Critique of Air War College

[dogboy]

Here's a summary of a critique of Air War College

http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/04/11/need_budget_cuts_we_probably_can_start_by_shutting_the_air_war_college

I haven't done Air war College but I did distance Command and Staff College. I expressed my low opinion of this experience previously on this board. To me, it's truly frightening that the rubbish taught is considered appropriate for field grade officers.

[MSG Mac]

Rather than dump ACSC, why not start with abolishing the Academies in their present role and adopt the style of Sandhurst and Dartmouth which require their Officer Candidates to already have their degree and just complete the military training. It worked for Alexander and Montgomery.

[DBlair]

To me, it's truly frightening that the rubbish taught is considered appropriate for field grade officers.

I feel the same way about SOS. It boggles my mind that this is what the USAF sees as being appropriate for Captains.

[BuckeyeDEJ]

As for SOS, at least in its new iteration, the course covers leadership and ethics in leadership, AFSO21, decision making processes and how the Air Force methodologies work both internally and in a joint environment. A new field-grade officer would need that; a lieutenant doesn't, because lieutenants don't make a whole lot of impactful decisions outside of waking up, reporting to the office and having senior enlisted people guide them through their day.

And I dare say that while a portion of unit 2 isn't necessary for CAP members, unit 1 is a must. Unit 3, I'm just digging into right now, so I can't even tell you what all is in it. But having spent enough time in the Ma Blue environment to understand the relevance, it makes sense to me. I think some of the readings would be good for our members.

[adamblank]

SOS I would say is an appropriate course for AF Captains.  It may not be the best course, but I learned a good bit and the workload is able to juggled with a busy Captain's schedule...which only gets worse and worse.

[RADIOMAN015]

What a great laugh   "professional" CAP'ers commenting on military professional courses

I don't think ANY of the military professional military courses have very much relevance to Civil Air Patrol operations, since unpaid volunteer service has unique challenges much different than the military.

The roll out of the current CAP On Line Officers Course is definitely was the right thing to do :clap:

BTW I've heard from members that have attended advance CAP leadership courses,  that some members there were not up to the academic task and/or did minimum work.   I guess there's some CAP'ers attending these advance courses to further their CAP "careers" for the sake of attendance rather than learning anything.

Frankly one sees that attitude in civilian organizations also.    As a simple example awhile back the squadron had a AHA instructor give a CPR & first aid course and he commented at the end to many of the senior members how engaged everyone was, versus when he gave classes to business and public/non profit organization's that required this training to retain their employment status in a position that required this training.
RM 

   

[DC]

What a great laugh   "professional" CAP'ers commenting on military professional courses

I don't think ANY of the military professional military courses have very much relevance to Civil Air Patrol operations, since unpaid volunteer service has unique challenges much different than the military.

The roll out of the current CAP On Line Officers Course is definitely was the right thing to do :clap:

BTW I've heard from members that have attended advance CAP leadership courses,  that some members there were not up to the academic task and/or did minimum work.   I guess there's some CAP'ers attending these advance courses to further their CAP "careers" for the sake of attendance rather than learning anything.

Frankly one sees that attitude in civilian organizations also.    As a simple example awhile back the squadron had a AHA instructor give a CPR & first aid course and he commented at the end to many of the senior members how engaged everyone was, versus when he gave classes to business and public/non profit organization's that required this training to retain their employment status in a position that required this training.
RM

Just because CAP and the Air Force are not exactly alike does not mean that the leadership and management techniques used and taught by the Air Force are not applicable to CAP. And that's ignoring the many similarities between the two organizations, but we all know that you hate to acknowledge them.

I would hazard a guess that the attitude issue you spoke of also exists to some degree in the Air Force as well, from what I understand ASBC, SOS and other similar courses are often seen as little more than a boring, pointless chore by many officers.

[RADIOMAN015]

What a great laugh   "professional" CAP'ers commenting on military professional courses

RM 

Just because CAP and the Air Force are not exactly alike does not mean that the leadership and management techniques used and taught by the Air Force are not applicable to CAP. And that's ignoring the many similarities between the two organizations, but we all know that you hate to acknowledge them.

I would hazard a guess that the attitude issue you spoke of also exists to some degree in the Air Force as well, from what I understand ASBC, SOS and other similar courses are often seen as little more than a boring, pointless chore by many officers.

Actually in my days as a career military officer, taking both SOS & ACSC (via correspondence) was seen as a necessary requirement for career progression versus taking the courses for the sake of gaining more military professional knowledge.

Personally, I would think that since CAP is purely a volunteer organization with NO pay, those taking ANY CAP courses would be highly motivated to get the most out of the courses.   Perhaps as discussed in the original article in the first post, we are using volunteers to provide these courses to other volunteers, and each brings strengths as well as weaknesses to the instruction process.    HOWEVER, I CAN'T be critical of members that either are part of the faculty or take the CAP Leadership courses because it's always on their dime and not on anyone else.

My attitude when attending these CAP courses is to see the positive side of what is being presented, regardless of the instructor(s).

RM         

[DBlair]

I guess there's some CAP'ers attending these advance courses to further their CAP "careers" for the sake of attendance rather than learning anything.

In my experience, this unfortunately seems to be quite common. Depending on the individual course, it tends to vary slightly as to those looking for a box filler or those attending who genuinely want to learn.

