SAMS 25th Anniversary and Graduation

Today the United States Army's School of Advanced Military Studies celebrated its Silver Anniversary of twenty five years of graduating Military Officers and our Inter-Agency brethren to become the planners and leaders of our great Nation. (No, it was not my graduation. I still have another 6 months, but it was a nice light at the end of the tunnel for me as I went back to writing my thesis after the ceremony.) But, I digress.

The School of Advanced Military Studies was founded to arm our military officers with a variety of educational theories and studies to help them better solve the complex problems that the world is offering to us. LTG (Ret) James Dubik was the speaker for the graduation and he summed up these thoughts very well. He spoke using the writings of Emerson to illuminate his point. A Reformer looks at the current situation and studies and decides upon what needs to be changed and how. A Conservative looks at the situation and studies and decides upon what needs to be kept or conserved. The best officers look at the situation and can study and decide upon what needs to be reformed and conserved at the same time.

I could not agree more. In this ever-changing and complex world that we find ourselves in, we are faced with the challenge of constant transformation. Deciding upon these critical facts of what needs to be changed and what needs to be conserved. What do we modify, what do we tweak, what do we outright throw away and consume ourselves with, within a new fresh course of action?

This is a great challenge, but within my first 6 months in SAMS, this is one of the skills I have been learning. I will not claim by any stretch that I am an expert, I fully expect to spend the rest of my life, learning about this. But through SAMS I have been receiving and will continue to receive the multiple tools for my tool bag needed to continue doing this.

SAMS has done this for the last 25 years, schooling our Army's Leaders. I look around at the list of past graduates and am truly humbled to be a part of this program. I look forward to rejoining the force with these new skills and watching SAMS continue to progress and change over the next twenty-five years.

God Bless America

Bryan Sphere: Related Content