Commander Canadian Army's Reading List Supplement No. 5

Welcome  to  the  Commander  Canadian  Army’s  Reading List Supplement No. 5. The overall theme for this issue is professional military education (PME), its value and its methods of  dissemination.  The  individual  themes  are  PME  debate, the use of military history in professional military education and wargaming. Major Bruce I. Gudmundsson, United States Marine Corps Reserve (Ret’d), has generously provided an overview of the decision-forcing case methodology that he used while teaching at Marine Corps University for the Special Focus section. In terms of existing philosophy within the Army, I would offer that when Training for Land Operations states that the “desired outcome” of  PME  is  leaders  who  “accept  responsibility  for  their  own life-long learning,” the manual has got the focus wrong.1 Over the years, I have gained the general impression that Army officers believe that PME effort is inherent in our doctrine; tremendous thought has gone into describing the way the Army will fight in B-GL so and so, and the important things are covered in the developmental periods (DP) and at the schools. What then, really, is the added value of additional PME? The answer depends on the viewpoint. Should we not consider PME as a weapon— the cognitive capacity of soldiers to solve tough problems and make decisions about them during their careers? Would this not better align PME with the intellectual component of fighting power? Those questions need answers, and as PME gains greater traction in the Army, hopefully we can sharpen our ideas. Ultimately, we should probably not think in terms of “consuming” PME; rather, we should consider PME as enabling operations to gain deeper insights into the art, science and, ultimately, the “discipline” of war.