BLC is a 22-academic day course consisting of 169 academic hours. All students are required to attend class. The Army teaches soldiers the fundamentals of leadership in a team-based environment. The training focuses on developing leaders who model the characteristics of the Army profession. It prepares sergeants and promotable specialists to lead squad-and platoon-sized units.
The Army Basic Leader Course is a month-long course that gives non-commissioned officers the fundamental skills to lead small groups of soldiers. The class teaches students how to motivate their teams, provides them with the tools they need to think critically, and helps them develop effective leadership styles in various situations. It also covers the military’s core competencies for NCOs: readiness, leadership, training management, and warfighting.
The course is designed for NCOs in the ranks of Master Sergeant to Sergeant Major who are seeking promotion to first sergeant of a company, battery, or troop. The course is a combination of self-study and small-group instruction. It provides a challenging learning environment that focuses on developing competent and adaptive junior NCOs through facilitation that encourages team building and junior leader development capable of operating in a multi-domain environment.
This is a demanding course and requires Soldiers to make substantial physical and mental commitments in order to succeed. Soldiers interested in attending the BLC should weigh these factors against the potential payoff of increased promotion points. Also, the number of points earned through resident and e-learning courses is limited, so soldiers should be intentional about their choices and select courses that will maximize their point potential. This will require careful planning and balancing the demands of the school with personal life and family commitments.
Where is BLC for the Army?
BLC is held at various locations across the country, but most classes are run at Fort Dix McGuire in New Jersey. The course is a month-long training for specialist and corporals aspiring to become sergeants. The school runs students through land navigation, physical readiness training preparation and recovery drills, and drill and ceremony. It also puts them through a written essay and leadership evaluation.
During the course, soldiers are encouraged to interact and engage with others in small collaborative groups. Facilitators use the Army Experiential Learning Model to deliver lesson content and assess learners’ understanding and ability to apply lessons learned to ambiguous scenarios.
Army planners are weighing whether to add field training and combat tactics to the curriculum for all BLC students. The service wants to bolster troops’ skills in the areas of using hand grenades, moving under fire, and applying a tourniquet, all things that can be used on the battlefield.
Soldiers preparing for BLC should ensure they have their unit’s enterprise email address listed in ATRRS and are ready to report for the course by completing DTS and having a valid GTCC and a current dog tag. They should also bring all required equipment and clothing including their Army issued uniform. All students residing at the BLC academy are housed in military barracks at no cost to the student or their unit.
Is BLC Worth Points?
Taking Army courses can earn you promotion points, but you need to be intentional about which resident and e-learning classes you choose to go after. The point totals for military education are capped at 80 for SGT and 90 for SSG, so you need to weigh the time and mental energy required versus the potential payoff in promotion points.
You can earn four promotion points a week (40 training hours) for courses that are formally listed in the Army Training Requirements and Resources System. This includes structured self-development and BLC. Structured Self Development courses are not worth points if they are a requirement in your MOS, but you can still earn points by earning commandant’s list or distinguished honor graduate status in a course.
For e-learning courses, you can earn one point per five hours of Army correspondence training on the ATRRS Self-Development and Army e-Learning systems. The point amount may be lower depending on the nature of the course.
The Advanced Leader Course, formerly known as Basic Noncommissioned Officer Course (BNCOC), is not worth promotion points. However, you can earn points by completing the NCO Professional Development Ribbon and by earning commandant’s list or distinguished leadership graduate status in ALC. If you take ALC, make sure to record this accomplishment in your ATRRS record and update the appropriate Military Education Level in your TAPDB.