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Changing demands on the Armed Forces coupled with the rapid pace and increasing frequency of deployments are not only affecting the exercise of strategic leadership but also how the military inculcates the necessary qualities in commanders. This conclusion is based on a study of senior leaders in all five services and several government agencies. By analyzing first-hand accounts of what contributed to personal growth, the research found that while models for developing military leaders are sound, future stresses will severely test their ability to adapt to emerging conditions.
Concepts of Command
A review ot service programs indicates similarities and differences. However, all the services appreciate the importance of developing strategic leaders. The Army leader development model is depicted by three pillars: institutional (formal) education, operational assignments, and self-development initiatives. These pillars are supported by leadership fundamentals that encompass service values and ethics. The Army model prescribes a career-long, progressive, sequential, and interconnected process. Amplifying on the three pillars, Michael Anastasio describes it as a continuing cycle of "education, training, experience, assessment, feedback, and reinforcement in which responsibility for development lies with both the leader and the leader's superior."1
Navy leader development represents a career-- long continuum from recruitment to retirement. The system encompasses operational assignments coupled with formal institutional education aimed at ensuring that leaders are technically and tactically trained and educated on the specific system, aircraft, or ship they will be assigned to next. Command leader school reinforces service leadership fundamentals and decisionmaking processes.
The Marine Corps views leader development as a continuous and progressive process throughout an officer's career. Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication 1, Warfighting, states that the responsibility for implementing professional development resides with the individual, the commander, and the educational establishment. This mirrors the pillars of the Army model. The institutional education system is intended to build on the base already provided by commanders in their unit development programs as well as through individual study. The Marine Corps University focuses on developing the skills of decisionmaking in the face of uncertainty and fosters creativity through broadening the mind.
The Air Force model is undergoing revision. In 1998 the service published its Continuum Of Education Framework which identifies professional military knowledge, skills, and attitudes airmen should possess at key points in...