MG(R) Scales Lets Loose on US Army Professional Military Education

At a recent forum journalist Tom Ricks, General Scales, former commander of the Army War College, let loose on US Army PME.

--These days, "the Army War College is a great place for pre-retirement training."

--"The Army War College fell of the cliff when it was subordinated to a trainer" (that is, to the Army's Training and Doctrine Command, which, he indicated, doesn't understand education).

--The Army should bring together its history offices, its military research entities, and related offshoots, and put them all under the Army War College commandant, in part so that research and teaching can inform each other. Right now, he said, research and education are "ripped apart."

--For officers, "the object of the PME system is to be selected but don't go."

Just a note on Scales... he lived 2 doors down from me at Ft Sill in the late-80s, and I went to high school with his younger daughter for 2 years.
By: Brant