

Many readers may not be aware that since 2010, the CGSC has offered a series of scholars’ programs designed to meet the professional development needs of the officers who desired something more from the intermediate-level educational experience. While the standard curriculum meets the needs of the vast majority of officers, there is a small group of officers who arrive at the college desiring to do more, to learn more, and to enable their performance during their field grade years.

Whatever background officers have coming into the course serves as the bedrock of their professional military education for the second half of their careers, until they either retire or attend senior service college.

Officers attending the Command and General Staff Officer Course (CGSOC) at CGSC at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, come from a variety of backgrounds and levels of experience who represent an Army multibranch, joint, and combined population. Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC), which was critical to the development of midgrade officers’ intellectual capacity. One of the key components of that education system was the U.S. The American Army’s school system in the interwar years helped to prepare officers for the rigors of global combat in World War II, even while the size of the force, its readiness, and modernization dwindled. Murray and Millett (2000) compared the present with peacetime inflection points in the past where leaders had to adapt their individual education to stay current, despite shortages of equipment or lack of training. In a time of potentially austere national security budgets, the mental software, or intellectual capacity, of the leaders of the land force is critical to sustaining readiness over the long term as great-power competition reemerges. One of the critical issues for the Department of Defense as it evolves strategic landpower to meet the needs of the 21st century is the intellectual ability of leaders to meet both the demands of a complex international operating environment and the changing character of warfare. This article clarifies the characteristics of the Art of War Scholars program and the joint and combined leaders that it develops. It discusses the CGSC Art of War Scholars program as an example of a successful CGSC scholars program, the elements of the program, the qualities and performance of the scholars and graduates, and how the program meets the intent of current Army and joint professional military education initiatives. Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC). This article examines the purpose for creating scholars’ programs at the U.S. The Challenge and Opportunity of Scholars Programs at the Command and General Staff College One Example Dean A.
