Effectively applying operational art and battle command is a challenging task. Several factors associated with the operational level of war create an environment that is uncertain and complex. The expanding size, scope and depth of joint areas of operations place great demands on command and control systems. Future threats will use a wide variety of tactics and technologies to negate American military superiority. Political considerations directly influence operational level planning and execution. Joint operations involve a wide range of land, air, sea, informational, and space capabilities. Integrating these capabilities into a synchronized concept of operation is a complex undertaking. A large number of actors influence operational actions. These actors include nongovernmental organizations, coalition partners, international organizations, and the media. Planning and conducting operations is this environment requires commanders and staffs that are skilled in operational art According to Joint Publication 1-02, operational art is the employment of military forces to attain strategic and/or operational objectives through the design, organization, integration, and conduct of strategies, campaigns, major operations, and battles. Operational art, as all forms of art, is an act of creation. The operational commander's vision is the source of creation that leads to the campaign plan. According to Field Manual 3-0, this process of creating a vision for a future operation is called battlefield visualization. Exceptional commanders can visualize the necessary steps to achieve the mission, anticipate opportunities, and estimate how their major operations will develop before they ever make contact with the enemy. Effective visualization places high demands on conceptual competencies. A central issue for the Army is how to provide an educational system that develops the necessary cognitive and conceptual skills in future operational commanders. The purpose of this monograph is to answer the research question: does the Army's officer education system develop the cognitive and conceptual abilities of officers to prepare them for operational level decision-making? The underlying proposition of this research is that commanders with greater conceptual and cognitive abilities will have a better ability to visualize their battle space and mission. In turn, these abilities will aid them in making qualitatively better decisions faster than their adversaries. The ultimate goal is to stimulate improvements in the Army's institutional officer training system. The research makes several recommendations for improving educational and training methods that promote the development of visualization skills. The monograph explores how the Army can develop training models and educational techniques that develop the cognitive and conceptual skills that are most demanded during visualization. The author organizes the monograph into four chapters. The first identities the type of decision-making model used during operational level decision-making. The second chapter examines the doctrinal foundations of battlefield visualization and identifies the skills required for effective visualization. The third chapter evaluates the effectiveness of the Army's officer education system in developing the necessary skills for visualization. The author concludes that several improvements in educational curriculums could promote more effective development of visualization skills. The final chapter contains several recommendations for improving officer educational models.

ADA 391979 Approved for public release; Distribution is unlimited. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the student-authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College or any other governmental agency. (References to these studies should include the foregoing statement.)