Transforming Command Team Education to Prepare Leaders to Win on the Modern Battlefield
Abstract. The School for Command Preparation (SCP) is the only school in the U.S. Army for graduate, executive-level education specifically designed to prepare future command teams for the gravity of responsibilities they are to assume. The resident courses run by SCP include the Chief of Staff of the Army Pre-Command Course, the Advanced Tactical Commander Development Course, the Command Team Spouse Program, the Army Strategic Education Program – Command, and the Company Commander / First Sergeant Pre-Command Course. The history of modernization and transformation within command preparation for the Army includes consistent knowledge gap identification, rapid assessment of new challenges, and development of solutions to provide valuable knowledge to battalion and brigade leaders. In 2025, CSA, General George, charged SCP to redesign the entire Command Preparation Program (CPP). The modernized SCP curriculum enables the Army’s warfighting command teams to enter their future command roles fully armed with knowledge from Week-1 of CSA-PCC (Art of Command), Week-2 of CSA-PCC (Tailored Command Tracks), the Judge Advocate General’s Legal Orientation, Army Branch Day (each student attends 4-hours of their branch’s curriculum), and Initial Military Training functional command class.
Introduction
The School for Command Preparation (SCP), a school within the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, is the Chief of Staff of the Army’s Executive Agent for the Army’s Command Preparation Program (CPP) and lead innovator in modernizing pre-command curriculum for greatest impact. In this role, SCP has a long track record of transforming and modernizing resident pre-command courses to develop command teams to lead U.S Army formations with agility, decisiveness, and the tenacity necessary to win on the modern battlefield. It is the SCP team of professional faculty (all former battalion and brigade commanders and command sergeants major) who carry the mantle of responsibility to prepare battalion and brigade command teams for their challenging and essential roles in the Army. It is also the SCP faculty’s responsibility to identify, test, and implement new cutting-edge ways to increase speed and improve quality of command level decisions in-extremis.
SCP is the only school in the U.S. Army for graduate, executive-level education specifically designed to prepare future command teams for the gravity of responsibilities they are to assume. The resident courses run by SCP include the Chief of Staff of the Army Pre-Command Course, the Advanced Tactical Commander Development Course, the Command Team Spouse Program, the Army Strategic Education Program – Command, and the Company Commander / First Sergeant Pre-Command Course. The Chief of Staff of the Army Pre-Command Course for battalion and brigade command and command sergeants major selectees is the center of gravity for SCP.
Figure 1: CSA GEN George addresses Students and Spouses. Source: U.S. Army photo by Jim Shea
It is within CSA-PCC where the Army provides battalion and brigade command team selectees with dedicated time to refine and apply the art of command and the art of tactics, in addition to valuable reflection time. At multiple points within their careers, CSA-PCC students have learned the science of command through exposure to doctrine, branch-specific skill training, branch-specific education opportunities, intermediate level education through institutions such as the Command and General Staff College (CGSC), the non-commissioned officer academies, and the Sergeants Major Academy. It is only the battalion and brigade level Chief of Staff of the Army Pre-Command Courses in which these specially selected service members spend dedicated time with active duty former battalion commanders and command sergeants major, and full-time civilian faculty who are prior brigade commanders. The intentionally curated faculty within SCP provides expertise and mentorship unmatched in any other educational or training setting in the Army and in support of students selected for command team positions.
History of Transformation and Modernization for Command Preparation
In 1976, CGSC was directed to implement a new program to train maneuver battalion and brigade commanders coined, the Pre-Command Course. The course was designed for all lieutenant colonels (O-5) and colonels (O-6) selected for command and focused on the shift in Army doctrine toward high-intensity combat against the Soviet Union. It would be the first course of its kind and the start of decades of emphasis placed on command preparation by the Army. In 1984, with guidance from the Commanding General of Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), General Richardson, CGSC founded the School for Professional Development (SPD) with the Pre-Command Course (PCC) as one of its primary courses. General Richardson also authorized the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center to provide voluntary pre-command training to the spouses of commanders called, the Command Team Seminar (CTS). The course acknowledged the important role spouses fill within the network of support in units and the military community.
It was in 1988 that the Chief of Staff of the Army, General Vuono, challenged CGSC to find innovative ways to transform how command selectees synchronized combat power in high intensity combat. The initiative and education effort was to increase the speed and accuracy of commander decision making focused on synchronizing combat power on the battlefield for action at a decisive point. The result was the development of the Tactical Commanders Development Program (TCDP). Effectiveness of the Pre-Command Course, the Command Team Seminars, and the Tactical Commanders Development Program led to the optimization of all CAC pre-command courses under one school, renamed The School for Command Preparation on 17 July 1990.
The 2003 transformation across the Army from a division-centric force structure to a more modular force using rapidly deployable Brigade Combat Teams (BCT) created new challenges for brigade commanders. A gap in BCT commander education was identified by SCP faculty, leading to a modernization and development initiative that produced the Brigade Combat Team Commanders Development Program (BCTCDP). The course was designed to prepare future BCT commanders for the dynamics of commanding new modular formations.
