Education: War colleges - Navy Education - GI Bill | Navy Times

Education: War colleges

Air War College. This school, at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., is the senior professional school in the Air Force. The resident program consists of 10 months of graduate-level study, resulting in a master’s degree.

AWC educates about 265 resident students each year from all U.S. military services, federal agencies, and international officers from about 45 nations. Studies are divided into four core and three elective blocks of instruction, a regional studies seminar, a field trip and a graduate-level research project. The distance learning program parallels as much as practical the resident studies program, graduating about 3,000 eligible officers and equivalent civilians.

Contact: (334) 953-2119; DSN 493-2119; http://www.maxwell.af.mil/au/awc/ awchome.htm

Army War College. The Army’s senior service college for colonels, lieutenant colonels and civilian leaders, located at Carlisle Barracks, Pa., offers graduate-level education in a 10-month resident program and a two-year distance education program.

Instruction focuses on the strategic use of land power and its application in joint and combined operations. The college sponsors the Advanced and Strategic Arts Program and the National Security Policy Program.

Supporting institutions at the same campus include the Center for Strategic Leadership, Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute, the Army Heritage & Education Center and the Military History Institute.

Contact: The registrar for student information at (717) 245-4372, or the public affairs office at (717) 245-4101; http:// www.carlisle.army.mil

Marine Corps War College. The Marines' 10-month senior service school provides Phase I (Senior Level) Joint Professional Military Education and offers students a Master of Strategic Studies degree. Up to half of a student’s grade comes from participation in seminars and small-group discussions and debate.

Admissions are currently based on 17 allocations split between officers in paygrades O-5 and O-6 and federal civilian employees in the GS-15 or GS-16 grades.

Contact: Director, MCU, 2076 South St., Suite 2, Quantico, VA 22134-5068; (703) 784-4081/4082; DSN 278-4081/4082; Fax (703) 784-2384; http://www.mcu.usmc .mil/mcwar

National Defense University. This institution offers advanced national security studies. At Fort McNair in Washington, D.C., are the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, the National War College, the Information Resources Management College, the Institute for National Strategic Studies, several regional centers and the university’s special academic programs. The Joint Forces Staff College is in Norfolk, Va.

Contact: (202) 685-3912; http://www .ndu.edu

Naval War College. Located in Newport, R.I., the Naval War College is home to both the Navy’s intermediate and senior level professional military education programs.

Each year, more than 500 mid-career level officers from the Navy, all other U.S. services, civilian federal agencies and international navies attend the Naval War College to pursue a rigorous 10-month course of postgraduate studies.

The college’s Professional Military Education curriculum focuses on three core areas: Strategy and Policy, National Security Decision Making, and Joint Military Operations. The 10-month curriculum for resident students is divided into trimesters of three to four months with the majority of students beginning in August and graduating the following June.

Unlike at other service colleges, two smaller classes begin in November and March, graduating at the same time the following year. U.S. graduates of the resident programs are awarded a Master of Arts degree in National Security and Strategic Studies. Intermediate-level graduates receive Joint Professional Military Education (JPME) Phase I credit while Phase II credit is awarded for completion of the senior course. Graduates of the international programs receive a NWC diploma.

The Naval War College consists of five academic colleges.

å The College of Naval Warfare is a residential program for senior-grade officers from all five U.S. military services and their civilian executive counterparts from various federal agencies.

å The College of Naval Command and Staff is an intermediate residential program, attended by mid-grade officers and their civilian counterparts.

å The Naval Command College is attended by senior international naval officers. These officers represent approximately 45 nations a year.

å The Naval Staff College is for intermediate-grade international naval officers who have completed eight to 15 years of military service.

å The College of Distance Education provides active duty officers, reservists, eligible civilian employees of the U.S. government and a limited number of allied naval officers the opportunity to complete the NWC curriculum, receiving a diploma and JPME Phase I credit.

Students may either attend seminars at selected military bases throughout the U.S. via the Fleet Seminar Program, or complete their diploma requirements via correspondence courses.

Contact: Registrar, (401) 841-6597; http://www.nwc.navy.mil