BG H.R. McMaster: Being a grad student at Chapel Hill prepared me for combat

Posted By Thomas E. Ricks Monday, April 12, 2010 - 11:53 AM Share

Army Brig. Gen. H.R. McMaster, the celebrity brigadier, began his talk by saluting UNC-Chapel Hill, where he wrote his doctoral dissertation on the Joint Chiefs of Staff handling of the Vietnam War. Of all the things in his career, he said, it was his time as a graduate student that prepared him best for the challenges he faced in Iraq. "It was here that I think I learned to ask the right questions... about complex issues."

One more argument for sending promising officers to civilian graduate schools. And maybe shutting the war colleges (with the exception of part of the Naval War College, which could become the military institution for strategic studies, and the Naval Post-Graduate School, which could do the same for Special Operations studies).

Tom Ricks

EXPLORE:EDUCATION, MILITARY

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ANON_ANON

4:01 PM ET

April 12, 2010

Hard to know

if McMaster is simply trying to be polite to his alma mater, or if one should perhaps take that as a slam at his undergrad alma mater, which also presumably was trying to teach him *how* not *what* to think.

TOM RICKS

4:12 PM ET

April 12, 2010

Nah

I think he was serious about the educational process of learning to grasp complex problems and ask questions about them. His homey Petraeus wrote a whole article about that.
Best,
Tom

CHARLIEFORD

5:03 PM ET

April 12, 2010

Tom, can you ...

... point us to that article? (Apologies if you already have.)

NERDGIRL

6:50 PM ET

April 12, 2010

value of graduate work in social sciences and humanities

Concur. Similar sentiments have been expressed by GEN Petraeus in an article he authored for the July-Aug 2007 issue of the [conservative] magazine, American Interest (http://www.the-american-interest.com/article.cfm?piece=290):

“Through such schooling [i.e., his PhD work at Princeton] our officers are often surprised to discover just how diverse and divergent views can be. We only thought we knew the contours of debate on a given subject. We discover not only that some very smart folks see the world very differently than we do, but that they also see it very differently from each other. Debates we imagined to be two-sided turn out to be three-, four- or more-sided.

"It is sometimes said that the study of history, or government and politics, or other social science and humanities disciplines can help us ask the right questions, but cannot provide us specific answers to contemporary challenges. Certainly, a typical grad school experience—especially an interdisciplinary one like that provided at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School or SAIS at Johns Hopkins or Harvard’s Kennedy School—does help us to ask the right questions. However, in many cases, graduate school also provides real skills, knowledge and expertise on which one can draw in developing answers to those questions. I can give examples from my own experience.”

AZRAEL

6:00 AM ET

April 13, 2010

Nerdgirl is spot on!

Though their numbers are presently small, it is no longer a wonder to see military officers at prestigious graduate schools like the SAIS or the Kennedy School. I hope that this growing trend of officers pursuing graduate educations continues, as the diverse experiences these accomplished men and women bring to the table are truly invaluable.

MARIUS

7:38 PM ET

April 27, 2010

officers with advanced education

It's pretty common to see Officers in grade O4 or above to have an advanced degree. By the time an officer reaches Colonel or Captain (O6) in my experience it's very common. My CO's on Carl Vinson all had Masters from Naval Postgrad.

CHARLIEFORD

6:55 PM ET

April 12, 2010

Thanks, Nergerl!

Great stuff.

CHARLIEFORD

6:59 PM ET

April 12, 2010

Lou, maybe you could ...

... post a choice paragraph or two since non-subscribers can't see it?

KDVINER70

8:28 PM ET

April 12, 2010

A vote for NPS

I don’t know about shutting down one or another of the military’s “graduate” schools. But, I attended Naval Postgraduate School as a Navy O3/O4 in the mid 1980’s and I concur with Gen McMaster’s conclusion that it can be an important experience for military officers. I had only civilian professors and they finally taught me to examine the world in a truly scholarly, critical fashion. Despite having an undergraduate degree with honors, I really had never learned that. Professors like Claude A. Buss, Edward Olsen, and Donald Daniel brought a perspective that I would never had been exposed to had I not had the privilege to attend NPS.
Imagine having the honor to be in a class taught by a professor (Dr Buss) with these credentials: B.A. from Washington Missionary College (1922), an M.A. from Susquehanna University (1924), Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania (1927); L.L.D. from the University of Southern California. Advanced study at l'Ecole Libre des Sciences Politiques and l'Institut des Hautes Études Internationales in Paris. U.S. Foreign Service Officer serving in China and the Philippines. Held captive by the Japanese during WWII. On MacArthur’s staff during the occupation of Japan. Professor at Stanford for over two decades. Moreover, well into his 80’s he was not averse to having a gin and tonic with his students at the end of the day.
Too bad every officer can’t get that kind of experience and bring it to bear on the rest of their career.

DCM

11:52 AM ET

April 13, 2010

The value of War College & Asking the Right Question

Anyone who has attended the National War College or any of its programs for Reserve Senior Leaders, understand the absolute goal is to help us ask the "right" questions in order to lead our forces, devise strategies, operations, or even execute tactics.

A fantastic resource from a retired NWC faculty member is "Our Own Worst Enemy" by Randall Larsen.

As for the Service's War Colleges, I feel like they fail us by not being pragmatic enough. Simple things like how individual unit budgets work, how to write performance reports, etc.... Even just having short seminars would go along way towards making officers better equipped to lead. This is a glaring omission.

My time at NDU was head and shoulders above my Air War College experience via distance learning (a square filler for certain).

One more issue: In order to attend War Colleges, the officer must typically have a Master's Degree, but then is required to have a Master's to get in. In a time of war, this seems skewed, as well as questionable use of taxpayer dollars to use Tuition Assistance for a degree, that could be granted for free by attending War College. The Air Force is finally beginning this by offering a Masters via Distance learning. Just a thought beyond the Ivory Tower world and into the world of cold hard budgetary constraints.

HUNTER

12:00 PM ET

April 13, 2010

Tom, Why did you single out...

...the Naval War College and Naval Postgraduate School for saving? Genuinely want to know what makes them special - although they aren't equivalents and don't service the same clientele.

DCM,
Why do you say that War Colleges require Masters degree? It is not a pre-requisite at all. Indeed, having a Masters already opens other Fellowship opportunities but is not a pre-req for entrance into the normal Senior Service Colleges.

TOM RICKS

7:51 PM ET

April 13, 2010

Naval War College, and NPGS

The Naval War College seems to have a better handle on teaching strategy than the other colleges, so I'm inclined to preserve that capacity, which is valuable and rare. (But why the Naval War College's magazine is so weak, I don't know.)

The Naval Post-Graduate School has done a good job of responding to the post-9/11 world, better I think than other military educational institutions. I am inclined to reward such responsiveness.

Best,
Tom