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CAMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo — A 7th Civil Support Command mobile training team deployed to Kosovo and provided educational training to deployed senior captains and majors at Camp Bondsteel from Sept. 24 to Oct. 4.
The 7th Warrior Training Brigade’s Intermediate Level Education Mobile Training Team from Grafenwöhr, Germany, is made up of three instructors and one intern. The team conducted the training as part of a fully integrated all-Army component mission. The active component provided the facilities and the Army Reserve provided the instructors who taught the National Guard and Army Reserve students.
“Our goal is to provide first class training wherever the Soldier is conducting missions,” said Lt. Col. David Craine, the 7th WTB school’s battalion commander. “It is much more cost effective and efficient to take a handful of instructors to the students than the conventional way of doing business, which is sending a Soldier away for a couple of weeks to the states.”
Colonel Craine was able to coordinate with the quality assurance team from the Command General Staff College, located in Fort Leavenworth, Kan. The college’s quality assurance team accompanied the ILE Mobile Training Team into theater on one of their earlier rotations where they accredited the course.
Colonel Craine has been teaching the ILE course for more than five years from the conventional school house platform. He said the biggest hurdle is accessing CGSC’s Blackboard site. Blackboard is a digital tool that gives students the ability to read course work, review grades and watch streamed videos that apply to course lessons. Blackboard requires a lot of bandwidth to operate.
“A big challenge is the connectivity,” Colonel Craine said. “Once you bridge that, we are ready to go, wherever the Soldiers need us. I believe it is key to ensuring our fellow deployed officers continue their educational goals, even downrange.”
Distance learning is available, but the ILE Mobile Training Team focuses on the experiential learning model that is hard to replicate through distance learning.
The experiential learning model focuses on the learning process for the individual student. It allows students to interact and discuss course materials with their classroom peers and breaks away from the lecture instruction model to more student interaction. Distance learning, or Web-based training, does not allow for student interaction as well.
“As educational requirements change for Soldiers, the learning platform must adjust to the conditions of flux,” said Lt. Col. Vincent Buggs, 7th WTB deputy commander. “The 7th WTB is no exception. Being aligned with (the Joint Multinational Training Command) and 7th CSC allows our command the ability to be operational in nature — to perform a critical mission.”
The program is expanding into teaching multinational and U.S. government civilians. Currently, all multinational students go to Fort Leavenworth for ILE training. The 7th WTB is currently working with JMTC to develop a partnership program with multinational countries to participate in ILE training. In June, the 7th WTB had its first government civilian attend ILE in Europe.
“This was a major milestone for the brigade,” Colonel Buggs said. “ILE classrooms should reflect the total force that encompasses joint services, civilians and multinational students.”
As the Department of Defense shapes resources for the future force, military education must adapt and redesign itself to support the force with limited resources.
“I do not foresee missions slowing down, so the trainers will have to be prepared to support the warfighter in combat,” Colonel Buggs said.
The 7th WTB supports the mission of JMTC in Grafenwöhr, Germany, and the 7th CSC.
For more information, e-mail Paul Kendzierski at paul.kendzierski@eur.army.mil.
