Overview of AJPME

• AJPME Program History
• Reserve Component Joint Officer Management
• Advanced Joint Professional Military Education(AJPME)
  • Format
  • CJCSI 1800.01, Officer Professional Military Education Policy (OPMEP)
  • AJPME Instructors

AJPME Program History

The Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986 reorganized the Department of Defense to create an organization that was more focused on joint matters. One of the results of the Act was to create and mandate joint professional military education for active component officers.

Title 10 USC, Chapter 38, Section 666 directed a parallel effort for RC officers:

The Secretary of Defense shall establish personnel policies emphasizing education and experience in joint matters for reserve officers not on the active-duty list. Such policies shall, to the extent practicable for reserve component, be similar to the policies [for the AC].

Although the DOD fully complied with the requirements for the active component, it fell short of meeting the guidance in Title 10 for the Reserve Component. To rectify this situation, Congress included the following language in the FY 99 Defense Authorization Act:

In order to prepare reserve component field grade officers for joint duty assignments, the committee directs that a course similar in content to, but not identical to, the in-residence Armed Forces Staff College course for field grade active component officers be developed as soon as possible periods of in residence training, as well as distance learning, present the best combination of academic rigor, cohort development, and cross-service acculturation.

As a result of the language above, the Joint Forces Staff College established an Advanced Joint Professional Military Education (AJPME) program. The program's first action was to develop a Beta course to validate the delivery of joint PME in a blended format that used distance learning combined with a two-day, in-residence exercise. In Summer 2001, four iterations of the Joint Operations Course (Beta test) were offered to students in the National Capitol Region/Pennsylvania, CENTCOM/SOCOM, PACOM, and JFCOM. The successful completion of this Beta test validated that joint education could be delivered in a blended format.

In the FY 2002 National Defense Authorization Act, Congress authorized funds to begin development of the full AJPME curriculum.

The resulting course is approximately 267 hours of Web-based collaborative distance learning (DL), research and writing for publication. In addition, students complete 139 hours of face-to-face time in two temporary duty assignments to JFSC. The entire course is presented in seven block modules over ˜40 weeks. The curriculum is characterized by a progression from higher-order cognitive activities to affective exercises that encourages attitudinal shifts. The cognitive learning activities focus on recall and mastery of information, application of concepts and principles, problem solving, discovery, and building on existing military experiences. The affective learning activities foster recognition and integration of new attitudes and values that promote joint acculturation. The AJPME curriculum consists of the following primary sections:

• Administration, Orientation, and Assessment
• Strategy
• Theater Campaign Planning
• Operational Design
• Joint Planning Process

The first AJPME class started in September 2003. As of 15 June 2012, 63 AJPME classes have graduated with 1600+ students successfully completing the course to date.

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Reserve Component Joint Officer Management Program

Although the Goldwater-Nichols Act and subsequent Congressional action outlined the process and procedures for delivering joint education to Reserve Component members, there have been no concurrent statutory guidelines for Reserve Component Joint Officer Management. The requirements for Joint Specialty Officers (JSO), outlined in Title 10, were specifically for the active component and RC officers could not be designated as JSOs. In September 2002, the office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs (ASD/RA) issued DOD Instruction 1215.20, Reserve Component Joint Officer Management, to provide these guidelines. Among other things, DODI 1215.20 defined a new concept, the Fully Joint Qualified Officer as the RC parallel to the JSO.

In October 2007, DODI 1300.19, DOD Joint Officer Management Program, was signed. This DODI took a Total Force perspective and superseded DODI 1215.20. While there is a wealth of valuable information in that instruction, it contains a few key points for the RCJPME:

• Perhaps most important, it officially recognized RCJPME as equivalent to JPME Phase II for RC officers.
• It establishes that it is DOD policy to "designate as JQOs sufficient numbers of quality officers who have completed Joint Professional Military Education (JPME) Phase II (or in the case of RC officers, Advanced Joint Professional Military Education (AJPME))." And to "establish, to the maximum extent practicable, similar policies emphasizing education and experience in joint matters for officers [in the Reserve Component]."
• The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, under the USD(P&R) is assigned responsibility for monitoring "RC compliance with the DOD JQS program with the goal of increasing the pool of RC joint qualified officers."

