Possible Army University

2015-11-17T02:41:51-05:00

Commentary: 3 reasons to rethink Army University

http://www.armytimes.com/story/opinion/2015/11/16/commentary-reasons-rethink-army-univ/75822152/

The Army is testing the possibility of reorganizing the Army’s education enterprise for Soldiers by consolidating military training and post-secondary education.

Our training will thus become schools and it will become longer.

Thoughts?

Commentary: 3 reasons to rethink Army University

Each year more than 300,000 service members enroll in college degree programs from accredited institutions, many using military tuition assistance or GI Bill education benefits to fund their educational pursuit

Response by SSgt Alex Robinson made Nov 17 at 2015 3:02 AM

2015-11-17T03:02:18-05:00

The reorganization sounds good. It will benefit soldiers should be done.

Response by Maj Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 17 at 2015 6:58 AM

2015-11-17T06:58:56-05:00

The USAF has been doing this for years. We still have many schools which are short, but the good thing is that instructors are required to obtain their associates degree in order to keep their instructor credential and curriculums are required to be certified occasionally in order for Airman to obtain college credits for courses. It certainly helped me by eliminating several elective college courses.

Response by COL Jason Smallfield, PMP, CFM, CM made Nov 17 at 2015 8:45 AM

2015-11-17T08:45:47-05:00

A few thoughts:
- Army University is not a possibility. It has been worked in concept for a few years now and is already being stood up organizationally at Fort Leavenworth, KS.
- The Army Leader Development Strategy and the Army Leader Development Model include three training domains (institutional, operational, self) with a combination of training, education, and experience within each domain but prioritized differently within each domain (ie experience more in operational domain, education more in institutional domain).
- I do not see practical skills and education as being mutually exclusive concepts. There is no reason these can not be mutually reinforcing concepts.
- The Army Operating Concept (and anyone who thinks realistically about the future) argues that we will need agile and adaptive leaders. Agility and adaptive leaders require critical and creative thinking abilities. Critical thinking is about thinking comprehensively about the problem while creative thinking is about the solutions. Critical and creative thinking require a combination of practical skills and education in my opinion.

Response by SMSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 17 at 2015 5:03 PM

2015-11-17T17:03:29-05:00

If it operates similarly to the Community College of the Air Force (CCAF) I believe the Army will enjoy the ability to earn an AAS for training you are completing currently. For example, when pursuing a CCAF degree you get credit for almost all AF training you complete. You get credit for basic training, technical-training, upgrade training, supplemental training, PME, etc., etc. Members usually need to either complete 6-7 courses or they can CLEP them (I did) and boom, you have a community college associates degree. It truly is a benefit in the AF and I think the Army will see it the same way when it is implemented.

Response by SFC(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 21 at 2015 2:21 AM

2015-11-21T02:21:45-05:00

Has a great potential, and most people will be more motivated to further their education.