Basic Officer Leaders Course

The Basic Officer Leaders Course (BOLC) is a two-phased training course designed to produce commissioned officers in the United States Army. It is a progressive model designed to produce American Army officers with leadership skills, small unit tactics and certain branch specific capabilities.

BOLC A

For almost all Army officers, phase I of the Basic Officer Leaders Course consists of pre-commissioning training, either through Reserve Officers' Training Corps, Officer Candidate School, or the United States Military Academy. It is at this stage the officer candidate learns basic leadership skills and basic small unit tactics.

For direct commissioned officers (generally available only to doctors, lawyers, and chaplains), BOLC A consists of a 4 week Direct Commissioned Course (DCC) Course at Ft. Benning, GA. The primary purpose of this post-commissioning training is to allow those officers who generally have little to no prior military experience to obtain the skills necessary to continue on to BOLC B. DCC is not required for direct commissioned officers with prior service experience.

BOLC B

The second phase of the Basic Officer Leaders Course - previously referred to as the Officer Basic Course (OBC) and BOLC III - is designed to develop new combat-effective officers and train them to perform their wartime duties as commissioned officers. It is during this phase that they learn the specifics of the systems and equipment they will use in their duty unit.

• Chemical, Engineer, and Military Police train at the U.S. Army Maneuver Support Center of Excellence (MSCoE) at Fort Leonard Wood, MO.
• Infantry and Armor trains at Fort Benning, GA.
• Signal trains at Fort Gordon, GA
• Military Intelligence trains Fort Huachuca, AZ.
• Adjutant General, Finance, and Chaplain Corps, train at Fort Jackson, SC.
• Field Artillery and Air Defense Artillery train at Fort Sill, OK.
• Logistics (Transportation, Ordnance, and Quartermaster) trains at the Army Logistics University (ALU) at Fort Lee, VA.
• Aviation Officers train at Fort Rucker, AL.
• Medical Officers train at Fort Sam Houston, TX.

Notes

• BOLC II was discontinued on 01 October 2009 and any required training is now merged into BOLC B (Formerly BOLC III).
• Army Judge Advocates, complete their training 'backwards', first attending BOLC B at the The Judge Advocate's Legal Center and School in Charlottesville, Va., and then attend DCC at Fort Benning.
• Certain medical officers do not attend BOLC B. Instead, a shorter course called OBLC is conducted at Ft. Sam Houston for these personnel which include most doctors, nurses, psychologists, veterinarians, and dentists.

See also

• Armor BOLC
• Engineer Officer Basic Course

References