ATZK-SBA
SUBJECT: Individual Student Assessment Plan (ISAP) for the Army Reconnaissance Course
6
ATZK-SBA
SUBJECT: Individual Student Assessment Plan (ISAP) for the Army Reconnaissance Course
ATZK-SBA 1 October 2017
MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD
SUBJECT: Individual Student Assessment Plan (ISAP) for the Army Reconnaissance Course
(ARC)
1. Purpose. The purpose of this memorandum is to establish administrative policies and procedures as well as an overview of the ARC and the standards and expectations of students and cadre.
2. Expectations: You will apply the lessons learned here to improve your skills as a leader and make your unit ready for combat. You are professional commissioned and noncommissioned officers. The cadre and students will conduct themselves in a professional manner at all times. The academic chain of command is the Small Group Instructor (SGI) commonly referred to as the CAV Instructor, Teach Chief, Course Director, and Director of the Department of Reconnaissance and Security. The student chain of command is the student CAV Leader, Course Leader and SGI. Students will apply peer-to-peer learning while demonstrating the ability to assess situations, communicate effectively, and embrace ambiguity in the face of new and demanding challenges.
3. Training Methodology: Instructors will facilitate student education using a variety of methods. Students will leverage previous assignments, institutions for higher learning, and lessons learned during their tenure. Success requires active participation, students must contribute their experiences to be successful and productive. Every activity evaluates the student’s ability to analyze his/her current situation to develop a more competent and confident leader, skilled in problem solving and applying critical thought. Students will be graded and evaluated in accordance with applicable grading rubrics that are in accordance with Training and Evaluation Outlines (T&EOs) from Reconnaissance Organizations Mission Essential Task Lists (METL) listed within the Army Training Network’s Combined Arms Training Strategy. The following website: https://atn.army.mil/ contains unit METL’s and associated T&EO’s.
4. Course Overview: The Army Reconnaissance Course is a four-week course consisting of 23 training days. During week 1, students must pass a written exam consisting of Reconnaissance and Security doctrine, land navigation doctrine, and operational terms and graphics most applicable to the course; and height and weight for their respective age group. (NOTE: for additional course information, to include a study guide for the written test and strip maps to important locations, please visit the course website at: http://www.benning.army.mil/armor/316thCav/ARC/). Students failing height and weight on Day 1 will not be admitted to the course. Students will have two (2) attempts to pass the written exam. Students who fail both attempts will be dropped from the course. On Day 2, the class will begin the execution of a 96-hour dismounted Reconnaissance Field Training Exercise (FTX). This FTX focuses on Mounted Self-Location, Dismounted Land Navigation, dismounted Reconnaissance fundamentals, OP site selection/establishment, and camouflage Week 2 consists of fundamental learning (Reconnaissance organizations and missions, forms of reconnaissance and security, commander’s reconnaissance guidance, evaluating routes and obstacles, Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield, and Indirect Fire Planning). During Week 2, students must pass a Land Navigation practical exercise. Students will receive two attempts to successfully pass the course. If a student fails both attempts, they will be dropped from the course. Weeks 3 and 4 transition from small unit operations to section and platoon operations; culminating in a maneuver exercise. Throughout the course, students will receive two Operations Orders that they will be evaluated on. Students must pass one out of two OPORD evaluations and their field leadership assessment to graduate from the course.
5. Target Audience: Active Army/Marine and Reserve Component noncommissioned officers (E6, E7) and commissioned officers (O1, O2) who are or will be assigned to lead Reconnaissance unit. Officers must have successfully completed the Basic Officer Leadership Course. Non-Commissioned Officers must be graduates of the Advanced Leader’s Course. All graduates of the ARC will be awarded the "Personnel Only" SI/ASI R7 in coordination with the Branch Manager for that Career Management Field (CMF).
6. Evaluation Plan: Students are required to complete all assigned homework and reading assignments given by the SGIs. Higher learning includes research, self-taught, and peer to peer learning. While teamwork is highly encouraged throughout the course this does not supersede the requirement that students must individually demonstrate the ability to apply skills to solve tactical problems.
