Genesis and Evolution of the United States Air Force Academy's Officer Development System

<p>The U.S. Air Force Academy has begun implementing a new system for better preparing cadets to be effective leaders of character; it is called the Officer Development System (ODS). This initiative was a result of an integrative Tiger Team commissioned by USAFA senior leadership in September 2003 to design and implement a deliberate overarching leader development system. The new system is a four-year holistic leadership process focused on understanding appreciating and acquiring character-based officership. ODS heavily emphasizes the Air Force core values (Integrity Service Excellence) identifies officer attributes (Warrior Spirit Professional Leader of Character Servant of the Nation) and aligns with Air Force's Force Development initiative* and associated doctrine. ODS' integrated approach is based upon education training and experiences that provide cadets with increased responsibility as they progress through their four years at the Academy. This increased responsibility applies to each individual cadet for his or her own development; however everyone is just as closely tied to their subordinates' and peers' development as well. ODS rests heavily on teamwork and positive motivation methods. It adheres to established standards through continuous improvement in obtaining institutionally agreed upon competencies that will better enable this next generation of leaders of character to meet Air Force requirements.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p><br>