|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
Department of Command and LeadershipAcademic Programs
Command and General Staff Officers' Course (CGSOC) Common Core C100: FoundationsC100 establishes a foundation and sets the conditions for all subsequent learning within the core CGSOC course and all subsequent courses (Advanced Operational Warfighting Course, Electives Courses, and for selected students, the School of Advanced Military Studies' Advanced Military Studies Program). • Connections between learning opportunities and future professional requirements; Students discuss and reflect upon aspects of the contemporary world to decide for themselves what they know, or don’t know, about full-spectrum operations and the threats, challenges, and opportunities of the current international security environment. This serves as a foundation for refining the reasoning, communicating, and problem-solving skills vital to success in an environment characterized by ambiguity and uncertainty. The critical thinking and writing lessons appear early in the curriculum to provide the elements and standards of reasoning and communicating that students use throughout the academic year. The leader assessment and development lessons lay the foundation for students’ continued education and development as organizational-level leaders. With the aid of self-assessment instruments and coaching, students become more self-aware and complete an individual development plan to carry them through the year and possibly through their careers. The media lessons lay the foundation for dealing with all forms of media in planning and executing complex military operations within the contemporary operational environment. The lessons are: • C111 - International Security Environment, Operational Environment, and Full- Spectrum Operations. Command and General Staff Officers' Course (CGSOC) Common Core L100: Developing Organizations and LeadersThe L100 block focuses on the challenges field grade officers face as they develop and lead organizations within the 21st century. Using military and civilian case studies, students critically analyze contemporary as well as timeless issues and paradigms of organizational leadership in full spectrum operations. How do I distinguish success from failure as an organizational leader? Should I change a successful organization? Is unethical behavior inevitable when my organization deploys? Why negotiate when I can use my authority, force, or the threat of force to achieve unit aims? Can an organization succeed without a vision? Am I learning the right lessons from my experiences as a leader? As students wrestle with these type questions and share experiences in class, they expand their context of leadership and what it means to influence the development of organizations and leaders as a field grade officer. The lessons are: • L101 - Developing Organizations and Leaders Advanced Operations and Warfighting Course (AOWC) L200: Leadership AppliedThe L200 Leadership Applied block builds on the foundation established in L100. The goal in L100 is to challenge students to critically analyze how field grade officers develop organizations and leaders within the contemporary operational environment. In L200 we ask students to assume the role of the commander and apply what they learned from L100. The objective is for the students to take a commander’s purview to integrate their organizational leadership perspective within a warfighting setting by studying a series of historical cases ranging from World War II to fighting in the contemporary operational environment. All the cases occur in a spectrum of conflict framed in uncertainty, complexity, ethical challenges, and physical and psychological stresses. By looking through the eyes of a commander, students gain a better understanding of the dynamics of organizational level leadership and the competencies that make organizational leaders successful in leading, developing, and achieving results in full spectrum operations. The lesson are: • L201 – MG Cota in WWII Command and General Staff School Language Program1. In Jan 06, CGSC decided to implement a language program and assigned responsibility for the program to the Department of Command and Leadership (DCL). CGSS faculty and Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC) instructors have collaborated to update and improve the language program. A summary of some of the significant actions is as follows:
2. Currently, there are three elements to the CGSS language program:
ElectivesLanguage Electives Students have the opportunity to study language by choice, or may be directed to language studies based on projected post-graduation assignments. Students who receive a post graduation assignment to Iraq or Afghanistan will be directed to take an instructor-facilitated study of Arabic (Iraqi dialect) or Dari conducted by instructors from the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center. These language courses consist of 48 hours of classroom instruction and students receive credit for two electives. There are also elective courses available for self-directed study of the language of choice, using Rosetta Stone via AKO. Students can receive a maximum of one elective credit for self-directed language study (A765, 766).  A761 Iraqi Language Familiarization with basic vocabulary and be able to communicate in situations frequently encountered in OIF. A763 Dari Language Familiarization in basic language skills, to prepare to interact with locals, and to care for yourself and others in both daily life and more dangerous situations. A765 Language Self-Study I. This is a self-study course designed to introduce students to the language of their choice. Legal Issues Electives A941 Administrative Law for Commanders A 714 Becoming a Better Decision Maker A752 Military and the Media For more information see the Electives Course Guide or contact: Media and the Military CurriculumStudents address media relations and planning throughout the CGSOC curriculum. Students explore the relationships between the military and the media, the challenges in the contemporary operating environment and how the affects military planning. Curricular Highlights • C100 Foundations block lessons. The contemporary operating environment has demonstrated how the media’s coverage of an Army operations has an effect on the will of Soldiers, the people, and the nation, as well as how the media shapes world opinion. The US Army current policy of embedding reporters at the troop level means increased complexity for commanders and staffs when dealing with military operations. The foundations course provides students an opportunity to discuss the relationships between the military and the media in the current operational environment, and the role of the leader to ensure that their organization understands all the facets of strategic communications requirements. The outcome is for students to understand the role of the leader for development of the strategic communication plan to include messages, sound bites, and preparation for media engagements. • Advanced Media Training (AMT). Adapted from a program given to general officers at the Pentagon, AMT gives students the opportunity to experience a series of intense media interviews in the realistic setting of a working TV studio. Instructors, who are news media veterans, give a lecture on tips and techniques. Then students are taken to the studio, where they conduct remote, face-to-face and press conference interviews with cameras running. They receive immediate feedback from instructors and fellow students, and also are given a DVD recording of their interviews for later study. • Media Panel. Held twice per year, the panels made up of national and international journalists familiar in working with and reporting on the military participate in an open panel discussion with students. The focus of the panel is to answer student questions on current military and media operations from the perspective of the journalists while providing an outlet for frank and open discussions concerning the state of the military-media relationships and what each expects. • Media play in exercises (throughout the year). Student JTFs have PAO billets and students participate as members of both a Strategic Communication Working Group (SCWG) and Information Operations (IO) Cell. Exercise coordinators insert daily simulated local and international press articles that require JTF staffs to react from both effects and Public Affairs (PA) perspectives. Press conferences are part of exercises. They are filmed and streamed throughout the College on an exercise news network. Conferences replicate the stress of real world media interviews by using bright lights, several cameras and microphones and role players serving as journalists. Media professionals and university journalism sutdents also role-play as embedded media. • One-on-one interviews (throughout the year). Faculty members conduct interviews throughout the year during different lessons. All are filmed for student feedback. The students gain an understanding for developing command messages and themes and crafting sound bites in preparation for media interviews. • Media outreach program (throughout the year) CGSS invites local colleges and universities to send journalism professors and students to CGSC to observe the media panel and to participate in exercises as embedded media, as members of joint press conference media pools, and as stringer media who conduct one-on-one interviews. • Elective Course A751, Military and the Media for the JTF Commander and Staff. This elective course examines the role of the JTF commander and staff for information operations and crisis management media implications. • Elective Course A752/J500, Military and the Media: Bridging the Gap. This course introduces Command and General School Staff Officers and University of Kansas advanced journalism students to the relationship between journalists and experienced field grade officers currently serving on active duty. Upon completion, both the military officers and student journalist will better understand the requirements and skills needed to effectively plan for and engage each organization. The course provides a medium for military officers to engage with advanced student journalists in both academic and realistic interactive situations. Lesson details are available to AKO registered users of our Blackboard site: https://blackboard.leavenworth.army.mil/
Last Reviewed: November 1, 2012 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
