Photo By Maj. Geoffrey Carmichael | Students attending the Maven Basic Builders Course receive instruction from Maj. Dan...... read more read more
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FORT DRUM, N.Y. - When the Army needed a way to rapidly grow its bench of data capable builders, the 10th Mountain Division didn’t wait for a solution—it built one.
Inside a small cluster of offices at Fort Drum, the division’s Data and Decision Dominance Team recognized a critical gap. The Army’s emerging Mavin Smart System required more trained builders than the institutional force could produce. Instead of accepting the limitation, the team spearheaded the creation of a five day course that would change the trajectory of command-and-control modernization across the Army.
The Command-and-Control Low Code/No Code Basic Builder’s Course, known simply as the Maven Basic Builder Course, was born.
“The 10th Mountain Division's approach is a model for the Army,” said Maj. Brendan Matthews, 10th Mountain Division command data and analytics officer for operations.
The course’s impact was immediate. The first iteration trained 33 soldiers and civilians from across the Division and even garrison partners.
By the second iteration, the course had drawn interest from the Mission Command Center of Excellence and the Combined Arms Center. Observers saw not just a training event, but a scalable model for the entire Army. Within weeks, the decision was made. The would be adopted Army wide as early as fourth quarter, this fiscal year.
Participants didn’t just learn. Students began developing usable programs including a G-2 Enemy Situation Template; Division Surgeon Medical Common Operating Picture and Medical Statistic tools; a G-3 Air Unmanned Aerial System tracker; and a G-3 Fires Targeting Dashboard integrated with intelligence feeds.
These tools immediately improved staff processes, battle rhythm events and decision support workflows.
“Rather than waiting for solutions, we are building them,” said Matthews. “And we’ll sustain them through a community of practice and the kind of ongoing support that makes the capability stick.”
The course is designed to be exportable. This ensures the Division can continue producing builders without external support and will remain an enduring capability scaling across battalions, brigades and divisions.
“Instructors from six different Mission Training Complexes attended the MC-COE’s first pilot, so this is already out across the force. It’s a strong early metric that shows just how quickly the demand signal is growing,” said Maj. Dan Walker, the division’s command chief data and analytics officer. “We aim to produce over 200 builders during the next year, which speaks to the scale of impact this course is positioned to deliver.”
The Army’s modernization journey is long, but the 10th Mountain Division has shown what’s possible when innovation meets initiative. The division didn’t just build a course. It built the foundation of the Army’s future C2 ecosystem.
| Date Taken: | 06.09.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 06.09.2026 15:18 |
| Story ID: | 567258 |
| Location: | NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 37 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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