From Experience to Organizational Warfighting

Summary: This NCO Journal article examines how the Sergeants Major Course prepares senior Army noncommissioned officers to contribute to organizational warfighting. Written for military educators and senior enlisted leaders, it describes curriculum changes affecting SMC class 77 and an exercise focused on staff planning.

Readers will learn how the Staff Exercise (STAFFEX) connects operational experience with staff products, orders briefs, and combined arms rehearsals. The article identifies four operations-process activities: planning, preparing, executing, and continuously assessing. It also explains how rehearsals expose timing problems and unclear responsibilities before operational deployment. Author Sgt. Maj. Jacob A. Kirk writes, “The Combined Arms Rehearsal (CAR) brings it all together.”