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Staff Colleges

Air Command and Staff College

This school at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., prepares field grade officers of all services, international officers and U.S. civilians to assume positions of higher responsibility within the military and other government arenas and is geared toward teaching the skills necessary to conduct air and space operations in a joint campaign.

The 10-month in-residence course admits students in paygrades O-4 and O-4-select. Defense Department civilians and international officers also may attend. Selection is competitive.

Students must complete the 34-semester-hour resident program to earn the master’s degree. The nonresident program serves about 9,000 students annually via correspondence or seminar.

Contact: (334) 953-6494; http://acsc.maxwell.af.mil.

Army Command and General Staff College

This school at the Combined Arms Center, Fort Leavenworth, Kan., is the Army’s primary institution for developing war-fighting skills needed by mid-career officers at the brigade, division and corps command levels.

The resident 10-month Intermediate Level Education course at Leavenworth consists of a common core phase and an advanced war-fighting and operations phase for officers of the line branches.

Specialty officers receive common core training at satellite locations. Follow-on training for specialists may involve graduate school, training with industry and other tailored programs, depending on functional area.

Other components of the Combined Arms Center and Command and General Staff College include the School of Advanced Military Studies, School of Command Preparation, Combat Studies Institute and Directorate of Nonresident Studies.

Contact: Fort Leavenworth public affairs, (913) 648-5604; http://leav-www.army.mil.

Army Management Staff College

With a main campus at Fort Belvoir, Va., AMSC will lead the way in establishing the Civilian Education System, the leader-development component of the newly established Army Civilian Corps.

Key elements of the structured, progressive and sequential development system will be a distributed learning foundation course for new employees, and basic, intermediate and advanced courses for employees as they transition from direct to indirect leadership positions.

The latter courses will be delivered through a combination of distributed learning and resident classes at Fort Belvoir; Fort Leavenworth, Kan.; and regional locations around the Army.

Contact: Dean of Academics, 5500 21st St., Fort Belvoir, VA. 22060-5934; (703) 805-4714; http://www.amsc.belvoir.army.mil.

Marine Corps Command and Staff College

This college provides a 10-month intermediate course and an advanced intermediate course of professional military education to field-grade officers, offering them an optional Master of Military Studies degree for completing several requirements beyond the core curriculum. Twenty percent of Marine officers attend the school.

The college is geared toward preparing officers for command and staff duties with Marine air-ground task forces and assignment with joint, combined and high-level service organizations. It has two resident schools: the Command and Staff College and the School of Advanced Warfighting. A limited number of credit hours from each can be transferred to other colleges and universities.

Contact: Command and Staff College, (703) 784-3330; School of Advanced Warfighting, (703) 784-5121; http://www.mcu.usmc.mil/csc/index.htm.

Marine Corps College of Continuing Education

The Marine Corps’ primary organization for Advanced Distributed Learning designs, develops, delivers and manages distance learning products and programs through a worldwide network of satellite campuses, learning resource centers and video teletraining centers.

Regional coordinators at major installations facilitate local professional military education seminars for the Command and Staff College and the Expeditionary War School for nonresidential students.

Contact: 2079 Barnett Ave., Building 2079, Marine Corps Base Quantico, VA 22134-5118, (800) 992-9210 or (703) 784-2999; DSN 278-2999; http://www.tecom.usmc.mil/cce.

MarineNet

This enterprise delivery network allows active and reserve Marines and the civilian work force to access professional military education classes, computer training and professional development and job aids online.

MarineNet offers courses such as Fundamentals of Marine Corps Leadership and the Marine Corps Planning Process, as well as other required training, such as the Operational Risk Management Course.

All personnel entered in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System database are authorized to use MarineNet free. Marine family members can take hundreds of online professional and personal development courses in addition to the Lifestyles Insights Networking and Skills Course for Marine Spouses.

Many online courses are accepted for college credit or professional certification.

Contact: http://www.marinenet.usmc.mil. Help desk, (888) 435-8762.

Navy College of Naval Command and Staff

The Navy’s intermediate school is part of the Naval War College. Students in the 10-month curriculum are midgrade and senior military officers from all branches of service. The curriculum consists of three core areas: strategy and policy, national security decision making, and joint military operations.

Contact: Dean of Students, Naval War College, 686 Cushing Road, Newport, RI 02841-1207; (401) 841-3373; http://www.nwc.navy.mil.