Photo By Jessica Nilsson | NSCS Commanding Officer Captain T. Richie Jenkins oversees the students who are...... read more read more
NEWPORT, R.I. – The Navy Supply Corps School (NSCS) in Newport, R.I., recently introduced a new workshop to its Basic Qualification Course (BQC) curriculum focusing on the Navy Planning Process (NPP). Using 3rd Battalion as “test pilots,” this four-day course gave these junior officers (JOs) a hands-on introduction to critical thinking, context and scope of theater-wide operations, and logistics integration — skills they’ll carry throughout their Navy careers.
Bringing Planning Down from the Pedestal
Traditionally, the Navy Planning Process has been viewed as a tool for senior officers and staff planners — something JOs would encounter much later in their careers. This workshop flips that expectation.
“We’re taking NPP off the pedestal,” explained Lieutenant Commander Mitchell Fuselier, one of the course instructors. “It’s not just something you’ll use later in life — it’s a way to think critically about any problem set, right now. From defining the desired end state, to recognizing risks and assumptions, to building courses of action, it’s a structured framework for problem framing and decision-making that’s valuable at any level.”
By introducing NPP during BQC, NSCS is giving new Supply Officers “street cred,” helping them use doctrinal language and concepts that will resonate in the Fleet. For example, students learn the formal meaning of terms like “constraints” and “limitations” so they can communicate in the same way senior staff officers and joint planners do.
NSCS Commanding Officer Captain T. Richie Jenkins explained, “The Navy Planning Process is a valuable tool in every officer’s toolkit. It is a doctrine based, proven process for deconstructing tasks, building courses of action, and communicating a thorough plan to the Commanding Officer. We believe Supply Corps junior officers should be trained in the basics of the NPP earlier in their careers. In learning this process, our Supply Corps officers will be confident in their actions and will be equipped to speak the universal language of the Navy Planning Process. We feel strongly that this is an important building block to future professional military education.”
Learning Through Hands-On Application
The workshop uses “Operation Freedom Assurance,” a fictional scenario from the Navy Joint Publication 5-0 (JP 5-0), to provide operational context. Students are divided into groups representing different Task Forces — such as a carrier strike group, expeditionary strike group, submarine task force, and surface action group.
Together, these groups comprise a simulated Joint Task Force, where decisions in one element directly affect the others. “They’re not competing — they’re learning how interdependent operations are,” Lt. Cmdr. Fuselier said. “You can’t make a plan unless you understand what your complementary forces are doing. It forces them to think about command relationships and sequencing.”
“The students can parallel these practicals to inter-departmental relationships on a ship. Sometimes the Supply Department is the main effort; sometimes we’re (often) the support effort.”
Each team develops multiple courses of action, then briefs their options to a simulated commander. This mirrors the real-world role of planners: to present commanders with distinct options rather than a single proposal.
The Logistics Lens
While the workshop teaches the universal structure of NPP, its Supply Corps twist comes from overlaying logistics. Students are challenged to consider how fuel, food, parts, and sustainment drive operational limits and risks — in ways that other warfare communities might overlook.
“As the logistician in the room, you’re often the only one whose main job is to consider sustainability,” Lt. Cmdr. Fuselier explained. “That’s your role in the larger picture — to constantly assess feasibility from a sustainment lens.”
Although no one leaves NSCS as a fully qualified Planner — that level of expertise is taught at the Naval War College — the workshop provides a vital foundation. “We’re challenging them to think earlier, more maturely, and in a way that raises the bar for their future education and fleet tours,” he says.
Building Toward the Fleet
The workshop builds on content from NSCS’s Introduction to Maritime Logistics Planning (LOGPLANS) course – formerly Introduction to Expeditionary Logistics (IEL) – but is tailored for the larger BQC audience. While the LOGPLANS course runs for two weeks with smaller class sizes, the NPP workshop condenses the fundamentals into four days, scaled for two companies of roughly 35 students each.
The students’ response has been overwhelmingly positive. “They’re engaged, they’re thinking critically, and they’re learning to work as teams where their decisions affect each other,” said Lt. Cmdr. Fuselier. “It’s group work with a purpose.”
Raising the Bar for Junior Officers
Ultimately, the workshop’s goal is simple but powerful: prepare new Supply Officers to think critically, speak doctrinally, and see themselves as part of the larger operational picture.
“We’re not turning them into logistics planners overnight,” Lt. Cmdr. Fuselier explained. “But if we can give them the vocabulary, the framework, and the confidence to represent logistics’ impact to operations, we’ve done our job. A rising tide raises all boats — and we’re raising the tide for JOs earlier than ever before. And we’re challenging them to be better JOs that we were!”
| Date Taken: | 09.02.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 09.02.2025 13:45 |
| Story ID: | 547017 |
| Location: | NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 29 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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