NCO Academy students complete field training at Fort McCoy

Students with Basic Leader Course Class 18-05 from Staff Sgt. Todd R. Cornell Noncommissioned Officer Academy participate in a situational training exercise April 30, 2018, on South Post at Fort McCoy, Wis.

The Basic Leader Course incorporates recent Armywide lessons learned, battle drills, and Army Warrior Tasks into course training, academy officials said.

As part of the course, students participate in a 36-hour situational training exercise that concentrates on competency, battle-focused combat scenarios, and troop-leading procedures.

The NCOA was activated at Fort McCoy in 1988.

It was dedicated and named after Staff Sgt. Todd R. Cornell, an Army Reserve Soldier from Menomonee Falls, Wis., who was killed while serving in Iraq in 2004.

The academy is one of the largest tenant organizations at Fort McCoy providing institutional training with more than 1,800 students attending annually for the Battle Staff Noncommissioned Officer Course and the Basic Leader Course. The academy's mission is to train and develop agile and adaptive warrior leaders and Soldiers in full-spectrum operations.