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Junior Leader Training at the ArmyGymnasium
By
leon EngelbrechtAfrican Armed Forces - November 
1998
The Army Gymnasium (Army Gym) at Heidelberg in southern Gauteng, is the elite training institutionof the South African Army. It is presently tasked with providing junior leader (JL) training to qualifiedstudents of the SA Army The Gymnasium was reestablished in its present incarnation in 1994. It is nowresponsible for training male officers and non-commissioned officers (NC0s) in all sixteen career Corpsof the Army.
Training at Heidelberg
Students arriving at the Army Gym in January next year will be following a different training programme than that used up to now. Junior leader training will be more intense and of longer durationthan in the past. The disruptive two-month-plus corps training phase that took students to their respective Corps schools and away from the Army Gym has been done away with. Students will nowspend the entire train- ing year at Heidelberg and do their Corps-related training afterwards.To qualify for training at the Army Gym, students have to satisfy seven require- ments: they must havecompleted their secondary education (high school); should preferably be single (with no dependants);not older than 23 years of age; multilingual with English as one language; medically fit on reporting;South African; and may not have crirni- nal records.The new training programme will last 49 of the calendar year's 52 weeks. The first two weeks are to bedevoted to induction and includes determining which students need academic bridg- ing training, or suffer from learning disabilities. This will then be given attention. Then will follow 12 weeks of basictraining; a week of junior level comrnand and control techniques; four weeks
of 
 platoon weaponstraining concentrating on the small and light arms used by the South African Army; six weeks of combatskills training and the week-long Exercise
 Fire Ant -
a series of forced marches and problem-solving. Atthis stage, the students will face their first formal evaluation board and a preliminary decision will bemade on whether individual students fit the profile of officer or NCO. Seven days leave days leavefollow, and then stu- dents return to be taughtthe art of in- struction, or Methodic. This 11-week phase is followed by another evaluation board, and the student companies are thenreorganised to gather together the officer candidates and regirnental NCOS. Elevenweeks of officer and NCO-forming follow. Thelast two weeks will be devoted to rounding off the students, physical training instruction, and preparing for the graduation parade.Lt Colonel George Barrie, second-in-commandat the Army Gym, says each phase has adistinctive character. He says maximum stress
 
is placed on instilling initiative in students.Even in basic training, opportunities are created for informal leadership training. For example, duringBuddy Training or combat first aid training, a student can expect to be given a situation sketch thatincludes a summary of 'injuries' sustained by a'victim', to be placed in charge of a small group of fellowstudents and then to direct the aid given.
Comparing with Elsewhere
Generally, the major rnilitaries operate separate training establishments for officers and NCOS. In thisarticle, four countries will be highlighted as being representative of major military powers. They are theUnited States, the United Kingdom, France and Russia. With the exception of the UK, all offer anofficer training programme that is academic in nature. Students graduate with an academic (university-level) qualification and a second lieutenant's commission. Training is usually four years in duration. TheUK trains its army officers at Sandhurst. The course is a single year in duration and like that offered atHeidelberg, is military in nature. Now for a closer look at these countries:
France
French officer are trained at any one of four schools, all collocated at Coetquidan military base near Rennes in Brittany. The oldest and best-known of these schools is the Ecole Speciale Militaire, better known as St Cyr, founded on May 1, 1802 at Fontainebleau by the then Prime Con- sul of France, Napoleon Bonapart.St Cyr trains officers who will receive regular (as opposed to Reserve) cormissions in the army and thegendarmerie. The three other schools train National Service officers, NCOs converting to officers, andadministrative and technical officers (mainly women), respectively. Aspirant officers at St Cyr mustcomplete two years of tertiary (university) education before they can apply. They then receive a year of military training, after which they complete their last two years of university training at St Cyr,attending specialist and other military courses during the university vacations.
