James J. Lee, AFJ staff Lt. Gen. David Petraeus commands the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

The road to deployment begins long before the soldier sets foot in Iraq. It begins in the classroom, where the Army is dramatically changing the way it prepares soldiers for duty, said Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, commander, U.S. Army Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

The former commanding general of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) is leading the engine of change for Army doctrine, which is reflecting the new realities soldiers face in a post-9/11 environment.

Patraeus spoke to defense and industry representatives attending the Armed Forces Journal conference. “Power & Limits of Jointness,” in Washington, D.C., on May 31. The two-day conference continues June 1.

Pre-9/11, the doctrinal focus was on combat operations rather than irregular warfare, Petraeus said. Today soldiers are exposed to full-spectrum operations, a mix of offense, defense and stability, he said. Army leadership training has changed from a pre-9/11 emphasis on “what to think” to a contemporary emphasis on “how to think,” he said.

“We now have a student body much more experienced than before, and sometimes more experienced than the seminar leader,” Petraeus said.

Soldiers also receive more realistic training before deployments, learning languages and cultural nuances, undergoing role-playing exercises and training in mountainous environments to simulate contemporary battlefields, for example.

“Pre-9/11, the emphasis was on short, violent, force-on-force engagements. Today, it’s continuous, complex counterinsurgency operations,” said Petraeus.

Immersing staff and commanders in an environment similar to what they will face in Iraq better prepares them for the reality ahead, he added.

“It’s always offense, defense, stability. Conventional forces are expected to operate up and down the spectrum,” Petraeus said.

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