FOUNDATION NEWS, No. 4/Winter 2008 (March 2008)
Q&A with the CGSC Commandant,
Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV
Editor’s Note: This interview is the second of a series of interviews with CGSC leadership about the importance of the College and the education it provides for our military leaders.
CGSCF News: Prior to becoming CAC commander and Commandant of CGSC you were Director for Strategic Effects and Spokesman for the Multi-National Forces – Iraq (MNF-I) and prior to that you were Commander of the 82nd Airborne Division. How did those two assignments prepare you for your tasks as Commandant of CGSC?
Lt. Gen. Caldwell: First of all, a critical component of my role as Commandant is to provide Strategic vision and direction. As you know, the Command and General Staff College encompasses several elements, The Command and General Staff School, The School for Advanced Military Studies, the School for Command Preparation and distance education. Inherent in the command position is the responsibility to serve as a senior advisor and mentor. Bottom line, it is all about Leader Development and education. We must absolutely challenge and expand the intellectual rigor of our system and continue to focus on teaching our officers how to think and not what to think. We have heard that before, but our experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan have reinforced this concept. As the 82nd Airborne Division Commander, I had Soldiers serving in both locations and that experience demonstrated how critical it is to have informed and educated leaders in command of our formations. We cannot underestimate the value of an education that prepares our leaders for the uncertainty of the 21st Century. My experiences have reinforced the need to have adaptive leaders and creative thinkers. My recent experiences in supporting operations at home, particularly in response to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and Rita in Louisiana and my experiences while serving in Iraq, only emphasize the criticality of what we teach in our education system.
CGSCF News: What kinds of initiatives have you started or will you start at CGSC because of your unique experiences?
Lt. Gen. Caldwell: It is our goal to develop adaptive leaders and creative thinkers that are balanced warriors. As such, we need to educate our leaders in an environment similar to that in which they will operate. Today we execute all of our operations in a Joint, Interagency, Intergovernmental, and Multinational (JIIM) setting. Therefore, we must educate our officers like in a JIIM environment. I was surprised to find only one in five hundred students are from the interagency. We have taken that on and are working to incorporate the interagency into our activities, education and training. Increasingly, we find ourselves partnering with other governmental agencies side by side on the battlefield. The battle we fight requires governmental advisors, infrastructure and engineering expertise, financial and economic experts, and many others. This trend will continue, therefore, it is imperative that we bring those experts into the fold and cross fertilize our knowledge between departments and agencies. That is why we have initiated an interagency exchange where, for instance, a member of the Department of Justice will come to CGSC and we will send an Army Officer to work with them for a year. Additionally, the information domain is a new front on the 21st Century Battlefield. We have to insure our students are comfortable operating in this area. As such, we are requiring all CGSC students to more actively engage in the information medium. I don’t mean conducting mock media interviews, I mean real life media. It doesn’t matter whether it is print, or radio or what the outlet is. It is essential that they feel and deal with the anxiety of knowing that their name will be on the content of the interview. Some of them will make mistakes and that is OK. That is part of the learning process. We are also encouraging them to engage in the “new media” like web logs (blogs). We want to tap into as many outlets as possible to get the amazing stories of our Soldiers out to the American people.
CGSCF News: What would you say is different about CGSC now in contrast to the CGSC that many of our Alumni readers attended?
Lt. Gen. Caldwell: First of all, when I was a Major only about 5 percent of my peers had combat experience, in the current class over 75 percent of the Army students in this class are combat veterans and that figure will undoubtedly continue to rise in the next class. This is in sharp contrast to when I went to CGSC when there were virtually no students with combat experience. The students at CGSC now are experienced, professional and dedicated. Many are not only combat vets, but have been on multiple deployments. This adds a very different dynamic to the approach of classroom instruction. The small group leaders have to be more facilitators of dialogue and discussion than lecturers. We want to teach our officers how to think, not what to think. There is a great opportunity at CGSC now for officers to cross fertilize experiences from different regions of the combat zone, different skill specialties and different times. A second dynamic at work from the high OPTEMPO is that our Army is stressed and stretched. I realize that our officers need a break. A year at CGSC provides a unique opportunity to reflect, rebalance and refocus. They need to reflect on their experiences while deployed and we need to capture those reflections. These officers have gone through incredible experiences and now need time to reflect on what they have learned and what it means for the future. They also need time to rebalance. I live my life by a philosophy I call the five “F’s;” Family – Faith – Friends – Fun and Fitness and therefore, I believe I must give the students the opportunity to live the same priorities if they wish. I have pushed back the start time of classes to 0830hrs so students have time to do PT in the morning if they wish, or put their kids on the bus, or have breakfast as a family. I have also asked the staff at CGSC to look hard at the reading and writing requirements to see where we can reduce while still maintaining the learning objectives and academic rigor. CGSC should be a great educational experience for our officers, but in today’s Army with the current OPTEMPO it also needs to be a chance for our officers to take a break, recharge their batteries and also reflect on their experiences in the combat zone and perhaps record those experiences for the future leaders of our Army. Finally, they need to refocus for themselves and the Army. Many of them could not do physical training while deployed so we are seeing lower physical fitness standards and increased mental stress. They have been executing in the combat zone and not pursuing academics or intellectual pursuits per se. Therefore, they have to “knock the rust off” their minds and get back into an academic mode and frame of mind. They have to get their minds and bodies in shape and prepare for the future.
CGSCF News: What do you think is the most important role of the Foundation?
Lt. Gen. Caldwell: As the Foundation CEO has said, the Foundation provides the “margin of excellence.” CGSC is an excellent organization, but there are fiscal limitations. The Foundation has the ability to overcome many of these limitations. I see the Foundation as the glue that holds all people involved in CGSC together. It is the people that are the strength of any organization. Commandants, staff and faculty, students and even facilities will change. Through all these changes, the Foundation will serve as the common bond that all individuals who have played a key role in the CGSC experience can share. Their membership will draw them together and this magazine along with your other publications will keep them informed. Fort Leavenworth is a very special place. Most senior officers look back with great affection on their Fort Leavenworth years. Sometimes, I think that is why we have such a robust and active retired community here. A community that gives back in so many ways and wants to ensure that experience continues and thanks to the Foundation, it will.
