What Military Education Forgets: Strategy is Performance

CH (COL) Geoff Bailey my experience in 2006-2007 at the Naval War College sounded a lot like what they were advocating for. Didn’t sound like the ‘military’ needed to change. Sounded like one branch needed to change. The authors experience was 100% Army schools.

Training is not the prime focus of ILE nor War College. Education is the ability to synthesize different information to build conclusions and solutions in different conditions and environments....how to think.

Training is teaching people how to do something given certain tasks under certain conditions....what to think.

I look at training as being hands-on such as the ability to complete a series of processes. Education leans toward fundamentals.

I believe much of the officers' education is to provide them with bigger pictures, paradigms, and historical perspectives. Take for example Mao's views on insurgencies and revolution as an example to compare with the past and present. It gives me impetus and curiosity to find why battles and wars followed the paths they did. As an example, why did the French and Germans fail to subdue Russia, but the Mongols were successful, or how did Alexander the Great fight the Afghans.