FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Dec. 13, 2013) -- Ohio State University graduate and now U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Kyle Lawrence knew he wanted to join the Army as soon as he finished school. With a degree under his belt, Lawrence set his sights on becoming a strong leader in the Army.
Following basic training, Lawrence began honing his leadership skills by attending Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Ga., which is one of four paths to becoming an officer along with the Reserve Officers' Training Corps, the United States Military Academy at West Point and direct commission. Lawrence then went on to training at the Engineer Basic Officer Leader Course at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. The course teaches engineer officers to plan, synchronize and understand complex engineer and tactical operations before going on to lead Soldiers in the Army.
Lawrence said the Army has found the best people and most efficient method to teach students the lessons they need to know. The engineer regiment is a very diverse regiment including construction, combat, Geospatial, diving, route clearance and area clearance.
"What it does is gives us a plethora of civilian skills with a twist of combat experience that we can't learn in the civilian world," Lawrence said. "And another thing it allows me to do is take classes to go towards a master's degree which will also benefit me in the civilian world if I choose to get out in three to four years."
Students in this course learn about vertical and horizontal construction, breaching obstacles and demolition, with the final part of the course bringing all of the skills together and putting the Soldiers to the test in a competitive team situation.
"Here at this course we focus traditionally on basic doctrine, simple leadership tasks like troop-leading procedures and the five principles of patrolling," said EBOLC instructor Capt. Evan Mair. "Then we move into specific technical skills like engineer reconnaissance, construction, common engineer combat tasks and basic infantry and maneuver tasks that they'll use to support maneuver forces throughout not only the United States, but also the world in whatever deployed capacity engineers are called to serve."
Engineer officers have unique team and project management opportunities early in their career while working alongside experts in the field.
"It allows you to directly work with people who are skilled and can teach you vast skills that you couldn't get anywhere else," said Mair.
Course instructors say the idea is to develop flexible and adaptable leaders.
"I'm looking for how they think, a critical thinker," said EBOLC instructor Capt. Dexter Simmons. "We want somebody who can go out there and be a leader, and no matter what situation they're in, they can make a decision and complete that mission."
Army 2nd Lt. Brenna Heisterman is pursuing systems engineering training along with leadership opportunities.
"It's definitely exciting being such a young person, and immediately you're given that responsibility, you're in charge of a platoon of 30 to 40 people," said Heisterman.
The 19-week course includes a training opportunity called Sapper Stakes which allows Soldiers to put what they've learned to the test in a competitive team environment. The four to six hour training experience spans roughly 12 miles and includes different engineering tasks.
"At this course, we focus heavily on what we call critical sapper skills and really try to create a training environment where students can practice all the skills that they've learned," said Mair. "We have a myriad of tasks that are trained from basic, combat engineering tasks like discovering, probing, and marking mines to specific construction tasks like determining a slope, doing a forward site reconnaissance or estimating a water flow of a stream or river."
Lawrence knows the education and training are valuable and will be useful no matter what career path he chooses.
"The skills I've learned here can lead me to any sort of management position that I choose to do; it doesn't even have to be just an engineer-based job," Lawrence said.
Coming to this leadership course spurs participants to reach for their goals within the Army and plan for the future outside of the Army.
"My personal goals are to lead a platoon of Soldiers," Lawrence said. "That is my goal here at the Engineer Basic Officer Leader Course -- to develop the skills to be the best leader that I can."
As an Army officer, Lawrence will have the opportunity to take on the responsibility of leading Soldiers and mentoring the next generation of engineer officers.
"The best officers we have are the ones that have a burning passion for leadership, executing what they do on a daily basis with pride, and really trying to be the best people they can be not only for their Soldiers but also for the United States of America and for the American people," said Mair.
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