The United States Army War College (USAWC) is a U.S. Army educational institution in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on the 500-acre (2 km2) campus of the historic Carlisle Barracks.[2] It provides graduate-level instruction to senior military officers and civilians to prepare them for senior leadership assignments and responsibilities.[3] Each year, a number of Army colonels and lieutenant colonels are considered by a board for admission.[4][3] Approximately 800 students attend at any one time, half in a two-year-long distance learning program, and the other half in an on-campus, full-time resident program lasting ten months.[3] Upon completion, the college grants its graduates a master's degree in Strategic Studies.[3]
The Army War College is a split-functional institution. Emphasis is placed on research and students are also instructed in leadership, strategy, and joint-service/international operations. It is one of the senior service colleges including the Naval War College and the USAF Air War College. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Defense operates the National War College.
According to U.S. Army Regulation 10–87, the Army War College "educates and develops leaders for service at the strategic level while advancing knowledge in the global
application of landpower."[5]
The first president of the Army War College was Major General Samuel B. M. Young[6] in July 1902 and the first students attended the college in 1904.
During the presidency of Montgomery M. Macomb in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson accused students and staff of planning for taking part in an offensive war, even though the United States had not entered World War I. Wilson was unconvinced by Macomb's explanation that the college was concerned only with the intellectual growth and professional development of its students, and insisted that the school curtail its activities in order to ensure that the U.S. maintained its neutrality.[7][8]
The Center for Strategic Leadership (CSL) emphasizes experiential education, senior leader education, support to Army senior leader research, and support to both U.S. Army War College (USAWC) and Army Senior Leader strategic communication efforts. CSL's professional staff and Collins Hall facility host, support, develop, and conduct events, including workshops, symposia, conferences, games, and exercises focused on a broad range of strategic leadership and national security issues and concepts in support of the USAWC, the U.S. Army, and the Interagency and Joint Communities.
The Basic Strategic Art Program is one of the academic programs taught at the U.S. Army War College. When the program was founded in 2003, its purpose was to provide those officers who had been newly designated into Functional Area 59 (Strategist, formerly Strategic Plans & Policy) an introduction to strategy and to the skills, knowledge, and attributes needed as a foundation for their progressive development as army strategists.
The Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute (PKSOI) is located at the War College. The institute's mission is to serve as the U.S. Military's Center of Excellence for Stability and Peace Operations at the strategic and operational levels in order to improve military, civilian agency, international, and multinational capabilities and execution.
^Commanding Generals and Chiefs of Staff, 1775-2005: Portraits & Biographical Sketches of the United States Army's Senior Officer; William Gardner Bell; Government Printing Office, 2006.
^Birnie, Upton Jr. (October 1956). "Obituary, Walter S. Grant". Assembly. West Point, NY: Association of Graduates, United States Military Academy. pp. 63–64 – via West Point Digital Library.
