West Point Curriculum Analysis

The importance of furthering education doesn’t stop there. Leaders should be enrolling in college, and counseling their subordinates to enroll in college as well. In order to become competitive within the Army’s ranks, education plays a huge role. As Major Tim Martin stated “A formal education is an important contributor to the development of leadership qualities and attributes that are crucial in the growth of a military professional (Martin, 2001).”

In September, I had the opportunity to visit the Naval Academy for a “Candidate Visit Weekend.” During my two-night visit, I was paired with a current midshipman, whom I accompanied to classes, meals, and a sports practice. Personally experiencing daily life at the Academy and meeting current midshipmen has reinforced my desire to join their ranks. The most inspiring thing about the midshipmen I met was the effort that they put into succeeding. Being a part of this culture, even for two days, has shown me that I can work just a little harder, and that I can push myself just a little further. Since returning home, I have done just that in numerous ways.

Professionals from various fields work together to build a structurally sound foundation that cannot be shaken. This foundation is the cornerstone on which the Profession of Arms relies. The Army’s professional expertise are rallied in four branches: military-technical expertise, human development expertise, moral-ethical expertise and political-cultural expertise. They are broad areas that allow the Army to operate as a force.

As the Army transitions from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, the organization is well served to take a long look in the mirror. After ten plus years of deployments, our combat tested warriors are sure to possess more than enough valuable knowledge to reinforce and improve upon our status as a profession. A TRADOC published paper explains “to be a professional is to understand, embrace, and competently practice the expertise of the profession.” I believe the profession of arms exists and there are many components that reinforce this argument. Among these components, initial entry training and institutional learning, shared values, and a monopoly on our mission are three of the most important tenants. All Soldiers must graduate

I seek to enhance my leadership abilities as a future officer in the armed forces, as well as dedicating time tailored to serving my country as a future officer via a military academy graduate. I want to be more than just a dot on a statistical demographic for the future; I want to genuinely innovate and make a difference – regardless of which academy I receive an acceptance letter from or branch I enlist to serve.

Dr. Williamson Murray once declared a want to develop his Expeditionary Warfare School (EWS) seminar students into hand grenades. His comments were, of course, figurative, but Murray communicated a vision: his company grade students would read more deeply, think more critically, write with greater effect, and ultimately be more willing to challenge conventional wisdom than their peers. Murray, with EWS, engineered the course, from initial selection through the final seminars, to meet his goal of a competent, well-armed officer prepared to make and recommend just decisions grounded in history.

SNHU’s dedicated military academic advisors are unique in higher education, with the belief that advisors with personal military experience can better serve military students understanding

They represent a finely balanced combination of high-level thinkers, accomplished warfighters, and geopolitical military experts”. The US Army War College (USAWC) educates and develops leaders for service at the strategic level. It will force you to move from beyond the operational/tactical level to the strategic level. This is be much more difficult than it sounds. For the last 28 years I have been working at the tactical/operational level. I was an enlisted combat engineer, patriot missile officer and now a Chaplain. That is where I’m comfortable and what I know best. Taking in to consideration that I am a Chaplain and not on the exact career path as much of my fellow students. How do I navigate this

In the times in which we live technology, knowledge, development strategies and the environment involve a complex panorama that the U.S. Army must face. The most efficient way is through specialized training and looking for means to develop NCOs for the challenges of upcoming event. The NCO 2020 strategy changes the way we educate and train our Soldiers. The educational model used by the military in the last decade was the Noncommissioned Officer Education System (NCOES). This now going to be transformed into Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development System, or NCOPDS. One of the most important goals of this new educational model is that it will provide the Soldier with a long-term career focused on the training, education and experiences acquired during his career, being these institutional, operational or self-development.

Military training in a school environment was unlike anything I had encountered in high school. I was thrown into a curriculum filled with different aspects of military intelligence, from identifying ships in foreign navies to learning how to build and present an intelligence brief. I enjoyed learning how historical events shape present day policy and how new information fit into foreign policy and current events. I graduated as one of the top students in my class.

Reserve Officers ' Training Corps instructors provide college and high school students training in the subjects and skills they will need to become commissioned officers in the armed forces. These subjects include leadership, critical thinking and military science.

Another important factor, West Point had was, it was right by the Hudson River’s S-Curve or as Boynton quotes, “The peculiar bend, or turn of the river, forming almost a re-entering angle”.[vii] The S-curve had a very sharp curve, in which would force any ships at the time to slow down in order to maneuver through it. West Point having the high grounds on both sides of the Hudson River allowed the Continental Army as quoted “position four artillery batteries along the bank in just the right positions to engage enemy ships as they slowed to maneuver through the river’s tight bends”.[viii] Having the high mountains also prevented the British army from coming up from New York, furthermore making West Point much easier to defend with a fewer number of soldiers. The man to oversee and build this defense was Officer Thaddeus Kosciuszko.

As stewards of our profession, commanders ensure that military expertise continues to develop and be passed on to aspiring professionals through operational development. It is during this developmental phase that Professional Soldiers put their knowledge and skills to the test. Operational Army units certify and recertify their Professional Soldiers through repetitive and realistic training events including the Combat Life Saver Course, platoon live fires, and exercises at the National Training Center. In the course of these challenging and realistic experiences, the Army’s operational units develop Soldiers and leaders prepared to maintain high standards, discipline, and operational readiness. Operational development and adaptability will continue to drive changes in Army doctrine, organization, leadership, and education as we enter the post-war era. Without this kind of development, the Army could not maintain a well-disciplined professional fighting force.

Another benefit of this pilot curriculum would be that CMP offers students a collaborative learning atmosphere. It is critical to cultivate a situation for students to collaborate learning, this will help student’s higher level thinking skills, build self-esteem with students, and create an atmosphere of involved, active, community

The Army is a profession because it requires a collaboration of highly training Soldiers who possess specialized skills that combine to operate in complex situations in more complex environments. General Martin Dempsey stated that “The Profession of Arms requires expert knowledge, and that expertise is manifested as unique skills in the individual professional and by Army units.” For the purpose of this paper the operational definition of the term profession is: a type of job that requires special education training, or skill. In order to meet and maintain the demands of this definition, The Army has established the Army Development Model which consists of institutions, operational training, and self-development to create highly skilled service members.