U.S. Army Captains -- Unprepared for Tomorrow's Challenges

Currently the Armys only promotion requirement from captain to major is the completion of a captains career course CCC or sister service equivalent. Every captain is routinely scheduled to attend educational training between their fifth and seventh year of commissioned service. To ensure that all captains trained under the officer education system are prepared for command, the U.S. Army needs to develop a curriculum that incorporates all of the basic branches into a comprehensive planning school that focuses on all of the battlefield operating systems BOS equally. This program of instruction should focus on the military decision making process MDMP as it applies to all elements of the BOS. This is an absolute must as the Army continues its transformation into self-sufficient, plug-and-play brigade combat teams capable of independent operations across the full spectrum of military conflict. Essentially there are three problems with the current education system. The first is that not all captains receive the same education and training. The second is that the Army is putting an extremely high amount of focus on the current operating environment specifically counterinsurgency operations. Lastly, The U.S. Army, struggling to cope with stepped up deployments of its soldiers to Iraq, has shortened the duration of several of its bedrock training courses