SCP expanded the student population to include command sergeants major and their spouses into PCC and CTS in 2006, following pivotal guidance from the CAC Commander, Lieutenant General Wallace, and then Sergeant Major of the Army (SMA), SMA Preston. As a result, the curriculum of SCP transformed content and focus to prepare command teams for the weight of leadership of battalion, brigade, and equivalent formations. Soon after, SCP identified modern challenges faced by senior enlisted advisors at the battalion and brigade levels unaddressed in professional military education. The realization led to the development of the Command Sergeants Major Development Course (CSMDC) as a three-day course directly following PCC. It targeted the specialized needs of the command sergeants major. The impact of this unique course drove Army senior leader decisions to increase the CSMDC from three days to one week in 2009.
The history of modernization and transformation within command preparation for the Army includes consistent knowledge gap identification, rapid assessment of new challenges, and development of solutions to provide valuable knowledge to battalion and brigade leaders. The SCP faculty have answered the call for modernizing and transforming curriculum for decades, as proven through development of the PCC, CTS, CSMDC, TCDC, and BCTCDP curriculums for battalion and brigade levels. The SCP faculty continue to proactively study the changing character of war and the needs of the U.S. Army to ensure all curriculum taught within the school remains cutting edge.
Evolution: A Total Army Approach and Largescale Curriculum Redesign
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan required numerous units from the United States Army Reserve (USAR) and the Army National Guard (ARNG) to deploy alongside active duty units, to sustain long-term military efforts. The SCP curriculum developers and professional faculty identified that the “Total Army” deployment approach uncovered shortfalls in the preparation of command teams within the USAR and ARNG, as well as active duty regarding how to best integrate the multi-component capabilities. With the support of CSA, General Odierno, SCP took a crucial step towards serving the Total Army by integrating future battalion and brigade commanders and command sergeants major from the USAR into command preparation courses in 2013. In 2020, with support from CSA, General McConville, the ARNG was integrated into SCP courses, leading the pre-command curriculum to incorporate all components at the battalion and brigade command team levels.
From 2022 to 2024, the PCC curriculum for battalion and brigade command teams included the two-week PCC, one-week Functional Commander Development Course for commanders taking non-tactical commands, one-week Command Sergeants Major Development Course, and the three-week Tactical Commander Development Course. The PCC curriculum included 40 hours of seminar time and 27 hours of guest speaker presentations from senior leaders across the Army. Outside of SCP during this period, branch pre-command courses were taught at the Centers of Excellence while specialty courses were conducted at other locations, such as the Judge Advocate General School’s Senior Officer Legal Orientation (SOLO) at Charlottesville, Virginia.
Now: Recent Modernization and Transformation
In 2025, CSA, General George, charged SCP to redesign the entire Command Preparation Program (CPP). The CPP included all SCP courses taught at Ft. Leavenworth, all branch pre-command courses, specialty courses including SOLO, and functional command courses like the Initial Military Training (IMT) PCC run by TRADOC. The effort was to eliminate redundancies in command preparation education, consolidate aspects of curriculum where possible, reduce course length and associated costs, and increase the speed and quality of command level decision making in large scale combat operations (LSCO). The redesign effort included consolidating 17 separate branch-specific PCCs, the JAG School SOLO course, and the IMT PCC into one CSA-PCC at Ft. Leavenworth, taught seven times per year.
Figure 2: CSA GEN George addresses the CSA-PCC students at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. Source: U.S. Army photo by Jim Shea
The new command preparation program design reduced pre-command related Temporary Duty (TDY) expenditures by approximately 60% and consolidated instruction from across the United States to SCP facilities at Fort Leavenworth. The final product continues the Total Army approach by providing command preparation education to USAR and ARNG members in conjunction with their active duty counterparts. The shorter overall program length and truncated list of pre-command requirements expedite certification of selectees on the path to assume command team positions.
The new CSA-PCC curriculum (see Figure 3 below) includes a first week that mixes commanders with command sergeants major and all components into the same seminars to maximize crosstalk and sharing of different perspectives. The week is known as, “Art of Command,” and, in the Battalion CSA-PCC, includes blocks of instruction on Mission Command, Developing an Initial Vision, Building Cohesive Command Teams, the Army Profession, Leader Development, Army Command Policy, Ethical Reasoning, and Leader Transitions. The new Brigade CSA-PCC Week-1 curriculum includes Leadership and Command at the Brigade Level, Leader Identity and Trust, Value Creation, Decision Making and Ethical Reasoning, Organizational Environment, Accountability, and Leading Change. The battalion and brigade level Command Team Spouse Development Courses continue to provide informal leadership development to spouses and run concurrently with Week-1 of CSA-PCC.
