Military Review English Edition July-August 2015 | Page 21

ARMY UNIVERSITY

(Photo by Sgt. Gregory Williams, AFN Afghanistan)

Soldiers stand in line as they participate in the inaugural Kandahar Airfield college graduation ceremony 23 May 2012. The ceremony
served to recognize those soldiers who completed their college degrees during their deployment to Afghanistan.

alignment streamlines academic governance, reduces
stovepipes, facilitates accreditation of educational programs, and provides the opportunity to propagate best
practices rapidly throughout the force. This effort is the
first major innovation of the Army’s Force 2025 and
Beyond initiative.1 It is also a visible statement that the
Army is making a greater investment in our soldiers
through improved education to increase their competence, enhance their character, and strengthen their
commitment to the Army.
We are executing this change because our current
system is inadequate for addressing the growing complexity, volatility, and uncertainty of the twenty-first
century security environment, as outlined in the
recently published U.S. Army Operating Concept: Win
in a Complex World. Winning in the future will require
“innovative, adaptive leaders and cohesive teams who
thrive in those complex and uncertain environments.”2
Preparing leaders with the right skill sets to meet
the complex world of tomorrow demands change
today. The students in our schools today will be leading
our Army tomorrow. The command sergeants major of
that future force are already filling the seats of our basic
leadership courses as young corporals and sergeants.
MILITARY REVIEW  July-August 2015

The brigade commanders of the Army of 2025 enter
the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College
this year. Building the right educational architecture for
them and their peers is the most significant investment
we can make to build the Army our nation needs for
2025 and beyond.
Within TRADOC, the Army’s colleges, institutes, schools, and training centers currently provide
high-quality education and training to soldiers and
civilians worldwide. However, this system is not optimal for developing the critical and creative thinkers
the Army will require in the future. If not upgraded, it
will gradually become less efficient and less capable of
delivering the kind of educational experience our force
must have to meet the challenges of the future.

Defining the Problem
Five underlying factors currently inhibit the Army
educational enterprise from realizing its full potential.
Industrial Age legacy. The previous professional
military education system emerged more than a century ago when requirements for military leaders were
very different. Consistent with the mass-production,
industrial mindset of the time, the Army developed an
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