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NCO classes to focus on leadership, thinking

The Marine Corps is in the midst of overhauling the curriculum for its enlisted professional military education academies, with more emphasis on leadership and critical thinking and less on physical training, Marine officials said.

Changes have occurred gradually as they were proposed and approved over the last two years, and more are expected this year, said Col. Jim Minick, the service’s director of enlisted PME.

The curriculum overhaul began with the rollout of a new corporals course last summer, but will continue with changes to the following:

• Sergeants course: Recommended for all sergeants, this course is being reviewed in a similar fashion to the way the corporals course was under review before the Corps unveiled its changes. Marine officials wouldn’t discuss sergeants course specifics, but courses are expected to promote critical thinking. Expect fewer multiple-choice tests and more group discussions, with the goal being to get Marines to consider new ways of looking at potential problems they may face.

• Career course: Recommended for all staff sergeants, the career course curriculum is under review, with major changes likely in 2011. Marine officials said they will review the curriculum throughout 2010 before making any major decisions. The purpose of the course will remain the same: to teach staff NCOs, particularly staff sergeants, the basics of platoon-level leadership.

• Advanced course: A requirement for all gunnery sergeants, this course has already gone through a number of small curriculum changes focused primarily on promoting critical thinking. Additional changes to lessons on military planning and Marine Corps operations will be put in place this summer, Minick said, but he declined to elaborate.

• Senior enlisted course: Designed for first sergeants and master sergeants, this course was launched in 2008 exclusively at Marine Corps University, based at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., to prepare Marines for assignments as the Corps’ senior enlisted Marines. One class was held in each of the last two years, but the Corps intends to expand it to three classes of 30 in 2010 and five classes in 2011.

Marine officials overseeing PME have stressed that the overall intent of the courses — preparing Marines for assignments of increased responsibility — will remain the same. But the focus is evolving, with more classes focused on problem solving and less focused on memorizing facts.

“It’s getting enlisted Marines to where they’re comfortable when there is more than one right or wrong answer,” Minick said. “It’s getting Marines to understand that there isn’t always an absolute. We have very young Marines out there making tough decisions, and we have to develop an education program that fits the environment they operate in.”

One example of a change made already: Classes covering casualty evacuation once tested Marines with a written test, but evolved about a year ago to require Marines to role-play the situation.

“You have to recognize the essential tasks,” said Master Gunnery Sgt. Kelly Scanlon, director of the senior enlisted course for Quantico-based Education Command. “You have to demonstrate that you know how to assess the casualty and arrange for an evacuation.”

Less PT, more teaching

Another evolution for academy courses is that there is less emphasis on whipping students into shape and more on making sure that they know how to get their own Marines squared away.

“I guarantee that all six academies were running a different physical training program, and it was probably based off not only the director, but the instructors’ personalities,” said Scanlon, a former director of the academy at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, Calif. “I know that was the case at Twentynine Palms. I like to run, so we ran a lot.”

Last year, the Corps adopted the Combat Conditioning Program at the academies, standardizing what is taught during PT sessions and how much physical activity Marines get while at the academies. The program, still considered in a trial phase, will go through content review board this spring, but Minick said the basic concept will remain in place: Marines need to learn how to teach nutrition, stretching and other concepts to their own Marines at the academies.

That’s a marked change — and one that Education Command officials acknowledge has been criticized by members of the enlisted community who are concerned the change in course means Marine standards are being lowered.

Scanlon said he understands the purpose for the changes, even though he had instructors “smoke” students with PT when he ran the academy at Twentynine Palms.

“We’d go out and put students through tough physical training, but we weren’t teaching them to go back to their units and teach their Marines and lead their Marines on combat conditioning,” Scanlon said. “When I took over as director at Twentynine Palms, my measure of success was how well the students did at the Physical Fitness Test. If as a whole, they came in and averaged 200 and they graduated six weeks later and they had a 285, I felt we did our job.”

The Combat Conditioning Program calls for students to receive PT instruction during 24 of the 32 working days they are at the academy, with daily sessions of 45 to 90 minutes, officials said. And unlike before, when Marines fail their PFTs at the academy, they receive adverse fitness reports in their records, with no chance to avoid the adverse reports by working themselves into shape while at school.

“You’re here to get educated. You’re not here to get a better PFT score,” Minick said. “In my view, we’re holding Marines accountable. We’re seeing a lot less Marines show up out of standards. But, the focus isn’t on their score, it’s on their skill.”