The final report of The Engineer Capabilities Study: A Path to the Future, 30 September 2002, identified that many junior and several field-grade officers deploy to joint task force (JTF) engineer staffs with no exposure to joint education, which has little-to-no engineer-specific content in any event. Consequently, most officers assigned to JTF engineer staffs experience a steep learning curve before they are able to function effectively in a joint engineer environment. The report recommended a joint engineer orientation course to solve this shortfall. In 2004, the top joint advisory group and proponents for operational engineering issues, the Joint Operational Engineering Board, directed a rigorous stand-alone joint course that would better focus and prepare officers for assignment to a joint engineer staff. Thus began the Joint Engineer Officer Course (JEOC).

The three service engineer schools (AFIT's Civil Engineer and Services School, US Army Engineer School, and the Navy’s Civil Engineer Corps Officer School) representing the four services (Marines included) convened a Training Developer’s Conference in the fall of 2005. There they refined the concept and course outline and pioneered an innovative hybrid Distance Learning (DL) and Resident format. Subsequently a quick course design and development phase with aggressive inter-school liaison resulted in the pilot offering in April (DL) and June (resident) 2006.

Distance Learning Phase
The 48-hour distance learning (DL) phase consists of eight modules to introduce students to:

• National security strategy development.
• Joint operations planning.
• Joint engineer capabilities.
• JTF engineer operations and planning.
• Engineer staff organizations and staff responsibilities within a combatant command.

Resident Phase
The 32-hour resident phase consists of eight seminars aligned with six practical exercises. The exercises focus on JTF scenarios that explore different service engineer capabilities and the common functions and responsibilities of a JTF engineer staff officer. These include:

• Task organizing engineer forces.
• Preparing the engineer support plan.
• Using the Joint Engineer Planning and Execution System (JEPES).
• Participation on JTF boards.
• Supporting financing, contracting, base camp development, and coordination with host nation and non-government organizations.

The April and June pilot offering was a resounding success. The offering specifically targeted experienced, graduated JTF engineers to validate and fine-tune the curriculum. The students indicated the greatest value was the appreciation of sister services engineer capabilities and limitations. As well, they valued the theater-wide perspective in discussions of Engineers-Outside-The-Wire. The perspectives of these experienced engineers also honed the course material and charted the development for the next offering in December 2006.

The AFIT director for the Joint Engineer Officer Course is Lt Col Tom Glardon (thomas.glardon@afit.edu), AFIT/CEM.