Command and General Staff Course (CGSC)

The CGSC is a 9-month course for military officers who are expected to occupy key command and staff
positions in the operational and strategic levels of the AFP organization.

The course is the highest military education given to a career officer in the AFP. It focuses on
leadership, staff management, and joint/combined operations planning. It is also offered to AFP reserve
officers and international military students (IMS).

The curriculum framework is developed based on the building blocks concept. As the lower blocks are
completed, the learning foundation and necessary knowledge and skills grow. The main objective is to
complete all the blocks and reach the peak. It is said that at this point, the CGSC students are already
considered as fit to command, qualified to advice, and capable to plan.

The academic methodology applies a combination of several methods of instruction such as lectures,
discussions, film showing, practical exercises, case analysis and presentations. These have been proven
effective and efficient in imparting knowledge and skills needed to attain the objectives of the course.
Student-led instructions, seminar discussions, directed research and panel discussions are also regularly
used to facilitate adult learning.

To reinforce the lessons offered inside the classroom, enhancement lectures and educational trips/visits
are scheduled throughout the curriculum. Subject-matter-experts are invited to give lectures and
engage the students on strategically relevant and current issues during the open forums. Aside from
giving the students a break from class routines, tours allow students to validate the theories/lessons
expounded during classroom instructions and exercises.

Critical thinking and logical reasoning are also given emphasis in order to sharpen the students’ mental
capabilities. Individual and organized athletic activities are also given importance to promote teamwork,
camaraderie, health, and well-being.

The curriculum of the CGSC is divided into an academic block containing five (5) modules, a military
block containing six (6) modules, and a non-academic block. There are also two programs that are
concurrent during the course. As a whole, the course is allotted a total of forty-one (41) academic units.
Leadership

The leadership module provides the students with knowledge on the current emerging leadership
theories and practices, and its traditional military context. It focuses on understanding the levels of
leadership in the operational/organizational and strategic environment needed by senior military
officers through an examination of responsible command, leadership, and management practices. The
application of the theories will be focused on the challenges faced by military commanders and leaders
in the operational/organizational and strategic echelon of the armed forces in accomplishing their unit’s
mission.

Using a blend of military and civilian case studies, the students will critically analyze contemporary as
well as timeless issues and paradigms of operational and strategic level leadership. This is an interactive
and reflective module that aims to engage students to journey towards self-mastery and professional
leadership by encouraging them to engage in a personal and professional reflection and critically assess
and consider issues on development and security in an environment characterized by volatility,
uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA). The course focuses on concepts, theories, and principles
of personal transformation and inner development by cultivating self-mastery skills in thinking, feeling,
communicating, acting, leading and being. Critical/strategic thinking, action/decision making marked by
integrity, double loop learning, and strategic communication will be underlined to develop students’
leadership at three levels – direct, organizational, and strategic. The student will record his/her journey
from an operational to a strategic leader in a leadership portfolio.

This course will expand the students’ leadership perspective and gain greater understanding of the
challenges of field grade officers as they attempt to improve the organizations while operating to meet
the challenges in today’s operational and strategic environment.

This module is allocated with 3.0 academic units.

Management

This module offers an introduction to Organizational Management and Management Analysis, focusing
on the basic concepts, principles, processes and best practices of managing an organization. It will focus
on factors influencing the behavior of individuals and groups in organizations as well as the response of
the organization in managing their internal and external environments.

It will also show what are needed to manage an organization effectively and efficiently by explaining the
management functions of planning, organizing, leading and controlling, and the roles and competencies
of effective managers. This introductory course is designed to improve the students’ effectiveness as a
manager and leader by introducing frameworks for understanding organizations and organizational
processes, and by providing experiential exercises and tools that will help them cultivate their skills in
problem-solving, planning and setting objectives, personnel planning and recruitment, motivating and
training subordinates, appraising performance, and managing groups and teams.

Organizations have been studied from the perspective of several social science disciplines, including
psychology, sociology, economics, anthropology and political science. The field on which this course is
based, organizational behavior and management, draws from all of these disciplines and applies the
insights derived from the pertinent research. This course will introduce the students to the ways to
apply the knowledge to particular situations through analysis and subsequent class discussion of case
studies.

