The Joint Planning Support Element's (JPSE) Joint Planners Course (JPC) is an "in-house" course designed to ensure JPSE personnel have a common baseline of joint planning knowledge as they transition into their joint operational billets and conduct follow-on individual and collective training. The course is required training for all new JPSE personnel and is the foundational training requirement for personnel employ-ability.

JPSE personnel are trained as members of a joint planning group to apply operational art, operational design, and the joint planning process (JPP) in order to create a joint task force level operations order (OPORD) with Annex A.

JPC provides training grounded in current joint doctrine. The curriculum is organized around the seven steps of the JPP and operational design. It also provides an overview of JTF organization, an understanding of how strategic guidance shapes JTF planning, Commander's Communication Synchronization, and an appreciation of incorporating all elements of national power.

The course emphasizes working within a Joint Planning Group, interagency and multinational coordination, writing orders, and briefing senior leaders. The emphasis on these topics requires participants to break from their tactical level experiences and be inclusive of the non-DOD contributions to mission accomplishment.

JPC is offered quarterly and consists of 10 training days (8:00 a.m. to 5 p.m.) spanning a two-week period. The first five days focus on conceptual planning: operational design methodology and JPP steps 1 & 2. The second week focuses on detailed planning: incorporating conceptual products into JPP steps 3-7. At the end of the course, students are required to provide a complete OPORD with Annex A and provide a course of action decision brief to a senior JPSE leader. The entire course is driven by a notional scenario that takes place in the Horn of Africa.

Although JPC is primarily designed as an internal training course for JPSE personnel, students from other commands and interagency partners are welcome to attend on a "space-available" basis via a standby list. As it gets closer to the execution of each course, we give any remaining seats not filled by JPSE personnel to people on the standby list (we contact "standbys" four to five weeks out). There is no cost to attend JPC as a guest; however, your parent command is responsible for any associated travel, per diem and lodging costs. All classroom materials are provided by JPSE.

Signing up for JPC is easy. All prospective students – JPSE or guest – must register to attend by submitting a completed JPC Student Biography Form. These forms are only used for contact information and to help us assign you to an appropriate operational planning team (OPT) during the course. We try to spread the Service and functional skills across all OPTs to deliver a better learning experience to students. Your information will NOT be used for anything else, nor will it be shared.

Please do the following:

1. Download the JPC Student Registration/Biography Form.
2. Complete the form with your information.
3. Save the form using the following naming convention: “LastName_FirstName_StudentBio”.
4. E-mail the form to the JPC points of contact listed below.  

*All applicants must have a current Secret security clearance in order to attend JPC (this is for building access; the course is entirely UNCLASSIFIED).

NOTE:  Guests assigned to joint planning billets in CCMDs, component commands, JTF capable HQ (e.g. MEF or Corps HQ), and other JECC mission partners, will have priority for seating.

Additional questions should be directed to: