Military Review English Edition January-February 2015 | Page 60

the right time for the right officer.”40 Authorized
by Secretary of the Army John McHugh in
2012, Army Directive 2012-21 (Optimization of
Intermediate Level Education) initiated a transition from inclusive to selective attendance of
CGSC.41
While officers not selected for resident attendance of CGSC are still afforded either a satellite-campus or distributed-learning experience, it
stands to reason that such substitutes will not as
rigorously indoctrinate the skills required to manage training.42
Mission command. Inconsistent understanding
of and support to mission command also threaten to further frustrate training management.
According to Army Doctrine Publication (ADP)
6-0, Mission Command, the term mission command
is defined as “the exercise of authority and direction by the commander using mission orders to
enable disciplined initiative within the commander’s intent to empower agile and adaptive leaders.”43

The principles of mission command include building cohesive teams through mutual trust, creating
shared understanding, and accepting prudent risks.
Prudent risks include those that accompany giving
subordinates the opportunity to exercise disciplined
initiative. Feedback provided during t he Solarium
conference reaffirmed that Army leaders should
apply this philosophy if they wish to retain talented
junior officers from the millennial generation.44
Unfortunately, the Army’s ongoing reconsolidation and reorganization of forces stand to temper the
sort of archetypical application of mission command
so effective in Iraq and Afghanistan. Retired Army
Lt. Gen. David Barno writes in the Washington Post
that “risk-taking is systematically extinguished by
layers of rules, restrictions, and micromanagement
aimed at avoiding any possible shortcomings.”45
Brigade commander Col. Curtis A. Johnson also
notes that “the garrison environment often creates conditions where junior officers are not only
being told what to train on but how to do it.”46 He

(Photo by Martha Armstrong, Fort Rucker PAO)

Lt. Gen. Peter M. Vangjel, inspector general, Office of the Secretary of the Army, addresses Captain's Career Course students during an
officer professional development session, Fort Rucker, Ala., 26 June 2013.
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January-February 2015  MILITARY REVIEW