Marine Command and Staff College (The Challenge of Integrating Phase II JPME)

The purpose of this document is to provide the Marine Corps Command and Staff College with an alternative for integrating Joint Professional Military Education JPME Phase II learning objectives into its curriculum. It also provides an off-the-shelf product that can be implemented by the Command and Staff College as is, modified, or used as a model for other courses of action. Recently a move was afoot to get support within the Department of Defense to integrate JPME Phase II learning objectives into service intermediate-level colleges such as the Marine Command and Staff College and the Army Command and General Staff College. The reasons for this move vary however, feedback from unified commanders offer the most compelling reasons to take such action. Senior leaders from unified commands stressed four main themes in which JPME Phase II educated officers should be proficient with regard to responsibilities at the Joint Task Force staff level and higher. The themes are as follows 1 be knowledgeable in service core competencies, 2 have an understanding of crisis action planning in a Joint Task Force Headquarters, 3 be able to manipulate Time Phased Force Deployment Data, and 4 know how to stand up and organize a Joint Task Force Headquarters. Some of the senior leader feedback is based on officers arriving in joint billets with little joint experience or education. A problem that exacerbates the issue is lack of throughput for Phase II programs. One of the ways to maximize throughput while maintaining quality is to integrate Phase II JPME into service intermediate-level schools.