Maneuver Center of Excellence and Its Support of the Brigade Combat Team

Recommendation Number 9 from the Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) report recommended, among other things, the consolidation of the U.S. Army's Armor and Infantry Centers and Schools at Fort Benning, Georgia to create a Maneuver Center of Excellence (CoE) for ground forces training and doctrine development. Shortly following approval of the BRAC recommendations, the U. S. Army issued change two to its Army Campaign Plan (ACP). Its purpose was to direct planning, preparation, and execution of Army operations and Army transformation within the context of ongoing strategic commitments to include the Global War on Terror (GWOT). In response to guidance given by the ACP and BRAC, the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) issued a memorandum dated 13 October 2005 and titled Initial Planning Directive - TRADOC Areas of Interest, where the Commanding General (CG) of TRADOC directed the organization to initiate action to plan, prepare, and execute a detailed assessment of CG, TRADOC Areas of Interest (TAI). A focus group, organized and titled TAI 3 - Redesign for Excellence, executed the task of developing an organizational structure for all Centers of Excellence within TRADOC. This paper uses the organizational structure for the planned Maneuver CoE to evaluate how a CoE supports the Army's transformation effort to create modular, combined-arms brigade combat teams.