In three previous episodes of the Urban Warfare Project Podcast, host John Spencer spoke with the commanders of the operations groups of the National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin, California, the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) at Fort Polk, Louisiana, and the Joint Multinational Readiness Center (JMRC) in Hohenfels, Germany. This episode focuses on the Army’s fourth combat training center (CTC), and the Army’s only deployable one: the Mission Command Training Program (MCTP) in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. It features Col. Shane Morgan, commander of the MCTP.
Whereas the Army’s three “dirt” CTCs (JRTC, NTC, JMRC) focus training on the mission-essential task lists (METLs) at the brigade combat team level and below, MCTP is geared toward training echelons above brigade—Army divisions, corps, and service component commands.
Col. Morgan discusses MCTP’s function, its organization, and the unique capabilities with which it contributes warfighting readiness to the operating force through METL-focused training objectives in large-scale combat operations, within both live and constructive environments. He provides details on how MCTP plans, prepares, and executes the Army’s Warfighter exercise program—a ten-day force-on-force combat simulation leveraging distributed collective training through simulation centers worldwide. The Warfighter scenarios simulate multiple contingencies, threats, and environments—to include dense urban terrain.
You can listen to the discussion below or find the episode on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, or your favorite podcast app. Be sure to subscribe, and if you’re enjoying the Urban Warfare Project Podcast, please take a minute and leave the podcast a review or give it a rating!
Special thanks to Cadet Ben Phocas for post-production editing.
Image credit: Capt. Jean Kratzer, US Army