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WLC, formerly called Primary Leadership Development Course (PLDC), is the first leadership course Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) attend. WLC is a month-long course that teaches Specialists and Corporals the basic skills to lead small groups of Soldiers. This course is hard hitting and intensive with emphasis on leadership skills and prepares Soldiers to advance to the rank of Sergeant.

Watch the videos above to get a firsthand look at the challenges offered by this course. The course culminates in an extensive Field Training Exercise (FTX) where Soldiers experience what it's like leading a platoon of Soldiers in the field.

The course topics include:

Leadership
Training Management
Map Reading
Land Navigation
Drill and Ceremony
Warfighting

This course is not MOS dependent. It is taught at an NCO Academy. WLC students live at the Academy for the duration of training that combines classroom instruction with practical application in the field.

Any Soldier who would like to move up in rank is required to take this course.

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	SSG ANGEL RUIZ: My name is Staff Sergeant Ruiz. I'm a 19 Delta Cavalry Scout and I'm a PLDC Instructor here at Fort Knox, KY. PLDC is the Primary Leadership Development Course; it's the first level of the Non-Commissioned Officer Education System. It's 32 days that are hard for some but it's a valuable experience in any Soldier's career because they get their first impression of what a leader is right here at PLDC.
	The students here at PLDC reflect the Army. They come from different backgrounds, different cultures and most of the Soldiers that we get here have been in the Army from two to three years. The first phase of PLDC is all leadership. I think leaders are made. Here we teach them how to lead Soldiers and there's a lot more involved with that than just following somebody.
	The second phase is physical fitness, drill and ceremonies, Basic Rifle Marksmanship. The third phase is map reading then land navigation and then it culminates with the field training exercise. We train them as NCOs, we treat them as NCOs and we expect them to act as NCOs.
	The main thing that they learn here is the fundamentals of leadership. We don't try to make them memorize everything that it is to be an NCO but we do try to give them where to find the information that they'll need and stress to them that they take examples from their NCO's back at their units.
	I think that most of the people that come here are really motivated to be here. I think that they want to learn about being NCOs. The things that I do here at PLDC have a direct impact in the Army everyday because when they leave here—I know for a fact they all are ready to go back to the force and lead Soldiers.