The United Kingdom
The British also train their officers and NCOs separately. Officers are trained at the Royal MilitaryAcademy at Sandhurst. Entrance requirements are similar to those at Heidelberg. Although close on70% of officer aspirants now have a tertiary qualification, this is
not
a requirement. The minimumeducational requirement is the British equivalent of Std 10 without Matric exemption. Aspirant officersappear before the Regular Commission Board and undergo a three-day selection that includes psychometric tests and syndicate work to determine aptitude and leadership skills. These are regarded asmuch more important than academic qualifications. The course takes 44 weeks, and corps training isdone after commissioning. Thus, like Heidelberg, Sandhurst provides comprehensive all-arms officer training. The British Army tries hard to recruit graduate engineers and technicians, but it also sendssome officers to the Royal College of Science at Shrivenham for training. NCOs are trained at separate institutions for historical and doctrinal reasons. The former is partly a relicof the Class System and partly the recentness of 
NCO
education Vs that for officers. The latter includes
 
a professional belief that such training must be separate, that NCOs are simply executors of instructions,and that initiative is not required. NCOs also undergo both all-arms and corps-specific training. Junior  NCOs are required to pass a basic literacy and mathematics course called Education for Promotion(EfP), as well as a Junior Qualification Management Course (JQMC). This qualifies them for sergeant.A second EfP and a Senior OMC qualifies staff sergeants for the rank of warrant officer.
The United States
The US also trains officers and NCOs separately Army officers attend one of two institutions, WestPoint or ROTC. The United States Military Academy at West Point, offers one of the most highlyrespected, quality education programmes in the nation. A West Point cadetship includes a fully fundedfour-year college (read University) education ... As members of the Armed Forces, cadets also receivean annual salary of more than $6,500 ... By law, graduates of West Point are appointed on active duty ascommissioned officers and serve in the US Army for a minimum of five years'. West Point has thirteenacademic departments and, of course, a Department of Military In- struction (DMI). The Department of History also teaches military arts and sciences.Cadet training is ongoing, but does not intefere with academic instruction. It is divided into basic (CBT)and field training (CFT), with an optional ad- vance programme for senior cadets during their summer vacation. CBT lasts 45 days and 'trains the new ca- dets in military skills and prepares them for entryinto the Corps of Cadets. It imbues them with discipline, personal pride and confidence, and a highsense of duty. Additionally, CBT provides ... (the two senior classes) ... serving as cadre members withan environment in which to de- velop the leadership skills they will need to lead the Corps of Cadets andlater fulfil their responsibilities as lead- ers in the Army. The (upper two classes) are charged withconducting much of the programme of instruction that is described above'. Each of the other threeclasses undergo an eight- week period of CFT each year. Again, the two senior classes do much of theinstruction, while the juniors learn individual and team skills. Advanced training is specialised andincludes schooling in Airborne, Mountain War- fare and other techniques. Readers interested in viewingthe course mate- rial can look on the lnternet athttp://www.dmi.usma.edu/ Officers are also commissioned through the ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) system. Manyuniversities have a military faculty that offers the ROTC programme. The most famous amongst theseare The Citadel in Charieston, South Carolina, and the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) at Lexington,Virginia. Both are in effect militarised universities that award graduates an academic degree ongraduation, while the US Department of Defence, through the ROTC, awards them a second lieutenant'scommis- sion. A recent study says that 34% of Citadel graduates and 40% of those at VMI enter themilitary after commis- sioning. The Citadel makes no bones about the fact that 'the education comesfirst; the military experience comes second'. As the present presi- dent of the Citadel puts it: "We expectour students to give 1 1 0% effort to their course work, because it is important for leaders to know howto think critically and solve problems". US institutions also put a premium on observance of the Honour Code:'a
cadet does not lie, cheat, steal, nor tolerate those who do
as a means for developing anappreciation for truth and integrity in an Age of Relativism. The military training regimen at both runalong the same lines as West Point. VMI offers the Air Force as well as Navy/Marine ROTC programmes, in addition to Army ROTC. Pursuing a commission is optional.The US Marine Corps (USMC) equivalent of Heidelberg is OCS: Officer Candidate School. 'The end product of OCS is a lieutenant who has exhibited the potential to think and to lead under the stress of combat'. The school's mission is 'to train, evaluate, and screen officer candidates to ensure they possessthe moral, intellectual, and physical qualities for commissioning and the leadership potential to servesuccessfully as company grade officers in the Fleet Marine Force'. Officer candidates are evaluated in
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