DODI 1300.19 can be found at http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/130019p.pdf [pdf].

Additional information about the JQO qualification and self-nomination process can be found on The Joint Qualification Handbook [pdf].

JOINT PROFESSIONAL MILITARY EDUCATION (JPME)

JPME is an essential element of the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986. The implementation of DODI 1300.19 retains JPME as the backbone for attaining the four levels of Joint Qualified Officer (JQO).

JPME Phase I is taught as part of the resident and nonresident curricula of the Intermediate Service Colleges and the nonresident curricula of the Senior Service Colleges. It emphasizes the fundamentals needed for a sound basis in joint operations and is taught from the component's perspective. JPME Phase I is a prerequisite for Level II JQO.

JPME Phase II emphasizes joint perspectives, focusing on planning, operations, and procedures. JPME II is only taught in residence and is granted by the National War College (NDU), Industrial College of the Armed Forces (NDU), and Joint Advanced Warfighting School as a single-phase program (both Phase I and Phase II). The Joint and Combined Warfighting School (JCWS) and the in-residence Senior Service Colleges (effective in 2007) award JPME Phase II credit.

JPME Phase II is a prerequisite for Active Component officers to attain Level III JQO. Reserve Component officers have the option of taking any of the Phase II programs listed above or completing AJPME for Level III JQO.

JPME Phase III is the CAPSTONE course for Flag and General Officers. It is a requirement for Level IV JQO.

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Advanced Joint Professional Military Education (AJPME)

Format

AJPME is a 40-week, blended-learning course consisting of two distance learning (DL) periods and two face-to-face (F2F) periods. During the DL phases, students participate in asynchronous group activities and seminar exercises. The online activities are designed to require approximately four to six hours per week. Students must complete assigned lessons during scheduled one-or two-week periods. However, there is no requirement to be on line at any specific time; students work at times most convenient for them. This is especially important given that students in any given AJPME class are located in multiple time zones around the world.

As mentioned above, there are four distinct blocks of instruction; two DL and two F2F. Additionally, there are two formal writing requirements and three examinations in the course. The writing requirements are a one-page Joint Information Paper (JIP) and a 10-page Joint Research Paper. A total of eight non-instructional weeks are scattered throughout the two DL phases to allow students research time and time to transition between major blocks of instruction. The above slide demonstrates a typical class although there may be variations in transition weeks due to major holidays.

• The first 12 weeks are referred to as DL-1. This block is focused on lower-level cognitive learning (knowledge and comprehension). Students learn independently, but participate in occasional online asynchronous discussions and submit individual written assignments to their instructor.
• At week 13 there is a 4½-day F2F session. F2F-1 marks the beginning of the joint acculturation process. This session typically takes place at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, VA, but could be conducted at an alternate location.
• Weeks 14 through 37 are highly interactive DL lessons where students work in groups to develop products that are later used in the wargame that culminates F2F-2.
• The final in-residence session (F2F-2) employs the automated planning tools used at the Combatant Commands in an unclassified format. In F2F-2, the students finalize the plan they have been developing in the past blocks and execute it using computer simulation tools. Like F2F-1, this can be executed at an alternate location. If an alternate site is being considered, all prospective students will be informed in advance.

