From Cadet to Commander: Leveraging After Action Review for Leadership Development in Military Academy

After-Action Review (AAR) has long served the military profession as a structured conversation that translates experience into learning. Although its doctrinal steps are well codified, few empirical accounts document how the method functions when embedded continuously in the fog and friction of a live field training exercise. This study therefore examines Exercise CADET 25 - a tenday, battalion-level operation conducted in May 2025 by the final-year cadets of the “Nicolae Bălcescu” Land Forces Academy - as a realistic scenario. Drawing on direct observation, facilitator notes, and the audio-video archive produced by the academy’s evaluation & analysis cell, the article traces how cadets applied platoon, informal and formal AARs to interrogate performance in real time. Findings indicate that habitual, tiered reflection improved problem-solving agility by the final tactical lane and fostered a shared vocabulary for constructive feedback. The case suggests that when AARs are treated not as an administrative add-on but as a constructive element of the exercise, they sharpen judgment without imposing prohibitive costs on tempo. Implications for military education include the need to protect “white-space” within continuous operations and to cultivate facilitation skills among junior leaders.