U.S. Army Combined Arms Center

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United States Army Combined Arms Center
U.S. Army Combined Arms Center Flag
Active	July 1, 1973
Country	USA
Branch	United States Army
Role	Provides leadership and supervision for leader development and professional military and civilian education.
Size	2,000+
Part of	16 major schools and centers.
Garrison/HQ	Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
Nickname	Intellectual Center of the Army
Motto	Ad Bellum Pace Parati ("Prepared in peace for war")
Colors	Argent, a chevron Azure between three lamps of the like flamed Proper
Commanders
Current commander	LTG David Petraeus

The U.S. Army Combined Arms Center (USACAC) is located at Fort Leavenworth and provides leadership and supervision for leader development and professional military and civilian education; institutional and collective training; functional training; training support; battle command; doctrine; lessons learned and specified areas the Commanding General, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) designates in order to serve as a catalyst for change and to support developing relevant and ready expeditionary land formations with campaign qualities in support of the joint force commander.

Fort Leavenworth, Kansas is the oldest continuously operating military installation west of the Mississippi River. This historic post, noted for its campus setting, open green spaces and hometown character, is the home of the US Army’s Combined Arms Center (CAC). CAC, as a major subordinate headquarters of the US Army Training and Doctrine Command, has often been referred to as the “Intellectual Center of the Army”. It is, in many regards, “home base” for the majority of field grade officers across the Army.

Since 1882, CAC and its predecessor organizations have been engaged in the primary mission of preparing the Army and its leaders for war. At present, this mission is divided between preparing the Army for the Global War on Terrorism and transforming it to meet future threats.

In order to accomplish these critical missions, CAC provides Army-wide leadership and supervision for leader development and professional military and civilian education; institutional and collective training; functional training; training support; battle command; doctrine; lessons learned; and other specified areas that the TRADOC Commander designates. All of these are focused toward making CAC a catalyst for change and to support the development of a relevant and ready ground force to support joint, interagency and multinational operations anywhere in the world.

[edit] Organizational Structure

The Combined Arms Center is organized along four basic levels:

The Commander exercises overall responsibility over assigned personnel and subordinate organizations to insure that assigned missions are accomplished in the most efficient and effective manner possible. The Command Sergeant Major, by tradition, is responsible for the conduct and development of enlisted Soldiers and non-commissioned officers across the Command.

The CAC Chief of Staff manages and oversees the activities of a coordinating staff and a special staff. The coordinating staff is focused on policy and procedure development for the command; the special staff provides command-wide advice in specialized or technical areas.

Major Subordinate Organizations carry out the majority of the functions assigned to the CAC Commander. In general, each is resourced for and focused on a core function and one or more specified functions.

Schools, centers and specialized activities are spread across the country and are responsible for executing a portion of the CAC mission. In general, each of these organizations is responsible for the training of specific branch skills (such as “Infantry”) and serving as the Army’s functional expert in that area. In this regard, CAC is an integrator of specialized skills, on one hand, and an executor of common skills, on the other.