The United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC or, obsolete, USACGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is a

graduate school Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate ( bachelor's) degree. The organization and ...

for

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

and sister service officers, interagency representatives, and international military officers. The college was established in 1881 by William Tecumseh Sherman as the School of Application for Infantry and Cavalry (later simply the Infantry and Cavalry School), a training school for

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...

and cavalry officers. In 1907 it changed its title to the School of the Line. The curriculum expanded throughout

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

, and the Vietnam War and continues to adapt to include lessons learned from current conflicts. In addition to the main campus at Fort Leavenworth, the college has satellite campuses at Fort Belvoir,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

; Fort Lee, Virginia; Fort Gordon, Georgia; and Redstone Arsenal,

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...

. The college also maintains a distance-learning modality for some of its instruction.

Mission statement

The United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC) educates and develops leaders for full spectrum joint, interagency and multinational operations; acts as lead agent for the Army's leader development program; and advances the art and science of the profession of arms in support of Army operational requirements.

Schools

The college consists of four schools: the Command and General Staff School, the

School of Advanced Military Studies The School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS) is one of four United States Army schools that make up the United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. This "enormously rigorous" graduate school com ...

, the School for Command Preparation, and the School of Advanced Leadership and Tactics. * Command and General Staff School (CGSS) provides Intermediate Level Education (ILE) for United States Army and sister service officers, interagency representatives, and international military officers. ILE is a ten-month graduate-level program; the curriculum includes instruction on leadership philosophy, military history, and the military planning and decision-making processes. There is one ILE class per year; starting in August and ending in June. About 1,200 US military and international officers make up the class. In addition to the ILE curriculum, a graduate masters program exists for students who may qualify to complete a thesis-level research paper and receive a Master of Military Arts and Sciences (M.M.A.S.) degree from the Command and General Staff College. The program is accredited by the

Higher Learning Commission The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is an institutional accreditor in the United States. It has historically accredited post-secondary education institutions in the central United States: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Io ...

, the accrediting body for collegiate institutions in the midwestern United States. ILE students are normally mid-career field-grade officers preparing for battalion command or staff positions at the division, brigade, or battalion level. In addition to CGSS at

Fort Leavenworth Fort Leavenworth () is a United States Army installation located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, in the city of Leavenworth. Built in 1827, it is the second oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C., and the oldest perma ...

, the school operates satellite campuses at Fort Belvoir,

; Fort Lee, Virginia; Fort Gordon, Georgia; and Redstone Arsenal,

. Students at the satellite campuses complete the ILE Common Core, a condensed ninety-day program without the M.M.A.S. option, in lieu of the traditional ten-month program. * School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS) provides post-ILE instruction on complex military issues at the strategic and operational levels. Students who complete the curriculum receive a Master of Military Arts and Sciences degree and are then assigned as high-level military planners. * School for Command Preparation (SCP) provides instruction for colonels, lieutenant colonels, and command sergeants major who have been selected for brigade or battalion command. Courses are normally three to four weeks and focus on special topics unique to assumption of command at the levels indicated. * School of Advanced Leadership and Tactics (SALT) provides officer continuing education towards developing the Scholar-Warrior-Leader from first lieutenant to selection for major. The result is mastery of branch-specific technical and tactical skills, staff processes in battalions and brigades, direct leadership and command competencies, and initial broadening opportunities. During World War I, the CGSC at Ft. Leavenworth was closed, from 1916 until 1920. Most of the school staff was sent to Langres, France, to open and conduct the Army General Staff College, which operated from November 1917 to December 1918. This compressed-curriculum school was needed to provide command and staff officers for the exponentially growing number of Army units; divisions, regiments, brigades, and battalions.

