Full Spectrum Education for Full Spectrum Operations: Educating the Army's Junior Captains for Full Spectrum Operations

摘要

To conduct full spectrum operations, the Army must leverage civilian graduate programs to educate its company grade combat arms officers in fields of study that will support stability operations. This thesis advocates that the Army change how it educates its junior captains (specifically combat arms) for the complex and ambiguous battlefields of today and tomorrow. The Army has transformed its doctrine and organizations to support full-spectrum operations; however, it has not changed how it educates its junior officers. The Army must accept its role as the U.S. Government's primary nation-building entity. Currently the Army trains its officers the same way it did during the Cold War. The Cold War presented the Army with a simple military problem, and simple problems have existing military solutions. The stability/nation-building operations that the Army currently faces and will continue to face present multiple complex problems, which in many cases have nonmilitary solutions. The complex operational environment of today also requires decentralized full spectrum operations that use mission type orders as the primary command and control methodology. Additionally, these will be coalition/joint/interagency operations conducted in underdeveloped nations that will require the captain to interact with the local population, their cultural mores, and their government. These requirements demand small unit operations lead by a mentally agile captain who has been educated for uncertainty. The advent of the information age means that this captain's judgment will be scrutinized instantaneously by his chain of command and the omnipresent global media. If the captain exercises poor judgment it could have strategic consequences for the U.S. Government's national security strategy.