Figure 3: Current SCP Command Preparation Program Overview
(Note: The FY26 SCP Command Preparation Program includes the two-week CSA Pre-Command Courses, Legal Orientation, Branch and IMT briefs, and an additional Advanced Tactical Command Course. Source: School for Command Preparation files)
On Saturday following Week-1 of CSA-PCC, students attend the Legal Orientation Day, delivered at Ft. Leavenworth by the Judge Advocate General School. Course work for Week-2 begins with branch-specific briefings for all students, followed by three tailored command tracks in which students join seminars of peer commanders or command sergeants major (Command Sergeants Major track, Functional Commander Track, and Tactical Commander Track). In the past, command sergeant major development and functional and tactical command-specific education were situated in separate courses following PCC (CSMDC, FCDC, and TCDC). The new course design incorporates those separate courses as Week-2 tracks within the CSA-PCC. The past course design often prevented USAR and ARNG students from attending the separate courses due to limited training days authorized by their components (usually a 2-week annual training period). The new curriculum makes the tailored command track education available to all three components of the Total Army.
The modernized SCP curriculum enables the Army’s warfighting command teams to enter their future command roles fully armed with knowledge from Week-1 of CSA-PCC (Art of Command), Week-2 of CSA-PCC (Tailored Command Tracks), the Judge Advocate General’s Legal Orientation, Army Branch Day (each student attends 4-hours of their branch’s curriculum), and Initial Military Training functional command class.
Through efforts to consolidate command preparation curriculum and to streamline focuses for CSA-PCC, the redesign reduced guest speaker time from 27 hours to under 12 hours, while maximizing seminar discussion and practical exercise time. The remaining guest speakers in CSA-PCC include the CSA, the Sergeant Major of the Army (SMA), command teams from the Training and Transformation Command (T2COM), the Western Hemisphere Command (WHC), the Army Materiel Command (AMC), Ft. Leavenworth’s own Combined Arms Command (CAC), and the Director of the Army National Guard, and the Chief of the Army Reserve.
Figure 4: Training and Transformation Command (T2COM) GEN Hodne speaks to the CSA-PCC students at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. Source: U.S. Army photo by Jim Shea
During this significant curriculum redesign, SCP remained anchored to the mission of the school, while keeping a strategic eye on the key component of the CSA-PCC, which is seminar time. The time students spend in the seminar with their SCP faculty members and classmates provides the dedicated time and space for candid discussions, reflections, collaborative problem-solving, and an opportunity for iron to sharpen iron.
Tactical commanders continue their pre-command education with a separate course immediately following CSA-PCC. The Tactical Commander Development Course for battalion and brigade is now called the Advanced Tactical Commander Development Course (ATCDC) and serves as the forum in which commanders run through sets of repetitions developing Commander’s Intent in large scale combat scenarios. The ATCDC curriculum enables commanders to synchronize and integrate all warfighting functions into large scale combat operations. Commanders also improve their ability to drive the operations process through the Understand, Visualize, Describe, Direct, Lead, and Assess methodology in the course. The ATCDC for battalion commanders is held immediately following all seven yearly iterations of CSA-PCC and the ATCDC for brigade commanders is held immediately following four iterations of CSA-PCC per year.
Figure 5: Overview of SCP Courses
(Note: The School for Command Preparation courses at Ft. Leavenworth include Battalion Command Team courses, Brigade Command Team courses, Command Team Spouse courses, and the Army Strategic Education Program – Command course. Source: School for Command Preparation files.)
Eyes on the Horizon: Pacific Aegis and Artificial Intelligence
With an eye on the National Defense Strategy and the Pacific region, SCP’s faculty of active duty former battalion commanders expanded the Pacific Aegis combat scenario, developed by CGSC’s scenario development team. The expansion includes an operations order for a supporting brigade, providing Battalion ATCDC students with two different brigade level operations orders from which to develop and iterate their commander’s planning guidance. The faculty further enhanced the scenario by authoring fragmentary orders (FRAGORDS) for both brigade level operations orders for defense. Students complete four rounds of crafting and writing planning guidance. Two rounds are based on the initial offensive operations order and two responding to the new defensive FRAGORDs, all while receiving feedback from their instructors and peers. Grounded in the latest Army Structure (ARSTRUC) force models and LSCO, the course provides opportunity for commanders to complete the Battalion ATCDC with a practical template for their own initial commander’s guidance in hand.
Currently, SCP is integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into critical aspects of the CSA-PCC curriculum. The role of AI in SCP courses is to increase the speed and accuracy of command-level decision making in-extremis. When consequences are highest, decision speed and quality are decisive advantages for the U.S. Army and command teams in combat. As new AI tools are created and further developed, SCP will continue to experiment with their use in all facets of the school, directing attention wherever advantage may be achieved.
Conclusion
Since the earliest iteration of pre-command education in the 1970s at Fort Leavenworth, the Army takes seriously the responsibility of providing command team selectees with the tools and reflection time needed to prepare for command and succeed while in the seat. The School for Command Preparation, as the Chief of Staff of the Army’s Executive Agent for the Army’s CPP, continues to lead innovation in transforming pre-command curriculum in the effort to prepare command teams to be agile and decisive in the most extreme conditions. Continuous transformation of the SCP resident pre-command courses elevates the ability of command teams to apply the art and science of command. It also provides the venue and opportunity to teach the next generation of command teams how to accelerate decision speed and improve quality of command level decisions in-extremis, while facing maximum consequences for missteps in large scale combat operations. The SCP commitment to continuous transformation of command team education is a constant advantage for the U.S. Army.
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