New BOLC II at Fort Sill.

The new Basic Officer Leader Course (BOLC) II, part of the transformation of the officer education system (OES), is being taught at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, one of only two posts in the Army where it is being taught. The other post is Fort Benning, Georgia.

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BOLC, the transformed initial and military entry training for second lieutenants, comes in three phases. The phases emphasize warrior training and leadership development to meet the Army's needs in the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) and for the future combat system (FCS) force.

BOLC I is a pre-commissioning phase. It standardizes cadet and junior officer development across the Army, regardless of the commissioning sources.

BOLC II is a six-week warrior leader course for all lieutenants, regardless of branch. It has integrated, problem-based training that incorporates lessons learned in Operations Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Enduring Freedom (OEF) and multi-cultural awareness and focuses on developing adaptive leaders. BOLC II is about 90 percent field and tactical training and is designed to produce officer warriors who can lead Soldiers in the complex, ambiguous, rapidly changing contemporary operating environment (COE).

Fort Sill and Fort Benning conducted an initial course for BOLC II in January 2006 to be followed by the full implementation of BOLC II at Fort Sill and Fort Benning, starting 4 June 2006.

More than 4,500 new BOLC II lieutenants will train at Fort Sill in 2006 with an estimated 5,000 in 2007 and more than 6,000 BOLC II students at Fort Sill in FY09.

BOLC III is replacing the branch officer basic courses (OBCs). The FA BOLC III teaches technical branch-specific skills in a tactical field environment, emphasizing leadership and digitization training. All OBCs are now referred to as BOLC III.

BOLC II Organization and Training. Each of the four BOLC II companies at Fort Sill is commanded by a major and task organized into five platoons with a captain and sergeant first class as platoon mentors. Each platoon is comprised of four squads with a staff sergeant mentor in charge of each squad. The cadre-to-second lieutenant ratio will be a remarkable 1:10.

During the first week, the lieutenants assume leadership responsibilities of in-processing a new "unit" through a mass reorganizing, staging and integration for their entire company in five days. The cadre issues the lieutenants an operations order (OPORD) that requires them to draw new equipment, participate in medical screening and physicals, update their finances and medical records, complete pre-combat inspections and counseling, and close with student-led after-action reviews. This "Road to War" transitions them to week two.

In the second week, the students go through troop-leading procedures and basic marksmanship rifle training. Some marksmanship tasks are mechanical zeroing, grouping, zeroing and field fire. Other tasks help the students identify their internal weaknesses in the fundamentals of marksmanship and how to use field-expedient methods to overcome them, methods such as peer coaching, sighting devices, aiming cards and dominant-eye training aids.

In the third week, trainees learn about US small arms weapons and other equipment and become proficient at firing the M2 Browning .50-caliber heavy machine gun or M240B crew-served machine gun, M249 squad automatic weapon and the AT4 rocket launcher.

The students also become familiar with the Army's newest equipment in case they will use it in their first assignments. The equipment includes close combat optics, the AN/PAQ-4 laser and the AN/PVS-14 night-vision device.

Week four is scenario-driven. The lieutenants receive additional combat orders while living in a realistic forward operating base (FOB). In this environment, the lieutenants experience decentralized operations by platoons or squads and learn to protect the force during tactical movements. This includes conducting convoys in realistic, complicated situations. The orders are modified periodically so the lieutenants must use dismounted land navigation to link-up points to find their next transportation or pick-up point.

In week four, the lieutenants also face personal challenges as they begin training in Combatives Level 1.

In week five during the urban operations exercise, the lieutenants may have some hand-to-hand combat. Understanding that the mission might be to deny insurgent forces the use of a facility or an entire city, they lead several platoon attacks to complete key tasks: secure a building, clear a room, exercise the rules of engagement (ROE) or seize a critical resource or person.

The urban operations scenario produces casualties and induces stress. It factors in religion, ethnicity, history, government, demographics, leadership and other personalities that could increase the commander's risks if his actions have unintended effects. All these factors complicate decision making.

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Urban areas like the one just built at Fort Sill, commonly called "Liberty City," provide a casualty-producing and stress-inducing environment ideally suited for BOLC II training. The Field Artillery Training Center officially completed Liberty City in December 2005. The site was designed to handle multiple squads and platoon-sized elements up to 256 Soldiers per day. With five clusters of military vans (MILVANS) stacked and arranged as one-, two- and three-story buildings with hundreds of doors, windows and external staircases throughout the facility, it is a complex and realistic environment that is perfect for adaptive leaders to train in.

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In week six, the lieutenants transition to 24-hour operations in the COE. This week culminates with the entire company using a training FOB to conduct missions, such as quick-reaction force (QRF), logistical resupply, search and attack, FOB security and more.

BOLC II is designed to produce self-aware, adaptable leaders trained in warrior tasks and warrior battle drills who live the Warrior Ethos and Army values.

BOLC II Future. Beginning in FY09, the warrant officer education system (WOES) will be integrated into BOLC II, bringing an additional 1,000 students per year to Fort Sill. Thus, all newly appointed warrant officers will attend BOLC II.

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With the increase in BOLC II students, the FA School's 30th Field Artillery Regiment (30th FAR) will grow by an additional company. For BOLC II, Fort Sill is adding more barracks, opening more dining facilities and constructing a four-lane highway at the entrance to the post to facilitate the new infrastructure.

More than $430,000 was invested to build Liberty City for BOLC II urban operations training.

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Fort Sill is constructing a $4.1 million FOB to support BOLC II training, which is projected for completion in July 2006. Currently, Fort Sill is using the FOB that was built for mobilizing units deploying to support OIF. The FOB is realistic and represents a tactically accurate battlespace in the COE.

By the year 2010, Fort Sill will finish another multi-million dollar FOB designed to support the concurrent training of five BOLC companies. It will have solid structures, permanent showers and latrines, and, possibly, a gym.

If readers are interested in learning more about BOLC II, they can visit Fort Sill's BOLC II website at http://sill-www.army.mil/bolc2. Since the website was established in January 2006 more than 16,800 people have accessed the site.

In the past, the Army culture has been task-centric and we have excelled at "task-centric training." We knew who the enemy was and where the fight was going to take place. Not so in GWOT.

Military operations in the COE today and in the future call for more capable officers earlier. BOLC II is part of the OES transformation to produce those more capable officers for today and the FCS force of tomorrow.

Major M. Shayne Mullins is the Commander of the new Basic Officer Leadership Course (BOLC) II, Company B, 1st Battalion, 30th Field Artillery Regiment (B/1-30 FAR), Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Previously, he was a Small Group Instructor for the Field Artillery Captain's Career Course at the FA School, also at Fort Sill. In other assignments, he commanded B/2-15 FAR and served as the Assistant S3 for 2-15 FAR in the 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, New York. While in the 10th Division, he deployed to Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan as the Aide de Camp to the Division Commander. He is a graduate of the Basic NCO Course at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia, and the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He is airborne-, air assault- and ranger-qualified.

By Major M. Shayne Mullins

Photos by Fred W. Baker III