FOUNDATION NEWS, No. 2/Fall 2007 (October 2007)
The U.S. Army Command and General Staff College:
Developing Leaders for the Army,
the Nation and the World
By Brig. Gen. Chris King, (U.S. Army Ret.), Ph.D.
Dean of Academics
Editor’s note: This is the first article in a series dedicated to
fostering understanding of the subordinate schools and missions
associated with CGSC.
Inside and out, it is a new Command and General Staff College (CGSC)
that emerges from the bluffs of the Missouri to become the Lewis and
Clark Center at Fort Leavenworth, yet the College retains the values
and purpose that has endured for its 125 years. New at Fort Leavenworth
is a magnificent state of the art educational facility with 96 fully
digital seminar classrooms, 21st century technology throughout, and an
overall quality befitting the mission of the college and its importance
to our Army. The enduring qualities we retain are the continued focus
on excellence in the military art and science, and dedication to
providing a superb educational experience to every CGSC student. But
there is much more to share.
Beginning with this article and continuing over the next several
issues, we will introduce you to the five schools that now make up the
Command and General Staff College. As with everything that the Army
does, the focus is on the mission: The U.S. Army Command and General
Staff College educates and Develops leaders for full-spectrum joint,
interagency, and multinational Operations; acts as lead agent for the
Army’s leader development programs; and advances the artand science of
the profession of arms in support of Army operational requirements.
The Army’s philosophy for military development is changing, from a
focus on training for known requirements, to education that develops
the competencies to succeed in the complex contemporary operating
environment (COE). COE is the new verbal shorthand to describe the
dangerous and volatile world our Army now faces. Further, the Army
recognizes that educational development is required for all officers
throughout a career and more specifically for the largest mission at
CGSC, that all mid-career Army officers need the same intermediate
level educational experience. The hard lessons of the global war on
terrorism have driven this fact home– every Major is important and
fighting this war requires leaders capable of adaptive thinking and
problem solving, understanding of global cultures and how they impact
military operations, and able to work with many different organizations
to accomplish the U.S. defense policies. To accomplish this critical
mission for the Army, CGSC operates the Command and General Staff
School (CGSS). This school develops the competencies and enhances the
attributes of leadership needed for the pentathlete leader. The details
of all that CGSS does for the Army will be detailed in the next
newsletter. One additional topic we want to peak your interest in is an
upcoming article highlighting the continuing success of the CGSC
international student program and the powerful impact that has on this
institution.
The need for talented strategic and operational planners continues to
grow and further substantiate the legacy built by the performance of
the ‘Jedi Knights’ produced by the School for Advanced Military Studies
(SAMS) program since 1984. SAMS graduates have proven their value in
key positions in strategic and operational planning in the Global War
on Terrorism (GWOT) as well as demonstrating the value added of this
course of study in developing superb commanders such as the former
Commanding General of the 10th Mountain Division in Afghanistan Maj.
Gen. Ben Freakley, and the current Commander of U.S. Army Forces
Command, Gen. Charles Campbell. These are just two superb examples of
the many SAMS graduates serving in key leadership roles in our Army
today.
Focusing directly on developing leaders, The School for Command
Preparation is a key component of the Army’s program to prepare
Lieutenant Colonels and Colonels selected for unit command. Commanders,
Command Sergeants Major, and spouses assemble at Fort Leavenworth to
focus on battalion and brigade command issues from team building to
family support programs. Commanders who have attended this course
regularly report that this experience
was invaluable to them in their preparation to lead America’s Soldiers.
The Department of Distance Education (DDE) is another aspect of the old
CGSOC that is rapidly evolving to meet the Army’s needs today and in
the future. The legacy of the box of books courses is gone, replaced by
a web, digital, and exportable intermediate level curriculum that is
focused on fully preparing our Reserve and National Guard officers, but
available to support any of the Army’s needs for nonresident officer
intermediate level education.
Finally, the newest edition to the CGSC is the Army Management Staff
College. This is a long existing school whose mission primarily remains
leadership education for the civilian work force. They join CGSC for
two reasons. First, many aspects of leadership education are common to
all adult students, military or civilian, so there are positive
synergies in connecting the military and civilian school houses.
Second, the Army is asking civilian employees to assume more and more
leadership roles as military officer positions are moved out of the
institutional Army. For this change to be successful, the Army must
increase its commitment to education of its civilian work force, and
working under CGSC develops a more coordinated solution to leadership
education for the Army.
In summary, change is the only constant for CGSC and that is clearly
reflected in the college today. We now teach all the majors in the Army
not just 50 percent selected by a board. We educate on the competencies
required by officers such as critical thinking and problem solving,
cultural understanding and analysis, leadership, and communications.
There is less training on military tasks and more preparation to deal
with uncertainty. The operational art of war remains an invaluable part
of the CGSC experience. More than ever, CGSC is developing leaders at
all levels, in and out of uniform, for our Army, our Nation, and the
world.