Course Outcomes
(1) Apply higher level skills of navigation, communications, and reporting
(2) Analyze and critically apply Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield
(3) Apply self-confidence to solve mission relevant problems
(4) Demonstrate understanding of planning and executing R&S missions
(5) Apply supporting assets within the framework of mission planning and execution
(6) Understand capabilities and limitations of R&S formations across the BCT spectrum
(7) Understand doctrinal basics of mounted and dismounted Reconnaissance and Security fundamentals
Leaders Attributes
(1) Accountability: Takes responsibility for own and team’s actions and consequences.
(2) Adaptability: Manages changing requirements for balancing unit recon and security with mission accomplishment.
(3) Anticipation: Foresees future requirements and conditions.
(4) Confidence: Believes in own and team’s ability to handle tactical situations.
(5) Initiative: Thinks and acts without being prompted.
(6) Problem solving: Solves problems by applying deliberate thought.
(7) Risk management: Assesses the situation against the mission and makes a decision, effectively balances mission requirements and risk.
7. Field Training Exercises (FTXs): Students are challenged to use all of the knowledge they have learned in previous military experience during the two rigorous FTXs. During these exercises, students will be assessed on their performance in a variety of duty positions within a reconnaissance platoon. Students will be formally evaluated as a vehicle commander during the mounted FTX.
8. Assessments: There are multiple assessment points throughout the tenure of the course.
a. Students will be formally assessed at five points throughout the course:
1. Written Knowledge Examination on Day 0
2. Land Navigation Practical Exam during Week 2
3. OPORD Evaluation 1
4. OPORD Evaluation 2
5. All students will be evaluated during the mounted FTX. Students will be evaluated when they serve as a vehicle commander, and will be graded against the leader attributes listed above.
b. Students who fail both attempts at either the written knowledge examination or the land navigation practical exam will be automatically administratively dropped from the course in good standing, able to return at a later time determined appropriate by their respective unit.
c. Students must pass at least one of two OPORD evaluations and their field evaluation. Students who fail to meet these criteria will be automatically administratively dropped from the course in good standing, able to return at a later time determined appropriate by their respective unit.
9. Counseling:
a. Performance Counseling: Students will receive a performance counseling each time they fail to successfully pass a graded examination.
b. Immediate Dismissal Counseling: includes but is not limited to safety violations, disruption of course due to ones actions, loss of sensitive items, losing accountability of personnel, Equal Opportunity, honor code violation, or SHARP violations. Severe misconduct is grounds for immediate dismissal from the course with a corresponding, descriptive DA Form 4856.
c. General Counseling: SGIs and Cadre that teach and observe students on a daily basis use formal and informal counseling procedures in accordance with the ARC assessment tools and Army standards. All formal counseling with the student is documented on the general counseling form DA 4856 and kept on file. Tardiness, failure to report, apathy and general misconduct will result in a counseling for each offense. Misconduct is grounds for dismissal from the course with a corresponding DA Form 4856.
d. Students who are dismissed for misconduct are barred from re-entry in to the course for one calendar year. Exception to Policy must be signed by the Chief of Armor’s Office.
10. Procedures for Identifying Students at Risk for Dismissal: Students will not miss more than four (4) hours of training. If a student misses more than four hours of training during the course it is grounds for administrative dismissal from the course. Typically, a student misses more than four hours of training due to medical circumstances. In accordance with Fort Benning policies, a student demonstrating signs and/or symptoms of heat injury will be evaluated according to the Medic Algorithm approved by the Post Commander. Students who are sent to the hospital for evaluation are statistically likely to be administratively dropped from the course.
The performance measures, leader attributes and expectations for the course are explained clearly to students on the first day, as are individual student and cadre responsibilities. Student expectations and responsibilities are reiterated throughout the course by cadre and further emphasized before each major event, and provide a unifying focus for event After Action Reviews (AARs). Criteria for identifying a student at risk due to failure to achieve course expectations generally fall into three categories:
a. Apathy: Failure to conduct oneself professionally during the course, malingering, avoiding responsibility, lack of support to the team, “Blue Falcon” syndrome, deliberate failure to follow instructions because a lack of motivation or feeling, lack of interest or caring. Student leaders that fail to respond to corrective measures are counseled by cadre and if behavior continues unchanged after formal counseling then the student will be nominated for dismissal.
