NATO SOF Junior Leaders Course (STEP1)

Course Information

1. SOFCOM has created a NATO SOF Professional Education Continuum for the professional development of both SOF Officers and NCOs. Given the global challenges faced by the Alliance, it remains imperative that NATO SOF continue to develop its interoperability and capability, while continuing to grow capacity in a unified and cohesive manner. Beyond weaponry, technology, and numerical superiority, a key differentiator between a NATO SOF Officer and NCO from his threat counterpart would be the ability to apply critical and strategic thinking in a rapid manner, to solve problems as they present themselves on the battlefield.

2. The SOFCOM Professional Education Continuum focuses on the development of the Command Team at every level of leadership at the levels of the Special Operations Task Unit (SOTU), Special Operations Task Group (SOTG), and Special Operations Component Command (SOCC), as well as Executive Leadership positions at SOFCOM and NATO SOF entities. Educational courses will be delivered as a Systematic Training and Education Program (STEP), with four stages of progression aligned with each of the leadership team levels. Some ‘overlap’ of rank grades have been built in throughout each STEP course. The programme has been designed to accommodate different levels of standards and experiences across the NATO SOF Alliance. The four levels of the programme (Named NATO SOF Leaders Course) are:
NATO SOF Junior Leaders Course (SOTU Level) OR (4-6) and OF (1-3), 
NATO SOF Mid-Level Leaders Course  (SOTG Level) OR (6-7) and OF (3-4)    
NATO SOF Senior Leaders Course  (SOCC Level) OR (7-8) and OF (4-5)
NATO SOF Executive Leaders Course  (Executive Level) OR (9) and OF (6-10)                   

3. NATO SOF Junior Leaders Course target audience are OF 1-3 and OR 4-6, serving or preparing to serve as a command team of Special Operations Task Unit – SOTU or other similar Tactical level SOF or supporting SOF Units. Each nation/organization is required to request the participation of an equal number of Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers.  While this course is focused on SOF leaders we encourage participation from SOF enablers, conventional forces, and civilians coming from the same command/unit and rank levels to learn from each other and increase networking and interoperability within the alliance. 

The course will be broken down into two distinct phases: 
a. A Distant Learning phase of 4 weeks of asynchronous self-study via NSOU BlackBoard LMS.
b. A Residential Learning phase of 10 days of residential synchronous guided learning in classroom in various host nations.
 
4. Nations will be responsible to provide transportation, accommodation and Per Diem for the duration of the course for their students. There is no course fee for the students. 

Duration: Distance Learning: 4 weeks (part time); Residential: 10 days