The Army Acquisition Officer lacks proficient experience needed to fill key leadership positions within the Acquisition Corps. The active duty Army officer is considered for the Acquisition Corps functional area between their 5th and 9th years of service as an officer – after completing initial career milestones. The new Acquisition Corps officer is the rank of senior Captain or Major when he arrives to his first acquisition assignment with a proficiency level of novice (in acquisition). The Army officer may be advanced in his primary career branch, but his level decreases when he is assigned into the Acquisition Corps functional area. The civilian grade equivalent to the officer is a GS-12 or GS-13 whose proficiency level is advanced in his career field. The purpose of this study is to use a systems analysis approach to decompose the current acquisition officer professional development system, in order to study how well the current active duty officer flow works and how well it interacts or influences an acquisition officer's professional development; and to propose a potential solution to assist in the management of Army acquisition officers, so they gain proficiency through not only education and training, but also the hands-on experience that is needed to fill key leadership positions in the Army Acquisition Corps. An increased proficiency and proven successful track record in the acquisition workforce is the basis to positively affect acquisition streamlining processes within the Department of Defense by making good decisions through quality experience.

[pt] Realizou-se um estudo do Exército Brasileiro sob a perspectiva das transformações institucionais que têm se operado no seu interior nas últimas três décadas e do trabalho de conservação de valores que a Instituição Militar vem implementando no sentido de preservar seu ethos e sua identidade. A primeira parte trata da transformação como um valor, sendo analisada a família do militar como um fator que tem promovido transformações profundas na Instituição. Foi observado o fato de que a família, ao mesmo tempo em que é parte do público interno do Exército, também integra as demais instituições da sociedade mais ampla, sendo por elas influenciada. Em virtude desta posição, a família tem levado para dentro da Instituição novas ideias em transformação que pululam no mundo social exterior ao campo militar. O universo pesquisado foi o dos oficiais formados pela Academia Militar das Agulhas Negras – AMAN. Foram analisadas influências que, advindas da sociedade mais ampla, são exercidas sobre o oficial de AMAN pela via da sua família desde a sua formação, como cadete, já na escolha da Arma, e outras que interferem na qualidade do desenvolvimento da carreira que, ao ser paulatinamente modificada, promove, por sua vez, transformações na própria Instituição. Observou-se, assim, que a família militar tem realizado a interface do Exército com a sociedade mais ampla. A segunda parte trata do valor da transformação por meio do movimento de conservação empreendido pelo Exército Brasileiro no sentido de preservar suas características consideradas essenciais. Analisou-se a forma como os oficiais de AMAN se veem em face da sociedade mais ampla e os conceitos que, segundo eles, compõem o ethos militar: a tradição e a autoridade, e como estes conceitos se manifestam dentro do campo militar. Por fim, a terceira parte se constitui na síntese das duas anteriores. Discorre sobre a trajetória institucional do Exército em face dos movimentos de transformação e de conservação que configuram seu ambiente social, interno e externo; como se construiu sociologicamente em instituição e os desafios que têm sido enfrentados nestes dias de transformações galopantes. / [en] It was made an study about Brazilian Army under the perspective of institutional transformations were operated in its interior in last three decades and about que work of conservation of values what the Military Institution implemented with the goal of preserving its ethos and its identity. The first part talks about the transformation as a value, the military family has been analysed as a factor that promoted deep transformations in Institution. It was observed the fact that the family, at the same time it is part of the internal public of the Army, it also integrates the others institutions of broad society, so being influenced by them. Consequently, family conducts inside to the Institution new transformation ideas that are in the outside of military field. The sample analysed was the group of officers graduated by Academia Militar das Agulhas Negras (Military Academy of Agulhas Negras) – AMAN. Influences were analysed that, coming from the broad society, were exercised over AMAN officer through his family since his formation as a cadet, as also in his combat arm choice, and others that interfere in the quality of the development of his carreer that, being progressively modified, promotes transformations in Institution itself. It was observed that, so, the family of the military has the role of an interface between Army and broad society. The second part shows the importance of the transformation through the conservation movement undertaken by the Brazilian Army for preserving its characteristics considered essential. It was analysed the way like the AMAN officers see themselves besides broad society and the concepts that, like they consider, composed the military ethos: the tradition and the authority, and how these concepts happen inside military field. The third part presents a synthesis of the two lately itens. It presents the institutional way of the Army besides the movements of transformation and conservation that realize its social environment, internal or external; how it constitutes itself sociologicaly as an institution and its challenges that were faced in these days of fast transformations.

[pt] A presente tese objetiva estudar a formação institucional do Exército Brasileiro, particularmente no que se refere à constituição da mentalidade militar do grupo que compõe seus oficiais. Buscou-se, a partir das ideias de Edmund Burke, cuja obra, Reflexões sobre a revolução na França, publicada em 1790, constitui arcabouço conceitual do conservadorismo clássico, identificar e entender as influências desse tipo de pensamento político e social na consolidação de aspectos conservadores da sociedade brasileira e de suas instituições, como o Exército. Realizou-se um estudo interdisciplinar, utilizando-se, por metodologia, uma pesquisa bibliográfica qualitativa, que abrangeu os campos da história, da sociologia e da ciência política. Usou-se, como indicadores comparativos entre a mentalidade militar e a mentalidade conservadora, os dez princípios apresentados por Russel Kirk, na obra The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot. Foram analisados os Regulamentos e currículos da formação do oficial do Exército Brasileiro no período compreendido entre 1810 e 1944, e, também, o perfil do oficial na atualidade, recorrendo, para isso, às pesquisas realizadas pelo Programa de Apoio ao Ensino e à Pesquisa Científica e Tecnológica em Defesa Nacional (Pró-Defesa). O conservadorismo burkeano inseriu-se na sociedade brasileira durante o Império e alguns de seus aspectos foram adaptados à nossa cultura ibérica, que desenvolveu um tipo de conservadorismo com feições conciliatórias. Originando-se dessa sociedade, o Exército também consolidou, ao longo de sua evolução histórica e do processo de profissionalização de seus oficiais, uma mentalidade militar com firmes traços conservadores conciliatórios que até hoje pode ser identificada pelo capital simbólico desses profissionais. / [en] This thesis aims to study the institutional formation of the Brazilian Army, particularly with regard to the constitution of the military mentality of the group that makes up its officers. Based on the ideas of Edmund Burke, whose work, Reflections on the Revolution in France, published in 1790, it was sought to identify and understand the influences of this type of political and social thought in the consolidation of conservative aspects. of Brazilian society and its institutions, such as the Army. An interdisciplinary study was carried out, using, as a methodology, a qualitative bibliographic research, which covered the fields of history, sociology and political science. As comparative indicators between the military mentality and the conservative mentality, the ten principles presented by Russell Kirk, in the work The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot, were used. The Regulations and curricula of the formation of the officer of the Brazilian Army were analyzed in the period between 1810 and 1944, as well as the profile of the officer today, using, for this, the research carried out by the Support Program for Teaching and Scientific Research. and Technological in National Defense (Pro-Defense). Burkean conservatism was inserted in Brazilian society during the Empire and some of its aspects were adapted to our Iberian culture, which developed a type of conservatism with conciliatory features. Originating from this society, the Army also consolidated, throughout its historical evolution and the process of professionalization of its officers, a military mentality with firm conciliatory conservative traits that until today can be identified by the symbolic capital of these professionals.