Soldiers literally hit the ground running when they arrive for the staff officer course at the Command and General Staff School.
In the first week of the 16-week course, they take the Army Combat Fitness Test conducted by members of Headquarters & Headquarters Company AMCOM. Friday’s test at the Patton Road track was bittersweet because it could be the last for the school’s Redstone campus.
The Redstone campus, along with the two campuses at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, are among the satellite training centers that may be closed under planned defense cuts.
“The potential is there that we’ll close,” Redstone campus director Joe Judge said. “The reality is we’re on the table for being considered (for closure).”
Some 64 field-grade officers from throughout the Army arrived May 5 for what could be Redstone’s final staff officer course and are scheduled to graduate Aug. 20. Three were excluded from the Army Combat Fitness Test because of pregnancy. The test assessed the 61 Soldiers’ physical abilities, including strength, power, speed, agility and endurance.
The students include Capt. Jordan Schultz, 32, from Neenah, Wisconsin. He is an engineer company observer, controller and trainer for Joint Multinational Readiness Center at Hohenfels, Germany. In the plank or leg tuck event, he
managed to stay propped on his elbows for more than three minutes while HHC 1st Sgt. Michael Mills graded.
“I did 3:06 which is probably like a 92 or 93 for the event,” Schultz said.
The six events in the Army Combat Fitness Test include deadlift (three repetition maximum), leg tuck (plank), sprint-drag-carry (five shuttles), two-mile run, standing power throw, and hand-release push-ups.
“We really rely on HHC to do the test,” Judge said. “First sergeant (Mills) is awesome.”
The Command and General Staff School, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, educates and develops leaders for full spectrum, joint, interagency and multinational operations. The Redstone Arsenal Satellite Campus opened in January 2010. The other two remaining satellite campuses are at Fort Belvoir.
Some 2,700 students have graduated from the Redstone campus.
