<strong>ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md.</strong> - The students of the Army Management Staff College's Civilian Education System Basic Course who got their diplomas today all graduated first in their class.
They were the first to graduate the basic course on the Aberdeen Proving Ground and, in fact, the first to graduate from this course off campus from Fort Leavenworth, Kan. The two-week course is intended to improve leadership qualities in Army civilians to more effectively lead and care for teams.
Maj. Gen. Nickolas G. Justice, the commander of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command and senior commander of the Aberdeen Proving Ground told the graduates they need to maintain and enhance the post's reputation as a premier acquisition installation.
The Army has been civilianizing military tasks and giving civilians more responsibilities, Justice said, but has failed to train the civilians as fully as the Army trains its Soldiers. This course was designed give civilians the same leadership skills that their uniformed peers have had the opportunity to learn.
"What you are doing right now is a project and an effort to institutionalize, in our Army, the same kind of professional training that...our officers have always had, that the non-commissioned officers have had for 30 years, and we're going to instill it in you." Justice told the graduates.
Justice told the students they had achieved an important accomplishment and should be proud for several reasons. Foremost amongst them: the ability to better support Soldiers. The students echoed that sentiment.
"It actually gives me more camaraderie with my fellow Army leaders," Dr. Laurel Allender, of the Army Research Laboratory's Human Research and Engineering Directorate, said. "This particular class will give me more confidence in interacting with my fellow Army leaders so together we can support the Soldier better."
Justice applauded the decision to hold the course here because it provided the APG civilian leaders with tremendous networking opportunities. It will help APG to develop a cadre of learned professionals, he said, and initialize the powerful energy at "the next high-tech center in the nation".
"You are a special class because you are the first time that we were able to get off-campus training," Justice said. "I am just excited that the first home-station training was right here, at this installation, and that so many of you are going to be leading in your area of opportunity."
Senior leaders have trumpeted the leadership program as a success, and now the focus shifts to the next round of students. It's the graduates responsibility, RDECOM Executive Deputy to the Commander Gary Martin said, to recruit other civilian leaders to the course. The recent graduates have already stepped up to the task.
"I just had a counseling session with someone yesterday...I said, 'You're the next guy coming to take this class,' because it's good for the individual, the team, the branch, and for the organization," Allender said.
The next step for these graduates is to enroll in the Intermediate Course. Martin is working hard to have that course held here as well, and said he wants APG to be the pilot for every one of these off-campus programs.
Justice didn't want the graduates to underestimate the importance of this course, and said it was a seminal event in the history of the Army. A footnote to look back on as the point the Army took a changing investment in its civilian leaders.
"I see as a vision to someday to be able to have a civilian workforce that has the same qualities and characteristics as our military does," he said. "And you know how great uniformed Army is."
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