This subject seeks to ensure CGSC’s mission of developing leaders that are fit to command, capable to
plan and qualified to advise. Likewise, the subject seeks to fulfill DAP’s mission of providing a lifelong
learning for public managers as they accent to becoming development action oriented professionals in
the field of military service who are expected to initiate appropriate, sustainable and viable
development projects- thus creating efficient conditions for economic and social progress, within areas
of their influence, in particular, and eventually throughout the country, in general.

This module is allocated with 3.0 academic units.

Policy and Strategy

The Policy and Strategy module seeks to broaden the student’s understanding as well as enhance their
skills on Public Management Policy and strategy contextualized to the realities of the Armed Forces of
the Philippines. It will build on the CGSC student’s knowledge on current policy and strategy practices
while exposing them to practices currently being applied in the Government as a whole and in the AFP in
particular.

This module is allocated with 3.0 academic units.

Introduction to Research

The Introduction to Research module seeks to prepare and equip the students with the skills needed in
preparing their Commandants Paper. The course will provide the students with an understanding of the
process of formulating appropriate research questions, objectives, hypotheses, techniques for reviewing
literature, approaches for testing relationships and patterns among variables, methods of data
collection, methods for assessing and improving the validity and reliability of data and measures, and
ethics in social research.

Furthermore, the module will guide the students in the research citations using the APA style. It shall
also provide an understanding of the implementation of the research proposal and will include the
preparation for the defense of the research proposal and the final Commandants Paper.

This module is allocated with 3.0 academic units.

Peace Development and Conflict Management

The module is designed to analyze the dynamic interaction of politics, peace, and conflict, and how they
affect human security and development. It looks at the interrelationships between insecurity, poverty
and development; as well as peace and peace-building (including conflict prevention and post-
conflict reconstruction). More specifically, it will look at the fragilities and vulnerabilities of Philippine
democracy relative to security and armed conflict, as well as the available spaces in promoting peace
processes. It likewise evaluates the formal and non-formal institutions and locates the role of agents in
political and social transformation.

This module is allocated with 3.0 academic units

TRIAD Operations
The AFP Triad operation refers to the combined utilization of the three major military staff functions,
namely, Intelligence, Operations, and Civil Military Operations (CMO).

The AFP Triad operations started way back in the late 80s during the peak of the communist insurgency.
Up to now, the AFP maintains the use of the said concept and in fact, became a model for other foreign
armed forces though presented in different forms.

The AFP Triad Operation module involves the examination of the historical development of the AFP triad
concept as applied in various operational roles performed by the AFP and the study of how Intelligence,
Operations, and CMO are applied together in joint planning. There are also other concepts related to
AFP Triad that will be discussed in this module such Information Operations, Humanitarian Assistance
and Disaster Relief (HA/DR) operations, to include the study of the AFP Reserve Force.

This module is allocated with 4.0 academic units.

Operational Art and War Studies

The OPART module involves: the examination of military theories, history, and culture; the study of
operational art; and the application of operational doctrines, concept, and techniques in a joint,
interagency, combined and multinational environment designed to enhance the leadership and
operational skill-sets of the students. This module reinforces other modules and runs episodically
throughout the academic year. It is synergize to support the curriculum designed with an understanding
that military leaders must be equally adept in their ability to be creative, think critically, and act
decisively.

The OPART Module also aims to establish a solid foundation on Operational Design that contributes to
the ability to conceptualize solutions/approaches that create military conditions for success. At the end,
students are expected to acquire a firm and clear grasp of operational art and operational design critical
to their function as future commanders or staff officers.

This module is allocated with 4.0 academic units.

Tri-Service

The Tri-Service Module is designed to provide the students with the basic understanding and
familiarization of the mission, functions, organization, capabilities, operational doctrines, thrusts and
programs of the different Major Services of the AFP. Moreover, the capability upgrade programs of the
AFP Major Services shall be emphasized to give insights on their future capabilities in relation to their
thrusts and programs.

The module will also provide awareness and appreciation of the history, customs, and traditions of the
different Major Services. This is carried out through Informational Program Visits (IPV) to the
Headquarters of the Major Services and visits to their respective major units. The IPVs will allow
students to interact with key officers and observe the organizational culture of the different services.
These are the essential considerations in planning for a joint operation.

