FORT BLISS, Texas — The 1st Armored Division hosted a two-day leadership development event, "Iron Core/Iron Ambassador," for select junior leaders at Fort Bliss, Texas, from Aug. 5-6, 2025.
"Iron Core/Iron Ambassador," part of the broader "Iron Summit" leadership development program, provided mid-grade leaders and junior Soldiers with a series of informative and interactive lectures and seminars designed to enhance their leadership skills.
The event is an extension of the 1st Armored Division’s annual Iron Summit conference, which focuses on developing leaders, promoting team cohesion and fostering a unified purpose within the 1st Armored Division and the Fort Bliss tenant units. The larger Iron Summit initiative, which began in 2020 as part of Operation Ironclad, brings together leaders from Fort Bliss and the El Paso community to discuss leadership, readiness and modernization.
During Iron Core/Iron Ambassador, attendees participated in sessions covering crucial topics such as holistic fitness, leadership, quality of life at Fort Bliss, available base resources, teamwork and team building.
Each day of the event began with rigorous physical training sessions executed simultaneously across the 1st Armored Division’s footprint on Fort Bliss. These sessions were led by Holistic Health and Fitness, H2F, professionals, with assistance from trained H2F facilitators selected from the event participants. This emphasis on physical readiness underscored the division's commitment to developing well-rounded leaders and set the tone for the leader development seminars later in the day.
On the first day Maj. Gen. Curtis Taylor, the 1st Armored Division commander, addressed the audience on the critical impact that effective leaders have on their organization. "Leaders matter. Leadership is the most important difference between like units," said Taylor. "It's called the Audie Murphy effect. A great leader is not 10% better than a good leader, a great leader is 100 times better."
Command Sgt. Maj. James Light, the 1st Armored Division Command sergeant major, also spoke to the attendees, delivering a presentation on holistic leadership development as it relates to preparing for combat. "It’s about preparing your mind, your body and your formations for what large scale combat is going to bring," said Light. “We haven’t seen this kind of change in the character of warfare up to this point. We have to completely rethink how we fight and how we employ emerging technology to help us win.”
The holistic approach of the event incorporated more than just physical fitness and discussion about combat leadership. It also featured a live play as a significant component of the event focused on portraying the scenarios covered by the U.S. Army’s Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention, SHARP, program. The purpose of the play was to prepare the young leaders in audience for possible scenarios they may face leaders in the U.S. Army. The scenarios presented in the play demonstrated the consequences of SHARP violations and provided resources for leaders to respond to real-world situations of sexual harassment and sexual assault in their formations. In this way, Iron Core/Iron Ambassador emphasized that effective leadership is not simply preparing for war, it is also caring for soldiers effectively in peace.
The ultimate purpose of Iron Core/Iron Ambassador is to develop soldiers across the 1st Armored Division and Fort Bliss into resilient and forward-thinking leaders who are ready for the challenges of preparing for war in the complex, modern operating environment. This holistic approach that this event took represents the sustained and deliberate effort 1st Armored Division and Fort Bliss put into building resilient, cohesive formations that are ready to fight and win our nation’s wars.
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