Comments on: Strategy at the War College?

By: The Faceless Bureaucrat

The Faceless Bureaucrat — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 02:10:14 +0000

I also agree with Bacevich. Having worked with several PME (professional military education) institutions in North America and Europe, I believe his point about training vs education to be the most relevant.

This is not necessarily, as he himself says, a bad thing. USAWC (and its analogues) is for advanced training, not education. Training senior officers to master processes is a necessary and a good thing, but it is not education. Likewise, I would posit, law schools (at the LLB/JD level for sure, and also mostly at the LLM level), medical schools (at the MD level), and certainly business schools (at the MBA level) are not educating their students either: they are training them, preparing them to discharge their functions as Professionals.

I can remember marking a thesis/long essay for a professional master’s degree from a war college level institution. The paper was well researched and make a real contribution to the field of contemporary military and diplomatic history. I almost failed it, as it did not, in my opinion, meet the objectives of a professional master’s thesis in defence studies. The emphasis was supposed to be on the operational art and the operational planning process, and this thesis did not touch on these concepts at all.

Imagine the reverse: an MBA student submits a thesis developing a critique of Adam Smith’s fundamental premises about division of labour and the soundness of the market system, drawing on theorists such as Polanyi, Gramsci, and Marcuse. Advance to the C-suite and a 6 figure salary? No, probably a resounding fail.

Similarly, I have marked theses by serving officers looking to obtain MAs from civilian institutions. Some (by no means all) read like service papers, uncritically applying current doctrine as if it were received wisdom. I, too, have marked these down, because they are inappropriate for the venue to which they were submitted.

That is what I take from Bacevich’s presentation: be honest about what the requirements are and send the officers where they can best obtain the results you want. Not everyone needs to ‘generate knowledge’. Many need to be able to function at a certain level, in sync with current practices and their interlocutors.

By: Ed

Ed — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 15:40:12 +0000

“And part of the civil-military relationship is fostering an officer corps capable of loyal dissent, articulating alternatives and thinking hard about how the national interest is advanced and defended.”

Very well said.

By: Ed

Ed — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 15:39:12 +0000

My view is that critical independent thinking is a skill and a faculty, which can respectively be taught, and developed by challenging it. Therefore anyone’s thinking can be upgraded. And while a lack of it is regrettably not a bar to senior military office, should it be? My view is yes.

By: Cincinattus Jr.

Cincinattus Jr. — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:51:30 +0000

I also neglected to add that your statement “And part of the civil-military relationship is fostering an officer corps capable of loyal dissent, articulating alternatives and thinking hard about how the national interest is advanced and defended.” is right on the money and absolutely critical to any nation with a representative form of government such as the Constitutional republic in the US.

By: Cincinattus Jr.

Cincinattus Jr. — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:41:17 +0000

While perhaps not as theoretical or pedagogical as some would like, this recent piece in the Military Review, “Developing Creative and Critical Thinkers” (in the context of the US Army War College) may be of interest:

http://usacac.army.mil/CAC2/MilitaryReview/Archives/English/MilitaryReview_20091231_art012.pdf

By: patrick porter

patrick porter — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:19:58 +0000

Bacevich is right on the money. I can’t speak for the Army War College specifically, but it is intriguing that some folk believe strategy is marginal to the study of war. Military education is not there to train all officers to be advanced practitioners of strategy or grand strategy. But it is there to hone and develop their own professional judgment. Without a keen sense of the strategic context, the relationship between operations and politics, resources and commitments, understanding and judgement suffer. Strategy gives meaning to everything else they do, and ought to be given greater attention in the curriculum. And part of the civil-military relationship is fostering an officer corps capable of loyal dissent, articulating alternatives and thinking hard about how the national interest is advanced and defended. Politicians barely think in depth about these issues, as with civilians. If our military personnel don’t, the art is truly lost.

By: Quintin

Quintin — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 13:10:57 +0000

I’m not sure to what extent critical independent thought can be taught. I am more inclined to describe this ability as a property of the student, rather than of the institution. It is true that some institutions may not seek to promote such abilities, but if a student has such an ability, he will exercise it (in spite of the institution).

By: Walter Christman

Walter Christman — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 22:26:43 +0000

It is not a false dichotomy. Genuine education involves critical independent thought. That is difficult if not impossible to attain where fundamental questions of purpose are not open to examination, and where validity claims can not be challenged. However, it is not certain that the War Colleges are walled off from exploring these types of questions, although it appears doubtful that it is encouraged.

By: Cincinattus Jr.

Cincinattus Jr. — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 14:21:36 +0000

I largely agree-much more comfortable ground with you Ed-at least for me! I would but sharpen your point “doing the unexpected and original thing is going to be a great force multiplier” with the caution that it also depends on precisely what that “thing” is as to whether it is a “force multiplier” for the innovator or his/her opponent.

By: Cincinattus Jr.

Cincinattus Jr. — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 14:18:34 +0000

What you said-here and above.