BOLC II ends as 1-11 Battalion prepares for exit
Mar 12, 2010
By Vince Little, The Bayonet
FORT BENNING, Ga. -- Fort Benning is about to bid farewell to the 11th Infantry Regiment's 1st Battalion.
The unit is being inactivated because the Army has eliminated its primary mission: conducting the six-week Basic Officer Leader Course II, said LTC David Bottcher, the battalion commander. A ceremony is set for 10 a.m. March 23 at Stilwell Field on Main Post.
The 1st Battalion, 11th Infantry Regiment, was responsible for training 50 percent of the military's second lieutenants in BOLC II - regardless of branch, component or gender - and preparing all direct commission officers, who are primarily judge advocate officers. Bottcher said its mission was to develop "competent, confident and adaptable officers" able to lead Soldiers in any environment.
The battalion was stood up at Fort Benning in August 1987 as part of the 11th Infantry Regiment and assigned to The School Brigade. The regiment is now known as the 199th Infantry Brigade, the Army's premier officer training organization, said COL Terry Sellers, the brigade's former commander and current operations officer for the Maneuver Center of Excellence.
Bottcher called the inactivation a "sad" chapter in the regiment's long history, which dates back to 1798.
"Command Sergeant Major Mike Ferrusi, myself and the entire team put forth great time, effort and passion to produce the very best ground combatant leaders," he said. "The decision to terminate BOLC II came at a time where we were getting the rigor and complexity of the training just about right. My cadre have made an immeasurable impact on the development of our Army's junior officer leadership."
More than 15,000 lieutenants have attended BOLC II at Fort Benning since the course formally began in June 2006. The battalion trained more than 7,100 - enough for 52 brigade combat teams - during Bottcher's command, which spans almost two years.
Bottcher said the Army chief of staff ended BOLC II to eliminate a perceived backlog of lieutenants waiting to take the course, which will better support the Army force generation process, and to support the military's overall growth by getting capable officers and NCOs back in the fight.
"Eliminating BOLC II reduces the time lieutenants spend in the training pipeline, and gets them to their first unit of assignment quicker," he said. "The elimination of BOLC II was a cost savings to the Army, in a time where funding is becoming severely scrutinized."
Fort Benning had been the only installation to offer all three phases of BOLC, which includes Officer Candidate School and the Infantry Basic Officer Leader Course, he said. This allowed post leaders to synchronize and assess the sequential and progressive nature of officer development.
"'Big' Army loses the ability to have every officer participate in a common officer experience in addition to their branch-specific technical training," he said. "BOLC II afforded the student population, a broad mix of commissioning sources, branches and experience levels, to hone their leadership abilities and (assimilate) into their newfound profession as a ground combatant leader."
That task now rests on the 16 respective BOLC B sites across the Army and the first assigned units of each lieutenant, Bottcher said.
With the inactivation of 1st Battalion, the 199th Infantry Brigade's 2nd Battalion will pick up the added task of conducting the Direct Commissioned Officer Course.
He said 1st Battalion, 11th Infantry Regiment, was authorized more than 250 cadre and support personnel and trained up to 920 students at any given time.
The BOLC II cadre who have been at Fort Benning for at least two years will be reassigned elsewhere in the Army. Those with less than 12 months on station will be assigned to different organizations within the 199th Infantry Brigade or across post. A small group of cadre - two captains, two sergeants first class and eight staff sergeants - will remain to instruct the DCC and IBOLC cadre certification under 2nd Battalion.
Editor's note: This is the first article in a three-part series about the inactivation of 1st Battalion, 11th Infantry Regiment.
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