b. Indiscipline: Failure to do what the student knows must be done. Clear evidence that student has the knowledge, but willfully or through culpable neglect fails to fulfill personal responsibilities – failure to follow instructions, failure to complete individual work, failure to maintain tactical discipline, knowing the right thing to do but actively not doing it, challenging authority, failure to take corrective measures identified by cadre even after formal counseling has been conducted.
c. Lack of Prerequisite Knowledge: Student arrives to the course without the prerequisite knowledge and experience required to be successful in the course. The student lacks the background education that will allow him/her to know what he/she must do; cannot perform the prerequisite universal Soldier or Warrior Leader Level 2 & 3 tasks due to a lack of training. Behavior is not an isolated incident and remedial instruction is excessive to the point that it inhibits the learning and development of the other students.
d. Historically, the number of students who demonstrate apathy or indiscipline is minimal. However, there will be students who are simply not suited for the course and its expectations. This process should not adversely affect students from other MOS/Branches that attend the ARC as it is behavior and performance based, not knowledge based. However, the ARC is not an introduction course to reconnaissance operations for Soldiers reclassifying into the MOS or Soldiers who are sent to the course for “re-bluing” after an assignment away from their MOS. The personal responsibility standards for being prepared for the course are high.
11. Procedures for Dismissal:
a. If after a formal counseling session a student exhibits any of the criteria listed above (apathy, indiscipline), the student is referred to the Course Director. The Course Director will review the student packet with the cadre and will make one of three decisions: retain the student; retain the student, but not graduate; dismiss the student. If the Course Director decides that the student should dismiss the student, the matter will be presented to the Director of the Department of Reconnaissance and Security. The appellate authority is the Squadron Commander.
b. Students completing the course but not graduating will not receive credit and will not attend the graduation ceremony, nor will they receive the ASI R7.
c. Students who complete the course but do not graduate will have a letter sent to the student’s Unit Commander signed by the 3-16 Cavalry Squadron Commander identifying the specific student issue.
d. If a student fails any of the following twice: Written Entrance Exam, or Land Navigation practical exam, they will be immediately dropped from the course in good standing and are eligible to return. The drop authority for this is the Course Director. The student will receive a counseling statement outlining their shortcoming. The appellate authority is the Director of the Department of Reconnaissance and Security.
e. A student must pass one of the two assigned OPORD’s and their field assessment in order to graduate from ARC. If a student fails to meet the above mentioned criteria they will be immediately dropped from the course in good standing and are eligible to return. The drop authority for this is the Course Director. The student will receive a counseling statement outlining their shortcoming. The appellate authority is the Director of the Department of Reconnaissance and Security.
f. If a student fails their leadership rotation during the mounted Field Training Exercise, the potential exists for the student to be provided an opportunity for a re-evaluation. However, this is not guaranteed. The appellate authority for this is the Director of the Department of Reconnaissance and Security.
12. Honor Code: A student will not lie, cheat, steal, nor tolerate those who do. Any student found guilty of an honor code violation will immediately be referred to the Senior Instructor/Course Director for administrative actions and/or dismissal. The Honor Code does not preclude students from working together in or out of the classroom when directed to do so by the instructor. If a student is found to be in violation of the Honor Code they will be barred from re-entry in to the course for one calendar year. Exception to this Policy must be signed by the Chief of Armor’s Office.
13. Student Recognition:
a.Thurman Award: The Thurman award is an award given to the student demonstrating the highest standards of knowledge and professionalism at the end of course board. One student per Platoon is chosen by the student population, and one student per Platoon is chosen by the Cadre of that Platoon. A board in convened by the Course Director, Teach Chief and one Senior Instructor per Platoon. The awarded student will receive a certificate of recognition and his/her name and class number added to the Thurman award plaque.
b.Commandant’s List: The Commandants List is the top 20 percent of the class. Students are chosen by the cadre and must not have any disciplinary actions during the course. To be eligible for the Commandant’s List, students must be first-time go’s on all evaluations listed above. The discriminating tiebreaker, if more than 20 percent of the class falls in to this category, is the written examination.