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Sgt. 1st Class Adam Wong takes aim at a target with a laser-mounted M9 pistol during the U.S. Joint Forces Leader Development and Advanced Military Skills Training Course held here. Wong is a platoon sergeant with the 344th Military Intelligence Battalion, a training unit at Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas. Photo by U.S. Army Reserve Master Sgt. D. Keith Johnson.

FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas -- The U.S. Army Reserve Command (USARC) opened the doors June 23 to the U.S. Joint Forces Military Skills Training Center here to host the 2005 Joint Forces Leader Development and Advanced Military Skills Training Course.

This year’s intensive three-week course began June 23 at Ft Sam Houston, Texas, and runs through noon, July 16. The training includes 142 hours of advanced Land Navigation, Rifle and Pistol Marksmanship, Combat First Aid, the Law of War, Map Reading, Distance Estimation, Grenade Throwing, Fitness and Nutrition, Anti-Terrorism Training, Leadership, and demanding Land and Water Obstacle courses to include Survival Swimming.

By the end of the course, expert instructors assembled from all Services, both Active and Reserve, will devote more than 40 hours to Land Navigation, and over 20 hours each on rifle and pistol marksmanship.

The 2005 Land Navigation officer-in-charge, selected by the USARC, is U.S. Naval Reserve Lt. Cmdr. Grant Staats, a Naval Reserve SEAL who is recognized as one of the top land navigators in the United States. The U.S. Navy also selected Staats, in September of 2004, to develop and implement an extensive Land Navigation improvement program for the Active Component Navy SEAL community of Naval Special Warfare Group II, Little Creek, Virginia.

U.S. Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Jerry Mullen gives sight alignment pointers to Air Force 2nd Lt. Christina Luis during marksmanship training with a laser-mounted M16A2 rifle at the U.S. Joint Forces Leader Development and Advanced Military Skills Training course held here. Mullen is with the 108th Training Division (Institutional Training), a reserve division based out of Charlotte, N.C. Luis is a navigator with the 562nd Flying Training squadron based at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. Photo by U.S. Army Reserve Master Sgt. D. Keith Johnson.

U.S. Army Reserve Sgt. Maj. Robert Payne of the 108th Training Division (Institutional Training), based in Charlotte, N.C., heads up the Rifle Marksmanship instruction. U.S. Army Reserve Master Sgt. James Dechert is the program’s Pistol Marksmanship noncommissioned officer-in-charge. Most of the marksmanship instructors wear the distinguished President’s 100 tab, awarded to the top 100 shooters each year at the National Shooting matches in Camp Perry, Ohio.

U.S. Army medical Officers from Brooke Army Medical Center provide the program’s Nutrition instruction to include individual nutrition counseling. U.S. Army Officers from the Fort Sam Houston Judge Adjutant General’s office conduct the Law of War Classes and Army Master Fitness Trainers from the Army Physical Fitness School teach all fitness-related classes.

The program’s peak performance training, derived from the U.S. Olympic Training center, consists of several blocks of instruction using a systemic approach to achieve maximum human potential. At the end of the training, the participants will return to their units as resident experts to serve as instructors in the military skills taught during the three-week course. AR 350-1, Army Training and Education, encourages commanders to send their Soldiers to this advanced training which promotes the goals and objectives of the Army Physical Fitness Program in addition to mastering critical military skills, primarily Marksmanship and Land Navigation.

Maj. Jeff Carr, and Army Reserve AGR Soldier and former student, has high accolades for the program. " This is the best military school I ever been to in my life—bar none! We had the best instructors; the best basic soldiering skills; precision and rapid fire range training; advanced land navigation; and peak performance, nutrition and survival skills; we got it all! It was the hardest, most strenuous, and best soldiering school I have ever attended. Army, Marines, Air Force, and Navy—we all trained together. Nobody, absolutely nobody came away from that school without being better Soldiers, Marines, Airmen or Sailors for having attended.”

At the end of the three weeks, a select few of the top performers will not only be resident experts for their units, they will also have earned the opportunity to represent the United States and their units at NATO’s 2005 Military Skills Competition in Elsenborn, Belgium, Aug. 2 to 5. Up to 200 Reserve Soldiers from 20 NATO and allied countries will assemble to compete for the top position in the demanding four-day Joint Warrior competition.

U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Maj. Daryl Remick demonstrates his dismount techniques during land obstacle training during the U.S. Joint Forces Leader Development and Advanced Military Skills Training Course held here. Photo by U.S. Army Reserve Master Sgt. D. Keith Johnson.

Although the Center primarily trains individuals simultaneously from multiple units, the Center also trains groups who desire the advanced level of training available here. Drill sergeants from the 344th Military Intelligence Battalion are currently on the ground for a shortened version of the course. In early June, 44 members of the 416th Engineers Battalion went through the program’s Marksmanship training because the command “wants the best for his people.” Over the past year, the Center has also trained scores of other units, many prior to deploying, when commanders have called in requesting specific training for his Soldiers.

Army Reserve Lt. Col. Robert Thompson, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Training officer-in-charge for the Center, sums up the Leader Development and Military Skills Training Center’s contributions to the military community. “The extraordinary Soldiers, Airmen, Marines and Sailors who report to this course call it a life-changing experience. We raise the bar here in fitness and military skills, challenging our students in ways unfamiliar to them. As a result, there is growth, and commitment to far exceed what’s required to simply shoot expert or max a PT test. Our objective is not to qualify Soldiers, but for every person here to discover and reach their absolute highest potential in the critical military skills we teach here.”

All opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of Military.com.

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