TLC courses tend to be a mix of the two (perhaps 50/50) as it is required for a Senior CP rating and also includes a lot of essential CP materials and so many are actually wanting to learn. SLS and CLC seem to be (regardless of the canned response often given as to reason) almost entirely (perhaps 90/10) about the box filler. Attendance at UCC seemed to be more about networking/sucking up to get a Command than about learning anything (perhaps 70/30) and I found that those who were there actually hoping to learn, were greatly disappointed in the course content.

Overall, I would say (from what I've seen/heard) that most CAP PD courses are primarily taken by members as a box-filler.

[lordmonar]

Well.....to the OP and the author of the artical.......I agree that there is a lot of box checking in military PME.

I would also agree that there is a big difference between a "real" graduate program and the AWC.

Having said that......eliminating it would not improve anything.

At least the box checkers are getting exposed to some level of PME in a home that maybe some of it may stick.

If we are looking to kill some military education program that wastes a lot of money.....you would have to look at the Academies and ROTC first.

[NIN]

What a great laugh   "professional" CAP'ers commenting on military professional courses

I don't think ANY of the military professional military courses have very much relevance to Civil Air Patrol operations, since unpaid volunteer service has unique challenges much different than the military.

Can we just, in the future, for the sake of readability and brevity, turn this kind of statement from you into something like "My dissatisfaction with the organization I joined is well known.." or "You all know how much I really dislike CAP.."?

Because you make it so abundantly clear your disdain toward Civil Air Patrol on a daily basis here, I'm still unsure why you've been able to remain an active, dues-paying and participating member with such a massive foul-taste in your mouth.

Call me crazy.

BTW I've heard from members that have attended advance CAP leadership courses,  that some members there were not up to the academic task and/or did minimum work.   I guess there's some CAP'ers attending these advance courses to further their CAP "careers" for the sake of attendance rather than learning anything.

I will say, I can't disagree with most of this statement. 

Region Staff College was an absolute walk in the park for me, academically speaking, while I watched many of my fellow classmates struggle with simple formatting of a military letter, let alone higher-level corporate leadership subjects.

But more to the point: probably 75 or 85% of the subject matter of RSC seems to me to be key information that you'd want to impart to your junior company grade officers prior to becoming commanders and junior staff officers.  Very little of that curriculum, IMHO, was aimed at, or even really appropriate for, Majors about to pin Lt Col.   Forcing Majors to demonstrate they can march, stand in formation, and be inspected, for example, is just, well, too little way, way too late in the continuum.  They should be totally conversant with this subject matter as lieutenants and captains.

(I wrote a position paper on the idea that an RSC-like course, by that I mean a weeklong in-residence training on leadership and unit-level issues, should replace SLS, and be run concurrent with things like encampment for maximum training effect. Heck, we require cadets to attend encampment to become a cadet officer, why shouldn't we require our officers to demonstrate a similar commitment to the organization before, say, we pin on their Railroad Tracks?  Sadly, that fell on deaf ears.)

[RADIOMAN015]

What a great laugh   "professional" CAP'ers commenting on military professional courses

I don't think ANY of the military professional military courses have very much relevance to Civil Air Patrol operations, since unpaid volunteer service has unique challenges much different than the military.

Can we just, in the future, for the sake of readability and brevity, turn this kind of statement from you into something like "My dissatisfaction with the organization I joined is well known.." or "You all know how much I really dislike CAP.."?

Because you make it so abundantly clear your disdain toward Civil Air Patrol on a daily basis here, I'm still unsure why you've been able to remain an active, dues-paying and participating member with such a massive foul-taste in your mouth.

Call me crazy.

I am a VERY dedicated member to Civil Air Patrol, BUT will admit that I prefer to wear my golf shirt (both long & short sleeve most of the time).   HOWEVER, I also feel that CAP is VERY unique as a volunteer organization and all the leadership training needs to emphasize this "motivating an unpaid volunteer to maximize his/her contribution to the success of the organization's missions" (sometimes in tasks they really may not have a strong interest in BUT we need enough staffing so no one is overwhelmed).    Perhaps we need to look at a variety of training references (not just military) to accomplish our missions with our personnel staffing

Surely, there's members in CAP that really like to wear the AF uniforms and practice to the fullest customs & courtesies, marching senior members around the parking lot, or standing in formation, as they perceive that the military does.  I won't dispute that there's C&C in the military and lots of other things now (e.g.wars & long deployments) that have put very intense pressure on the military members as well as their families.  HOWEVER, every military unit (at least that I've been in) is unique also in the organizational dynamics at hand.

RM   

[ProdigalJim]

(I wrote a position paper on the idea that an RSC-like course, by that I mean a weeklong in-residence training on leadership and unit-level issues, should replace SLS, and be run concurrent with things like encampment for maximum training effect. Heck, we require cadets to attend encampment to become a cadet officer, why shouldn't we require our officers to demonstrate a similar commitment to the organization before, say, we pin on their Railroad Tracks?  Sadly, that fell on deaf ears.)

I LOVE that idea...and it's a shame that fell on deaf ears. I keep reading in the course materials I'm seeing now about fostering "professionalism" in our officer corps, but there seems to be a disconnect, based on the many comments I'm seeing and hearing about SLS and higher-level schools.