Andrew Exum, Fellow at the
Washington Institute,
and
Colonel Allen Irish,
US Army Reserve, will join us for a discussion on training and educating
officers for current and future conflicts. Exum served with the US Army
Rangers, and Irish served with US
Army Civil Affairs
in
military has some of the oldest and most renown military academies in the world.
The military is one of the only institutions in the
government that seeks to educate, train and prepare its officers and NCOs to
fulfill their professional duties. Some argue that the military education system
and culture is based on meeting traditional, conventional threats and
challenges, heavily focused on math, science and engineering, at the expense of
languages, international relations and social sciences. Others have critiqued
the learning styles and the value of certain types of continuation training in
meeting the challenges presented by current commitments. What is the role of
military training and education in the light of current conflicts? How relevant
is the training to the challenges of
the evolving nature of the threats we face and how responsive are our
systems?