The module will culminate with a two-day immersion program wherein the students will undergo an On-
the-Job Training (OJT) and execute organizational plans to be determined by the Service Commands.

This module is allocated with 2.0 academic units.

Inter-Agency Operation

The Interagency Operations module provides the fundamentals of interagency operations and how it is
being applied in military operations. The module is designed to familiarize the students with the
workings of the government and how the inter-action of institutions and processes can contribute to
societal and national development. It also intends to cover the organization, functions, capabilities and
protocols of selected government agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and
intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) which have direct participation to national security and
development. It examines further the nature and the different challenges and approaches in interagency
operations during peacetime, conflict and crisis situations. This module facilitates student’s
comprehension on the complexities of interagency collaboration in joint and combined/multinational
operations.

This module is allocated with 3.0 academic units.

Introduction to Security Studies

This module is designed to link the AFP Command and General Staff Course with that of the Masters in
National Security Administration (MNSA) being offered by National Defense College of the Philippines. It
will acquaint the student-officers on the concept of national security and securitization, the theoretical
approaches in security, the instruments of national power, and the different dimensions of national
security. It further presents the dynamics of security in the Asia-Pacific region.

This module is allocated with 3.0 academic units.

Join and Combined Operations

The Joint and Combined Operations module introduces the students to the complexities and
requirements of joint/combined operations and planning. This module will be divided into three sub-
modules namely: Joint Operations; Combined and Multinational Operations; and the Immersion
Program to the Unified Commands.

Throughout the module, the students will study pertinent local and foreign doctrines as they examine
the ways in which operational art and design are applied in developing plans and orders and become
adept with the joint operations planning process (JOPP). Furthermore, the students will also examine
planning considerations as they apply across the range of military operations.

The immersion program to the Unified Commands is intended to provide experiential learning and the
opportunity to have a dynamic interaction with the military commanders and staffs in the operational
area. The immersion also aims to validate the applicability of the knowledge and skills acquired from the
school in support of the Professional Military Education policy objectives.

Lastly, the module will provide the “capstone” exercise on planning at CGSC. It is designed to integrate
all learning throughout the duration of the course. The War fighting scenario will expose students to
joint, interagency, and combined planning methodologies and processes. The students will use this
exercise in order to reinforce their knowledge in determining the best practice or approach to military
planning and decision-making.
In conjunction, the study of bilateral and multilateral security agreements contributes not only to the
understanding of conflict and war between peoples, but also contributes to the knowledge and
understanding of how military forces can best interact in areas of operation and in every kind of mission.
In the end, student will recognize the increasing need for combined and multinational “collaboration.”

This module is allocated with 5.0 academic units.

Academic Writing Program

The Academic Writing Program (AWP) for CGSC Class 60 is a supporting program of the Course designed
to prepare the students in writing and defending a major research paper known as the Commandant’s
Paper. The Paper is a substantial scholarly work involving significant independent study of the students.
It is a major student requirement to graduate in CGSC.

The AWP will focus on the selection of the topic, the topic-to-title defense, oral defense of all the
chapters in the Commandant’s Paper, submission of Final Paper and the conduct of public narrative by
the students through the research colloquium.

This module is allocated with 5.0 academic units.

Non-Resident Instruction

The Program is an online version of Command and General Staff Course intended for Reservists Officers
of the AFP enrolled for CGSC Class 60 under the Non-Resident Instruction Program. This coincides with
the regular CGSC that is a 9-month course for military officers who are expected to occupy key
command and staff positions in the operational and strategic levels of the AFP organization.

Most of the modules will be delivered through on-line discussion and correspondence. However,
subjects on the Reserve Force Development, the Foundation Week, and the JACO module will require
the physical presence of the NRI students.

Moreover, due to the constraints of distance learning, modules that are delivered on-line will focus on
the main objectives and within the context of the regular course. On-line discussion will be facilitated by
the Program Director while reference materials, videos and presentations will be made available
through the student page of AFPCGSC website. Furthermore, students are encourage (though not
required) to attend plenary lectures to further enhance participation and appreciation of the course.