Anticipating the Future: Continuing Officer Education Beyond the Captains' Career Course

If the past is any indicator, future operational environments will be challenged with newer and deadlier Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) threats. The CBRN threats of the past have informed the doctrine and learning of today but our Professional Military Education precludes institutional learning beyond the Chemical Captains' Career Course (CCCC). In respect to the US Army Chemical Corps, this is a significant educational and developmental gap that harms our officers' ability to understand emerging threats in the future. The fourth year in the Army after the CCCC should not be the end of branch-specific officer education. This monograph does not advocate for the creation of a new or a series of new PME courses. In a resource constrained environment, that is not a reasonable conclusion. Instead, this monograph seeks to evaluate the resources we have available now and developing upon them to create further learning throughout the entirety of the officer's career. This is accomplished through an open-source review of current and future CBRN threats, review of the current chemical officer PME Programs of Instructions (POI), literature reviews of 'how learners learn' and proposed methods to create the instructional medium. Lastly, recommendations are offered to facilitate education throughout the entire officer's career.