The United States Army Sergeants Major Academy (USASMA) was established on 1 July 1972 at Fort Bliss, Texas, and began instruction in January 1973. Its curriculum is designed to broaden the student's current knowledge base. This approach differs from the Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) related training at the basic and advanced levels of the Noncommissioned Officer Education System. The prime educational technique employed throughout the course is the small group participatory learning process. Courses Basic Leader Course The Sergeants Major Academy was established by General Order in July 1972 and started educating sergeants major in January 1973 with Class 1 consisting of 105 students. The academy was also given the mission to further the efforts to standardize noncommissioned officer education, resulting in the addition of the Primary Leadership Development Course (PLDC), now known as the Basic Leadership Course (BLC). This course is a blend of the NCO Candidate Course and the original Noncommissioned office Basic Course and then later the combination of the Primary Leadership Course (PLC) and the Primary Noncommissioned Officer Course (PNCOC) and the Primary Technical Course (PTC) into one course that provided leadership tools to non-specific military occupations at the junior NCO level. It was newly structured against critical task and input from current operations learned during Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom. USASMA is the Army's proponent for course development for the Basic Leader Course to educate junior noncommissioned officers preparing to assume positions as team or section sergeants. Advanced Leader Course USASMA developed the common leader training for the Basic NCO Course (BNCOC), and has been the proponent since 1984. BNCOC transitioned to the Advanced Leader Course (ALC) in 2008. USASMA is responsible for the development and delivery of common core leader tasks for the Advanced Leader Course-Common Core (ALC-CC) as of October 2009 delivering 82 hours of course material to nearly 14,000 sergeants annually. This course focuses on leadership and technical skills required to prepare Soldiers selected for promotion to staff sergeant to effectively lead squad/platoon size units. ALC is typically attended by NCOs in the ranks of Sergeant and Staff Sergeant. MOS-specific versions of ALC are taught at the branch level. Structured Self-Development Starting in October 2010, the Sergeants Major Academy developed and delivered level I of Structured Self-Development (SSD) where every soldier graduating from advanced individual training is automatically enrolled and must complete it to be eligible for attendance to the Basic Leader