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Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

A civilian reader asks: Should I go to staff college or wait for war college?

A fellow BD reader, a career Foreign Service Officer who paid some dues in Iraq, needs some career advice from all of youse: I’m in the middle of searching for my next assignment, and one of my choices is a year at a staff college. My initial preference would be Marine Corps CSC, but there’s also Army ...

By , a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy.
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons

A fellow BD reader, a career Foreign Service Officer who paid some dues in Iraq, needs some career advice from all of youse:

A fellow BD reader, a career Foreign Service Officer who paid some dues in Iraq, needs some career advice from all of youse:

I’m in the middle of searching for my next assignment, and one of my choices is a year at a staff college. My initial preference would be Marine Corps CSC, but there’s also Army CGSC and that Joint Forces one and the AF one. Past BD entries, as well as my impression of the Air Force, have turned me off to the AF colleges.

If I take a staff college offer, then I will be excluded from future consideration for the war colleges; one of the rules of my outfit. So my main interest is getting info on the curriculum, field trips, and relative merits of these schools. If I pass on the staff college, I would be able to compete for a war college spot a few years from now.

Thomas E. Ricks is a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy. Twitter: @tomricks1

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