Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

General Scales roasts PME

Yesterday I was on an FPRI panel discussing PME, or professional military education. Specifically, we discussed Joan Johnson Freese’s critique of the state of PME and her proposed solutions.     But I have to say that retired Maj. Gen. Bob Scales, who holds both a Silver Star from Hamburger Hill and a doctorate in history from ...

By , a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy.
Flickr
Flickr
Flickr

Yesterday I was on an FPRI panel discussing PME, or professional military education. Specifically, we discussed Joan Johnson Freese's critique of the state of PME and her proposed solutions.    

Yesterday I was on an FPRI panel discussing PME, or professional military education. Specifically, we discussed Joan Johnson Freese’s critique of the state of PME and her proposed solutions.    

But I have to say that retired Maj. Gen. Bob Scales, who holds both a Silver Star from Hamburger Hill and a doctorate in history from Duke, kind of stole the show with his scathing review of the state of military education at the war college level.

Some excerpts from Scales, who also is a former commandant of the Army War College:

–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."

Johnson-Freese, for her part, noted that discussions in war college seminars often consist of the uninformed exchanging their ignorance. 

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

More from Foreign Policy

Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.
Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.

Chinese Hospitals Are Housing Another Deadly Outbreak

Authorities are covering up the spread of antibiotic-resistant pneumonia.

Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.
Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.

Henry Kissinger, Colossus on the World Stage

The late statesman was a master of realpolitik—whom some regarded as a war criminal.

A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.
A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.

The West’s False Choice in Ukraine

The crossroads is not between war and compromise, but between victory and defeat.

Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi
Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi

The Masterminds

Washington wants to get tough on China, and the leaders of the House China Committee are in the driver’s seat.