Is the new Master Leader Course needed?

2015-01-20T14:48:56-05:00

From "The NCO Journal"

http://ncojournal.dodlive.mil/2014/11/20/usasma-begins-work-on-new-master-leader-course/

The Army has announced plans to create a new level of the NCO Education System — a new Master Leader Course that will be a branch-immaterial course attended by NCOs after the Senior Leader Course and before the Sergeants Major Course.

Senior NCO leaders say they identified a knowledge gap within the E-8 population. To address the issue and better prepare master sergeants and sergeants first class promotable for their responsibilities, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command tasked the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy at Fort Bliss, Texas, to create the MLC.

Command Sgt. Maj. Dennis E. Defreese, USASMA’s commandant, said the academy plans to start a pilot course by fall of 2015. The course would be implemented Army-wide after three iterations of the pilot, he said.
Filling the gap

This knowledge gap within the force was caused in part when the Army developed Skill Level 6 a couple of years ago, Defreese explained. Both E-8s and E-9s were once classified as Skill Level 5 personnel, but once Skill Level 6 was developed, many critical common tasks shifted to E-9s. That said, it remains unclear which critical tasks should be assigned to Skill Level 5, he said.

[EDITORIAL COMMENT:-It does sound as if reorganization without sufficient thought to the consequences is (or, at least, should be) being addressed. - Comments?]

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 20 at 2015 2:54 PM

2015-01-20T14:54:58-05:00

Why not just re-institute the 1SG's course? Seems to me like someone realized that rolling 1SG's course into SLC was a mistake. My 2 cents is save the time and money and just bring back the 1SG's course.

Response by SFC Michael Hasbun made Dec 2 at 2020 12:42 PM

2020-12-02T12:42:13-05:00

Yes. Desperately, yes. The emphasis on college level writing is crucial. There are far too many senior NCO's who've been able to float through their careers with the writing skills of toddlers, which is why evaluations and awards are always such uphill battles.
We have to start expecting more of our senior leadership in terms of communication skills and writing ability.