CJCSI 1800.01, Officer Professional Military Education Policy (OPMEP)

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) outlines the requirements for all JPME programs in the OPMEP. Appendix J to Enclosure E of the OPMEP provides specific guidance for AJPME and forms the basis of lesson development. It reads as follows:

ADVANCED JOINT PROFESSIONAL MILITARY EDUCATION (AJPME)
JOINT LEARNING AREAS AND OBJECTIVES

1. Overview. AJPME at JFSC is an RC course similar in content, but not identical to, the in-residence JFSC Phase II course. AJPME students shall be JPME Phase I graduates. AJPME graduates will be prepared as integral participants in joint planning efforts at the operational level to develop theater strategies and plans in a complex global operating environment.
2. Mission. Educate national security professionals to plan and execute joint, interagency, intergovernmental, and multinational operations to instill a primary commitment to teamwork, attitudes, and perspectives.
   
   1. AJPME educates RC officers and builds upon the foundation established in JPME Phase I. It prepares RC officers (O-4 to O-6) for joint duty assignments.
   2. AJPME fulfills the RC requirement for JQO L-III designation.
3. Learning Area 1 – National Security Strategy
   
   1. Apply appropriate strategic security policies and guidance used in developing joint operation plans across the range of military operations (to include traditional and irregular warfare) to support national objectives.
   2. Analyze the integration of all instruments of national power in achieving strategic objectives. Focus on the proper employment of the military instrument of national power at the theater level both as a supported instrument and as a supporting instrument of national power.
   3. Analyze the use of information and cyberspace operations to achieve desired effects against the spectrum of national security threats.
4. Learning Area 2 – Joint, Interagency, Intergovernmental, and Multinational Capabilities
   
   1. Analyze the capabilities and limitations of all Services (own Service and other Services—to include SOF) in achieving the appropriate strategic objectives in joint operations.
   2. Analyze the capabilities and limitations of multinational forces in achieving the appropriate strategic objectives in coalition operations.
   3. Analyze the capabilities and limitations of the interagency processes in supporting a comprehensive approach to achieving the strategic objectives in joint operation plans.
   4. Comprehend the attributes of the future joint force and how this force will organize, plan, prepare, and conduct operations.
   5. Value a thoroughly joint perspective and appreciate the increased power available to commanders through joint, interagency, intergovernmental, and multinational efforts and teamwork.
5. Learning Area 3 – Theater Strategy and Campaigning
   
   1. Analyze the theater area of responsibility using current national strategic guidance to compile a regional assessment as the foundation for theater strategy, campaign planning, and security cooperation planning.
   2. Analyze examples of theater strategy, campaign planning, and operations. Focus on the use of planning concepts, techniques, and procedures as well as integration of joint functions.
   3. Apply an analytical framework that incorporates the role that factors such as geopolitics, geostrategy, society, culture, religion, and other regional factors play in shaping the desired outcomes of policies, strategies, and campaigns in the joint, interagency, intergovernmental, and multinational arena.
   4. Apply the fundamentals of traditional and irregular warfare.
6. Learning Area 4 – Joint Planning Process and Systems
   
   1. Analyze joint operations for use of appropriate planning principles.
   2. Apply current technology, modeling, simulation, and wargaming to accomplish the synchronization, employment, logistics and sustainment support, and transportation planning of the joint force.
   3. Analyze the appropriate mix of joint functions to develop joint operation plans.
   4. Apply the principles, capabilities, and limitations of information and cyberspace operations across the range of military operations.

AJPME Instructors

The AJPME faculty consists of officers from the Reserve Component of each Service. All AJPME faculty members are graduates of JPME Phase II or AJPME and have completed rigorous online instructor training.

One of the core elements of JFSC is interaction with senior fellows. Senior fellows are retired flag/general officers or high-ranking Department of State officials that augment the curriculum to provide insight and exchange views with students during the development of the theater strategy and as a course review after the final exercise. Students meet with an Ambassador in F2F-1 and a retired Flag/General Officer in F2F-2. Additionally, during the F2F blocks, AJPME students may take advantage of “targets of opportunity”—high-ranking civilian and military leaders who visit JFSC to share their insights.

The links that are noted [pdf] are Adobe Acrobat files and require Adobe Reader to display the file.

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Last update: 17 July 2012