FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (June 25, 2009) - A new memorandum of understanding between the Battle Command Training Program and the Command and General Staff College will provide CGSC staff and faculty with "regreening" opportunities by serving as augmentee observer/trainers with BCTP.
Lt. Col. Cameron Kramer, BCTP G3 operations officer, described the MOU as a win-win document for both BCTP and CGSC.
"It's not just a great opportunity for us, it's a great opportunity for them," he said.
Kramer said it would allow active-duty officers and Department of the Army civilians at CGSC to connect with units as O/Ts, get the latest tactics, techniques and procedures from the field, and participate in an exercise with a unit about to deploy.
"The nice thing about having instructors come over from the college is that they already know how to facilitate - they do that five days a week throughout the school year. They already know how to observe and guide small groups, which may not be so unlike a division staff or a corps staff," said Col. Steven Boylan, BCTP public relations officer and senior public affairs observer/trainer.
Each augmentee observer/trainer will work two or three weeks per exercise and, Kramer said, BCTP would try to accommodate the schedules of CGSC staff and faculty interested in the AOT program. He said BCTP is especially looking for AOTs in critical low-density specialties such as psychological operations, public affairs, military police and staff judge advocates, but that all volunteer AOTs are welcome.
Kramer said the MOU would also allow BCTP to form a reciprocal relationship with CGSC by providing O/Ts for exercises at the college.
"It serves to raise the bar for all of (the Combined Arms Center), all the organizations here on Fort Leavenworth. It really is a good deal," Kramer said.
Kramer said BCPT has used augmentees from CGSC in the past, but the upcoming Vibrant Response exercise Aug. 3-14 will be the first time under the new MOU. Twelve CGSC AOTs will be utilized during Vibrant Response, a civil-military exercise in the Fort Leavenworth area focusing on Defense support to civil authorities.
Lt. Col. Mike Anderson, Defense Threat Reduction Agency liaison instructor to CGSC, said he volunteered to be an AOT for Vibrant Response. He said he hoped to learn more about consequence management response force planning from the exercise.
Anderson is a functional area 52 officer, nuclear research and operations, and teaches an elective course at CGSC in combating weapons of mass destruction. He called the cooperation between CGSC and BCTP a win-win proposition, and said it could work across all areas and specialties.
"It allows faculty to bring expertise from the doctrine perspective, interact with units and bring expertise back into the classroom," Anderson said.
CGSC Associate Dean of Academics Dr. James Martin said providing AOTs to BCTP would help keep CGSC instructors relevant and current.
"It allows them to get a hands-on feel out in the force again, and bring it back into the classroom," he said.
Martin said BCTP would also benefit from interaction with highly educated and highly trained CGSC faculty and staff.
Kramer said he wants to eventually expand AOT opportunities to include students in the School of Advanced Military Studies. After graduation from SAMS, many of the students will serve as planners on staffs at the division level or higher.
"If you want to learn your craft as a division senior staff officer, or at the joint task force level or the Army service component command level, the only place to really learn it, besides doing it, is here (BCTP)," Boylan said.
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