S&S - Congress wants troops to focus on academics. Study advocates emphasis on officer education.

From today's news:

Stars and Stripes

Congress wants troops to focus on academics

Study advocates emphasis on officer education

By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes

Mideast edition, Sunday, May 9, 2010


WASHINGTON — A new congressional study calls for more emphasis on professional military education in officers’ careers, saying such experience helps create the great battlefield strategists of the future.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Members of the House Armed Services Committee who worked on the study, released Thursday, said scholarly work is still not widely regarded as advantageous to the career of a potential flag or general officer. In fact, trading warfighting missions for higher education can often be a detriment to promotions."

"The study advocates senior officers should be afforded more opportunity to pursue higher degrees, both at Defense war colleges and outside institutions.

Today, those programs are mostly reserved for future faculty members, not potential battlefield strategists.

Lawmakers mentioned that one notable exception is U.S. Central Command commander Gen. David Petraeus, who earned his master’s and doctorate degrees while serving. They credited his leadership in Iraq at least in part to lessons he learned earning international relations degrees."

"The study authors said they believe most senior leadership is willing to support scholarly pursuits among select officers, but the demands of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have limited those opportunities."

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"In recent years, the Army War College has developed an exchange program with the State Department, allowing a small number of soldiers to train with workers with the U.S. Agency for International Development or similar agencies while some members of the diplomatic corps attend military classes alongside officers.

The program has drawn high marks from both sides, but when lawmakers asked if similar programs were at work in the Navy and Air Force, they found officials there had no knowledge of it."