WASHINGTON – A recent congressional report on professional military education argues for a broad educational basis to foster critical thinking, and military educators say that means more officers should have master’s degrees or doctorates.
“The [operational and mission] problems that we’re dealing with — they’re adaptive problems, they require a different approach,” said Col. Stefan Banach, the recently retired director of the Army’s School of Advanced Military Studies. “In my opinion, we need to have a revolution in graduate level education in the U.S. Army, so that we can achieve the same decisive edge that we enjoyed at the tail end of the 20th century.”
The report on military education recommends sending officers to civilian universities to study history, political science or international relations.
“We want to make sure that they’re looking at the opportunities for advanced education at our civilian institutions as well as within our [military education] structure,” said Rep. Robert Wittman, R-Va. He added that officers are sometimes channeled through the military education system when a program at a civilian school might be more suitable.
Col. Timothy Schultz of the Air Force is skeptical. “Many officers get master’s degrees at civilian schools,” said Schultz, who directs School of the Advanced Air and Space Studies, the Air Force’s equivalent of the School of Advanced Military Studies at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. “We like that, we’re educators here.”
But he cautioned that replicating the education students receive at his school would be difficult at a civilian institution. “At SAASS, you can focus fairly deeply on military issues.”
The military itself is also increasing its focus on civilian students. At SAMS, officers learn with officials from other government agencies, such as the State Department.
One theme that is being taught in such schools is that the military may not always be best suited to tackle a particular problem.
Speaking with local or subject-matter experts, said Maj. Dennis McGee, who recently graduated from SAMS, could help identify the cause of a problem and lead to more innovative solutions. “They definitely bring a different perspective,” he said about his non-military classmates.
Banach said the school actively recruits civilians and interagency personnel, which is what the lawmakers advocate as well.
“There ought to be some exposure and some knowledge about how those agencies work as part of [officers’ educational] experience,” Wittman said. “So they don’t have to learn on the run when they get into theater.”