Courtesy Photo | Master Leader Course, is a 15-day resident course taught at Camp Shelby, Mississippi.... read more read more
VIRGIN ISLANDS—One senior enlisted soldier from the Virgin Islands National Guard has just completed the new addition to the noncommissioned officer development courses.
Sgt. 1st Class Jason Lewis, the acting battalion operations sergeant for the 786th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, attended the 15-day course at Camp Shelby, Mississippi on Jan. 10.
“Master Leader Course, is a 15-day resident course, of instruction on communications, leadership, management, and unified land operations that will better prepare you to transition from the tactical to the operational environment,” said Lewis.
Prior to the 112 curriculum hour course, not counting the long nights for study and research, he had to write a research paper on a selected topic.
“I had to prepare an original Prerequisite Expository Essay paper on a contemporary issue facing the Army,” he explained on the preparation for the course.
The three to five-page paper had to feature one of the three issues- leadership, operations, or management; using the soldier’s personal experience and at least three references to support the context.
The need for this course arose because of the belief that there was a gap between the Senior Leader Course and the year-long Sergeant Major Course.
“MLC prepares you for SMA [sergeant major academy],” said Lewis. “In this course, I was exposed to topics of national security, and joint intergovernmental, multinational and strategic thinking.”
Lewis expounded on his thoughts of the course’s purpose by preparing one for the new "wave" that's coming for the Army in professional writing, communication skills, critical thinking, discipline, readiness, and administrative requirements.
He further explained the physical and mental challenges that the course could pose to applicants.
“An area that came as a struggle for me that normally wouldn't have been, was the APFT [Army Physical Fitness Test]. I had to take the APFT on Day 4, but on the day of the APFT it was 18 degrees with snow on the ground.”
“I am proud to say that I made it through being the first in the state of the VI,” he said. “I am ready and prepared to be a part of the building process for our future in the VING and the NCO corps.”
According to the NCO Journal, the MLC is a new course that was rolled out in October 2017, after pilot courses had been conducted during the summer. Training and Doctrine Command made sweeping changes to many areas of the NCO Professional Military Education, the most noticeable was this new requirement — the Master Leader Course.
“It’s hard to describe how much more challenging it is than a Senior Leader Course or the Advanced Leader Course of the past,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Jeffrey Huggins, U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy’s deputy commandant.
| Date Taken: | 01.25.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 02.16.2018 09:04 |
| Story ID: | 266313 |
| Location: | MISSISSIPPI, US |
| Hometown: | ST. THOMAS, VI |
| Web Views: | 663 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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