June 7, 2017, by Robert Everett – People who are not deep materialists might say that no one can run away from his or her destiny. Very often particular factors that lead to victory are completely unpredictable and beyond the control of a soldier. However, a person could make steps to be prepared for the future. Both materialists and idealists can agree on that. The military education courses give their students exactly this preparation – an intellectual growth and physical development.
Here are some reasons that might help you to make your mind and start attending.
1. Access the lessons learned
It goes without saying that an ability to learn from the mistakes of others saves energy and often life. Professional military education gives access to the knowledge base, worked out by people who outlived the situations of different complexity and level of danger. You may learn directly from their experience. The documented actions help to understand the decisions behind. The atmosphere of information sharing helps trainees to learn from each other and reinforce the interaction between teachers and students.
2. Develop adaptation skills
In critical environments, an ability to adapt has a great value. The military education helps to use it by training the analytical and critical thinking. The courses will direct your development by organizing discussions and debates, by stimulating reading and talking on professional literature, by teaching you to distinguish the analogy between the pieces of information and see their grounds and aftereffect. They will train you to find out people’s motivation of actions to be able to think some steps ahead and to see a general picture better.
3. Become proficient in science of war
War is not only about the action on the battlefield. It is also a number of military technologies (fast developing like any other technology today), financial aspects of defense, logistic issues, etc. A significant plus of military education is that it encourages self-study, widens one’s views on being a commander and an effective decision maker, builds certain professional habits, deepens the expertise in world’s geographies, cultures, political picture and art of war in general.
4. Obtain professional automatism
Practice makes a master, says an old saying. The endless repeat of tasks and activities saves time and polishes the qualification required for a professional military. People who are serving have very diverse backgrounds. The constant repetition of, even obviously simplistic deeds, helps to get different minds together, makes them think in a certain way and thus, cooperate efficiently.
5. Grow professionally
Military education is an integral part of the professional development of every soldier. It is specifically designed for every grade and builds a learning system that sets guidelines for military institutions and structures the whole military domain. It also implements standards and envisages required skills at every level of the military career. Although it does not lead directly to a promotion, still officers who completed the PME program are more competitive.
6. Become a strategic thinker
One of the tasks of the professional military education is to develop a strategic way of thinking with perfect application of available regulations along the conflict. It involves planning, understanding of Do’s and Don’ts, asking correct questions and information sharing. A trainee is taught not to react instantly or instinctively but relying on a rapid analysis of the situation. He or she learns how to see an impact of the data, being able to predict the consequences.
7. Start your mental fitness
A sound mind in a sound body – this proverb depicts a formula of a successful serviceman. To stay physically fit is usually not a problem in the military field but mental side might not be under the same care. Military education courses work with concentration improvement and focusing. They provide knowledge on how to handle stress or depression, how to rest efficiently and quickly recharge one’s powers. The participants learn how to maintain connections with other people and feel useful.
8. Enhance the individual education
Professional military courses focus on the significant enhancement of training of the individual. They set criteria for performance assessment, establish the goals to be achieved, identify the control process and supply the useful maintenance in the educational process. The main purpose here is to intensify the ability of the trainees for hybrid warfare drastically.
9. Develop the leader skills
During the term of the professional military education, special attention is paid to the strengthening of capability to make decisions, to intellectual agility and development of moral characteristics. These skills are inevitable in situations of high ambiguity and complex environments. Among the available tools and techniques for decision making and leadership, the learning of historical backgrounds and perspectives, cultural diversity aspects play not the last role.
10. Stay updated
The professional military courses present their curricula as: “current, dynamic, forward-looking, and based on the warfighting needs of the Military Corps”. The trainers follow the latest novelties in the art and science of war. They constantly amend the course agenda so that the participants could face contemporary challenges. The target to stay updated is also obtained by the support of international participation. The international students are also able to attend courses and actively take part in the knowledge sharing, of course, with certain security restrictions.
I hope this article was helpful and played a positive role in your decision towards professional military education.
About the Author: Robert Everett is an active contributor to several personal development programs, designed to assist the former servicemen. He is also a researcher and a freelanced writer at https://edubirdie.com. Mr. Everett is based in Chicago, where he has a psychological practice. He uses his broad experience supporting the ex- military men. He provides free of charge seminars, enhancing people’s knowledge in critical thinking, decision-making, and strategic planning areas.