Valuing Air Force education and training: faculty duty and leader development - Brief Article

Air & Space Power Journal,  Winter, 2002  by Dr. James M. Smith,  Douglas J. Murray

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Editorial Abstract: Understanding the relationship between learning and the development of senior leadership skills is vital to the success of Air Force efforts to provide the best and most qualified future leaders. Dr. Smith and Colonel Murray take a close look at this relationship (particularly for those who serve as instructors) and discuss how education and training programs provide the opportunity to develop and practice strategic planning skills--a valued ability, critical to the profession of arms. They also emphasize the broadened perspectives of individuals who serve with representatives of other specialties, services, and agencies in that learning environment. The authors conclude by outlining 10 ways Air Force personnel who serve as faculty develop the foundation necessary to become effective strategic and transformational leaders.

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JOHN F. KENNEDY liked to say that learning and leadership are indispensable to one another.(1) Unfortunately and until recently, the Air Force had failed institutionally to recognize and appreciate the significance of this relationship. In fact the Air Force had exhibited an enduring ambivalence toward learning and the education and training processes that comprise it. Officers were encouraged to obtain an advanced degree for promotion purposes, but the value of that degree to leadership development was not recognized. This was a remarkable circumstance, since the nature of the service and its mission require a depth of technical knowledge that can be gained only through continued education and training. Further, the rapid pace of technological change dictated that individuals periodically return to education for the essential updates necessary to comprehend the changed scope, pace, and complexity of operational conflicts and the post--Gold War geostrategic context in which they occur.

The Air Force did not fully value training and education experiences, including advanced academic degrees and professional military education (PME), as beneficial to the service or its members. At the same time, the dual requirements of honing highly technical skills and meeting the seemingly unending demands of a high operations tempo have reduced our future leaders' opportunities to broaden their expertise and leadership experience in the wider Air Force arena beyond their primary specialty. PME attendance is often the only route to a broader perspective and set of experiences. Ironically, within this environment an assignment to an Air Force educational or training institution or program (referred to hereafter as learning institutions and programs) as a full-time student or as a member of its faculty was too often viewed as a diversion away from the "real Air Force," one's core mission area, and a "correct" career path. In this sense, service learning was viewed at best as a nonessential luxury, and at wo rst as a distant ivory tower with little or no direct value. The "elective" side of learning--faculty assignment--was seen most negatively by the service.

Fortunately, a small cadre of visionary leaders has begun to question this enduring ambivalence toward learning. They have commissioned the first-ever strategic plan for Air Force education and training. Certain fundamental principles lie at the heart of this draft plan:

* Education, training, and experience are indispensable components of the Air Force profession, critical to the successful accomplishment of the Air Farce mission, and the bedrock of performance and leadership development.

* The biggest return on education and training occurs when they are linked to experiences and job satisfaction.

* Education and training processes are not distinct and separate activities, but they are integrated endeavors on a single learning continuum. (2)

This article supports these principles. It focuses on the status that learning can, should, and indeed must hold within the Air Force today and into the future--a relevant and valued adjunct to the service's core operational mission. The underlying belief here is that the assignment of service members to learning institutions and programs puts them on a desirable and reliable path to enhanced knowledge, skills, perspectives, and leadership abilities. Those enhancements improve their ability to carry out the Air Force mission and advance the interests of national security. In making this case, we first describe the two products of USAF learning--the graduating student and the graduating faculty member--and then highlight the unique and significant contributions to Air Force leader development that accrue to an individual serving an assignment in Air Force learning institutions and programs. We close by affirming the importance of uniformed leadership and management of Air Force learning programs to enhance an d ensure the continuation of these benefits.

Education's Two Products: Students and Faculty

While few in the Air Force question the necessity and value of a well-educated and trained force, their appreciation has been for the immediate and not the long-term impact on leadership development. The benefits from an academic program include an increase in technical or disciplinary knowledge, and from PME and training programs they include exposure to the "big picture" of USAF operations and networking with other members of the joint and service team. Increasingly, PME offers deliberate broadening into new arenas of operations related to the individual's narrower specialty by way of elective courses and research efforts. The Air Force expects graduates of all learning institutions and programs to gain increased knowledge, broadened perspectives, and renewed enthusiasm. This benefits not only the individuals, but also their specialty and the larger Air Force.