. The instructors

have been phenomenal."

Once the resources were lined

up, it was time to get the Soldiers

through the course. During the

two-week period of instruction,

the Soldiers stayed in the barracks

designated for trainees and lived

with their classmates.

Each cycle was split into three

smaller groups so the Soldiers

could function in smaller teams

and have more time to interact with

the instructors. The cycles started

with classroom instruction and

culminated in three days of field

exercises.

Sgt. Jared Klempel, Bismarck,

N.D. works at the Personnel Service

Center at Camp Bondsteel. Klempel

went through WLC in the first

cycle. He said he had planned for

this since before the Kosovo Forces

(KFOR) 12 rotation even began.

"When I heard about it before the

deployment, I wanted to get it out of

the way and move onto other goals

in my National Guard career," he

said.

Klempel wasn't the only one to

plan, although the list of Soldiers

changed over time to reflect interest

in the class and whether or not the

prospective students had met all

prerequisites.

"At Camp Atterbury they had

a list of who was going to attend

and there was an additional list of

alternates," Williams said.

"A large of majority of the Soldiers

who attended the course were not

on the initial list. Most of those

who graduated were not on the

162-Soldier list."

Sgt. Ismael Becerra, Phoenix

Ariz., 160th Finance Det. was one

of those alternates.

"This was an additional opportunity

for me," he said. "One of the greatest

things I've taken out of WLC is the

people I met. In WLC you're actually

working with MPs, the KP unit, MI,

whoever's available - we're all working

together to accomplish a goal and

make sure we graduate together."

That close teamwork allowed the

Soldiers to meet others from Multi-

National Battle Group-East and

work with each other as a team,

from discussing challenges of leadership

during classroom instruction

to moving tactically while training

in the field.

Williams said for the most part,

the classes worked well together to

accomplish common goals.

"Motivation overall was

phenomenal," Williams said. "Each

element was a little different.

Some were a little slow in coming

together. One platoon in particular

was having some struggles, so the

instructor took them up and ran

them through individual movement

techniques right through the mud.

He said if he would have known

that would have been the motivating

factor he would have done that on

day one."

"Training is fun - it needs to be

made fun," he continued. "You've

still got to establish that learning

environment and having some fun

can help establish that."

Becerra said there he took a lot

from the class that he could begin

applying on a day-to-day basis.

"A lot of it is making sure that I

take care of my Soldiers - making

sure I know the regulations, where

to look when they need something,

whether that is uniform wear and

appearance or NCO evaluations."

Klempel said he thought the

training was great experience for

any Soldier and helped everyone

involved become better at what they

do.

"Lessons learned - just being

mindful of your situations and

doing the right things at all times."

"Things that I was taught were

giving proper classes, being more

organized in those classes, Warrior

Tasks such as land navigation and

leading a PT session - basically

showing your Soldiers that you've

got control and them realizing that

you know what you're doing," he

said.

He joked that they didn't realize

it right away with him.

"I messed up a couple times," he

laughed. "That's why we keep on

practicing and everyone gets it in

the end."

Both Becerra and Klempel said

WLC was just the first stop their

careers had in store.

"BNCOC is one of the next

steps I'm already looking at,"

Becerra said. "I'm also planning

on going through the OCS program

after I complete my mechanical

engineering degree."

"I think I'm going to take a break

and then when I get home move

on to BNCOC and later, ANCOC,"

Klempel said.

"WLC was a great experience for

me," Becerra said. "The instructors

were great and put a lot of time

and effort to help us get through.

We had our tough times but we

rolled through those tough times to

graduate together."

In the end all but one of the

students made it through the class,

bringing the completion rate to

nearly 100 percent.

"It was a higher rate than what

we would normally see," Williams

said. "Every once in a while you'll

have a class like that.

"I think that's because the

Soldiers who came to these three

classes met height-weight and

were required to pass the PT test,"

Williams continued. "Therefore we

didn't have health issues and didn't

have people who weren't feeling

good."

Brig. Gen. Al Dohrmann,

commanding general of MNBG-E,

said the percentage was outstanding.

"The graduation rate is

phenomenal," Dohrmann said. "I've

always said that with Soldiers, if

you give them the strength and

the resources, they will get the

job done. You are that first line of

leadership now after graduating

from this course."