COURSE DESCRIPTION
The JAWS curriculum is clearly focused on "high end" operational art. This specific and concentrated focus allows for more in-depth immersion and applied rigor than is possible in many more standard military education institutions. Based in part on the existing curricula of the Joint Forces Staff College's Joint and Combined Warfighting School Senior Course, the JAWS curriculum endeavors to balance between operational and strategic studies and between warfighting and war preparation. The interrelated core courses, Foundations in Theory of War, Strategic Foundations and Operational Art and Campaigning provide the developmental framework. Blending theory foundations and historical evidence, the Foundations in Theory of War course provides the underpinning to all that follows through an aggressive series of case studies, guided seminar discussions and guest speakers. This course creates a tentative propositional inventory that enables the student to examine critically and ask the tough questions about military art and science. The Strategic Foundations course provides the necessary solid grounding in the theories of government and diplomacy along with the complex realities of the contemporary joint, interagency and multinational operating environment. Finally, the Operational Art and Campaigning course builds upon the previous instruction to provide students with a laboratory in which to apply the ideas encountered previously. This final applicatory portion of the curriculum emphasizes education and training in aspects of decision-making, problem solving, and planning processes through a series of seminar exercises, wargames and simulations. By emphasizing problem solving and decision-making within the context of adaptive planning, JAWS strives to produce world-class warfighters prepared to operate in a fast paced, often chaotic and multi-tasking environment.
Exercises, simulations, extensive reading and research visits are key components of the JAWS program. Through simulations and automation-supported exercises, students analyze and apply joint doctrine, emerging concepts, and recent lessons learned, while also honing planning and decision-making skills. Students have ample opportunity to read and evaluate a broad range of writings throughout the course; significant nightly readings are followed by rigorous examination of authors' premises and assertions in daily seminar. Case study method is employed throughout the course. In conjunction with ongoing seminar activities, students are required to write a formal thesis paper and will defend their findings as a part of a comprehensive exam.
The JAWS course includes several field research trips. A comprehensive historical staff ride to Gettysburg is conducted to allow students to develop further appreciation for the human dynamics of conflict while focusing on decision-making and senior leader competencies as evidenced in one of America's most significant battles. A weeklong experience in Washington, D.C. provides contact with senior military and governmental policy makers and practitioners. Agencies visited includes the Joint Staff, the Department of State, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Department of Homeland Security, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Military Intelligence College and a host of others. Other visits are made to the CONUS-based combatant commands and selected supporting agencies or headquarters. Live video teleconferences (VTCs) are conducted with the U.S. European Command and the U.S. Pacific Command, Numerous visits to relevant organizations and activities dealing with military transformation and future warfighting are also conducted, primarily in the Tidewater, Virginia area.
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