MILLINGTON, Tenn. – Rear Adm. P. Gardner Howe III, president of U.S. Naval War College (NWC) in Newport, Rhode Island, met with key Bureau of Naval Personnel (BUPERS) and Navy Personnel Command (NPC) leaders in Millington last week for a discussion on the mission of the college and its role in supporting the Navy Leader Development Strategy.
The Navy published the strategy in 2013, which aims to provide a common framework – based on experience, training, education and personal development – for comprehensive and enduring leader development across all Navy communities.
“My sense today is that, as a service, we still tend to undervalue education,” said Howe in a roundtable discussion with NPC and BUPERS personnel. “We still have a tendency to think that experience is what is best going to prepare us for the future as opposed to education. We have a responsibility to have a deliberate discussion on this idea of the role of education.”
The purpose of the visit was to initiate this discussion by educating detailers, officer community managers and junior officers assigned to NPC and BUPERS staffs of the college’s mission, its value to the fleet, and why an NWC education is important to an officer’s career.
“Our objectives today are to pilot this idea and provide you with an update of what’s going on up in Newport at the Naval War College,” added Howe. “I hope that as a result you will be in a better position to advise, mentor and council the officers that you’ll come in contact with.”
The Millington visit signifies the first of several upcoming engagements being tentatively planned for across the fleet.
“What we want to do is create an annual battle rhythm of so-called ‘roadshows’ where we can get out and about, talk with those who are influencing the decisions of our communities, and also to talk with the sailors themselves,” said Howe during the brief. “We hope to in the near future head down to Norfolk, out to San Diego, and then, based on the feedback we receive, touch base with some of the other fleet concentration areas.”
Howe stated that, in the Navy, there is a general lack of knowledge about the college, specifically in terms of the value of the college in the development of an officer. To illustrate his point, he likened the concept of the profession of arms to that of the professions of law and medicine.
“If you think about the profession of law, you think of perhaps Harvard or Columbia. If you think of the medical profession, you may think of Johns Hopkins or Chapel Hill. If you think of the profession of arms, specifically the maritime profession of arms, what you should be thinking about is the Naval War College in Newport… we deliver high quality graduate-level education in the profession of arms,” said Howe.
He added that while the college’s primary focus is about educating and developing leaders, it’s also about increasing one’s exposure to different points of view.
“You will be a more effective leader and you will be a more effective decision maker if you have been exposed to a wider variety of ideas, perspectives and experiences,” said Howe. “ The Naval War College provides a great platform for increasing your exposure.”
He also stressed of equal importance one’s ability to make professional connections.
“Between 40-50 percent of your colleagues will be fellow naval officers. About 20 percent will be international partners from across the globe. The other 30 percent will be colleagues from across the other elements of the Joint Force and also the interagencies. And let me tell you, these officers are the absolute cream of the crop,” said Howe. “The Naval War College provides you with a great opportunity to build those connections.”
Finally, he referred to the scope and complexity of the strategic environment as outlined in the CNO’s “A Design for Maintaining Maritime Superiority” as proof of why an NWC education is now more important than ever.
“We are not going to train our way to success as a military in that kind of environment,” said Howe. “Successful military operations in that environment are going to require much, much more than tactical competencies or technical expertise. It’s going to require the judicious employment of those capabilities based on the situation at hand… it’s going to require the ability to think very, very critically, assess and understand.
“In an increasingly complex world we have to take a more deliberate approach to education and how we build critical thinking skills.”
For information about the Navy Leader Development Strategy, visit
http://www.usnwc.edu/navyleader.
For information about attending the college in residence, visit
http://www.usnwc.edu/usstudents.
For information about taking classes through the College of Distance Education, visit
http://www.usnwc.edu/cde.