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Education: Staff colleges

Air Command and Staff College

Air University’s Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., prepares field-grade officers, their international counterparts and civilian equivalents for positions of higher responsibility within the military and other government agencies. ACSC encourages the development of higher-order thinking by challenging students to think critically and exercise a combination of analytical and practical tools required of leaders and commanders.

ACSC focuses on the development, employment and command of air, space and cyberspace power in joint, multinational and interagency operations.

ACSC offers three programs of study: a 10-month in-residence course; an online master’s degree, and a distance-learning correspondence program. ACSC annually educates more than 500 in-residence students and more than 11,000 via distance learning. Air University confers a master of military operational art and science degree to students who complete the 33-semester-hour resident and online programs.

Contact: (334) 953-2295; www.au.af.mil/au/acsc

Army Command and General Staff College

This school at the Combined Arms Center, Fort Leavenworth, Kan., is the Army’s primary institution for developing war-fighting skills in midcareer officers at brigade, division and corps command levels.

The resident 10-month Intermediate Level Education course consists of a common core phase and an advanced war-fighting and operations phase for officers of the line branches. Specialty officers receive common core training at satellite locations. Follow-on training for specialists may involve graduate school, training with industry and other tailored programs, depending on the functional area. Other components include the School of Advanced Military Studies, School of Command Preparation, Combat Studies Institute and Directorate of Nonresident Studies.

Contact: Fort Leavenworth public affairs, 913-684-5604; http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/cgsc/

Army Management Staff College

With a main campus at Fort Belvoir, Va., AMSC is leading the way in establishing the Civilian Education System, the leader-development component of the newly established Army Civilian Corps.

Key elements of the structured, progressive and sequential development system include a distributed learning foundation course for new employees, and basic, intermediate and advanced courses for employees as they change from direct to indirect leadership positions. Resident portions of the courses are conducted at Fort Belvoir and Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

Contact: Dean of Academics, 5500 21st St., Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-5934; 703-805-4714; www.amsc.belvoir.army.mil

Marine Corps Command and Staff College

This college provides a 10-month intermediate course and an advanced intermediate course of professional military education to field-grade officers, offering them an optional Master of Military Studies degree for completing several requirements beyond the core curriculum. Twenty percent of Marine officers attend the school.

The college is geared toward preparing officers for command and staff duties with Marine air-ground task forces and assignment with joint, combined and high-level service organizations. It has two resident schools: the Command and Staff College and the School of Advanced Warfighting. A limited number of credit hours from each can be transferred to other colleges and universities.

Contact: Command and Staff College, (703) 784-3330; School of Advanced Warfighting, (703) 784-5121; www.mcu.usmc.mil

Marine Corps College of Continuing Education

The Marine Corps’ primary organization for Advanced Distributed Learning designs, develops, delivers and manages distance learning products and programs through a worldwide network of satellite campuses, learning resource centers and video teletraining centers.

Regional coordinators at major installations facilitate local professional military education seminars for the Command and Staff College and the Expeditionary War School for nonresidential students.

Contact: 2079 Barnett Ave., Building 2079, Marine Corps Base Quantico, VA 22134-5118, (800) 992-9210 or (703) 784-2999; DSN 278-2999; www.tecom.usmc.mil/cce

MarineNet

This enterprise delivery network allows active and reserve Marines and the civilian work force to access professional military education classes, computer training and professional development and job aids online.

MarineNet offers courses such as Fundamentals of Marine Corps Leadership and the Marine Corps Planning Process, and other required training, such as the Operational Risk Management Course.

All personnel entered in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) database are authorized to use MarineNet free. Marine family members can take hundreds of online professional and personal development courses in addition to the Lifestyles Insights Networking and Skills Course for Marine Spouses.

Many online courses are accepted for college credit or professional certification.

Contact: Help desk, (888) 435-8762; www.marinenet.usmc.mil/marinenet

College of Naval Command and Staff

Located at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., this college is a 10-month intermediate-level professional military education program meeting Navy and CJCS requirements for JPME Phase I, which is a prerequisite for assumption of commander-level command or its equivalent for naval officers. Attended by midgrade officers of all services and U.S. government civilian employees, the interdisciplinary graduate-level curriculum focuses on: Strategy and War, National Security Decision Making, and Joint Maritime Operations.

Resident students begin in August, October, or February, and graduates may earn a master’s degree in national security and strategic studies. They are joined by about 35 international officers. They are prepared to excel in command and operational-level staff billets on a numbered fleet, fleet, joint, interagency, or multinational staff.

Contact: Registrar, (401) 841-6597; www.usnwc.edu