Educating the 21st Century Leader: A Critical View of the Military Senior ServiceColleges with an Eye Toward Jointness

摘要

The Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986 established certain requirements for creating acadre of Joint Specialty Officers. A number of studies and assessments were undertaken to review the military education system. The Skelton Committee recommended a two-phase joint education process with the first phase taught by the service colleges and the second phase taught at the Armed Forces Staff College. Currently students attending National War College and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces receive credit for both phases, while students attending other senior service colleges receive only phase I credit and must attend a twelve week follow-on course at Armed Forces Staff College to receive phase II credit. It is time to reevaluate the two-phased approach to joint education. Graduates of resident programs at all senior service colleges should be awarded full credit as Joint Specialty Officers without needing additional training. This paper will examine the similarities and differences in the curricula of the various senior service colleges and address the issues of why only some colleges produce Joint Specialty Officers and how we might better prepare senior field grade officers to lead the military of the 21st century.