A Path Less Chosen: An Assessment of the School of Advanced Military Studies

Abstract

The School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS) is one of four schools at the US Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC), and has three programs: The Advanced Military Studies Program (AMSP), the Advanced Strategic Leadership Studies Program (ASLSP), and the Advanced Strategic Planning and Policy Program (ASP3). SAMS is the planning school, and SAMS graduates are planners It is this commonly held belief that typifies the field Army's expectations of the school, expectations that should guide the school in its mission and curriculum. However, is there a difference between what the Army in the field expects a SAMS/ Advanced Military Studies Program (AMSP) graduate to be capable of when they complete the program and what SAMS/AMSP actually educates that officer to do? This is the primary question answered in this monograph. The expectations of the Army come in the form of results of a survey, conducted by the school in 2007, of Army general officers in Divisions and Corps. The data indicates the leaders of the Army in the field expect what the school has traditionally produced and has gained a renowned reputation for: critical and creative thinking, problem solving planners and staff officers. These expectations have been shaped primarily by the performance of graduates of the Advanced Military Studies Program, (AMSP), and also by its 30 year history. These performances include the operations in Panama, Kuwait, and Iraq. The combat operations in Panama, Kuwait, and Iraq suggest that SAMS and AMSP are incrementally evolving in an attempt to stay relevant to the US Army and the changing geopolitical context since the end of the Cold War. Of course the school and its graduates know they are much more than planners for the Army. Many graduates go on to successfully command at many echelons and the school has several current general officers as graduates of one of its three programs, with many more in the retired ranks. This study concludes that the current initiatives

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 22, 2014
Accession Number
ADA612234

Entities

People

  • Melvin S. Jackson

Organizations

  • United States Army Command and General Staff College

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  • Biomedical
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  • Military Education
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  • Schools
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  • United States Central Command
  • United States Military Academy
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

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