Master of Military Art and Science degree

The Command and General Staff College confers a Master of Military Art and Science (MMAS) professional degree to graduates of the School of Advanced Military Studies as well as graduates of the Command and General Staff School who complete a thesis-level research paper. The degree is accredited by the

for collegiate institutions in the midwestern United States. Military art and science is an interdisciplinary field of study. It encompasses many academic disciplines insofar as they relate to war, peace, and the employment of military forces; they include established academic fields of study such as sociology, history, engineering, psychology, politics, geography, science, ethics, economics, anthropology, and others. It may also include other professional fields of practice such as medicine and the law insofar as they interact with the military or are applied to military matters. It provides intellectual and theoretical depth to the military profession and its practitioners. Thus, a large proportion of research in the field of military art and science is done to address practical problems faced by practitioners. Purely academic research, however, is also an integral part of the field and is essential to ensure its continued intellectual vitality. The results of scholarship and research in the field may be of interest and may be helpful to political leaders and policymakers, military officers, as well as to scholars and the interested public. Military art generally deals with the human dimensions of war and military operations. Military art is generally subject to qualitative rather than quantitative investigation, although it does not exclude the use of quantitative methods when appropriate. It includes such areas as psychology, leadership, individual and collective behavior, culture, ethics, and problem-solving. History provides the context and depth for the study of military art. Military art also includes such specifically military subjects as strategy, operational art, and tactics. Military science generally deals with the technical dimensions of war and military operations. Military science is generally subject to quantitative rather than qualitative investigation, although qualitative methodologies are used when appropriate. It includes such areas as the technological military applications and equipment made possible by the physical sciences, various engineering disciplines, industrial management, logistics, electronic simulations, communications technologies, and transportation technologies. Mathematics is an important tool in the practice of military science and associated disciplines. Specific military applications include gunnery and ballistics, materials science technology for soldier protection, transportation technologies, and communications technologies. The interdisciplinary field of military art and science may be pictured as a "big umbrella" which encompasses other academic disciplines and fields of professional practice.

Notable people

Notable alumni

* Creighton Abrams (1949) *

Clara Leach Adams-Ender Clara Leach Adams-Ender (born July 11, 1939) is a retired United States Army officer who served as Chief of the United States Army Nurse Corps from September 1987 to August 1991. She was the first woman to receive her master's degree in military ...

(1976) * Henry H. Arnold (1929) *

Lloyd J. Austin III Lloyd James Austin III (born August 8, 1953) is a retired United States Army four-star general who, since his appointment on January 22, 2021, has served as the 28th United States secretary of defense. He is the first African American to serv ...

* Charles L. Bolte (1932) * Omar Bradley (1929) * Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. (1928) *

Richard E. Cavazos Richard Edward Cavazos (January 31, 1929 – October 29, 2017) was a United States Army four-star general. He was a Korean War recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross as a first lieutenant and advanced in rank to become the United States Ar ...

(1960) * Mark W. Clark (1935) *

J. Lawton Collins General Joseph Lawton Collins (May 1, 1896 – September 12, 1987) was a senior United States Army officer. During World War II, he served in both the Pacific and European Theaters of Operations, one of a few senior American commanders to do so. ...

(1933) * William E. DePuy (1946) * Jacob L. Devers (1925) * Roger H.C. Donlon (1971) *

Robert L. Eichelberger Robert Lawrence Eichelberger (9 March 1886 – 26 September 1961) was a general officer in the United States Army who commanded the Eighth United States Army in the Southwest Pacific Area during World War II. A 1909 graduate of the Unite ...

(1929) * Dwight D. Eisenhower (1925–26) * James M. Gavin (1942) *

Andrew Goodpaster Andrew Jackson Goodpaster (February 12, 1915 – May 16, 2005) was an American Army General. He served as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (SACEUR), from July 1, 1969, and Commander in Chief of the United States European Command (CI ...

(1943) * Stuart Heintzelman (1916) * Lewis Blaine Hershey (1933) *

Courtney Hodges General Courtney Hicks Hodges (January 5, 1887 – January 16, 1966) was a decorated senior officer in the United States Army who commanded First U.S. Army in the Western European Campaign of World War II. Hodges was a notable "mustang" office ...

(1925) * William M. Hoge (1928) * Michelle J. Howard (1998) *

Clarence R. Huebner Lieutenant General Clarence Ralph Huebner (November 24, 1888 – September 23, 1972) was a highly decorated senior officer of the United States Army who saw distinguished active service during both World War I and World War II. Perhaps his most ...

(1925) * Harold Keith Johnson (1949) *

Robert Kingston Robert Charles Kingston (July 16, 1928February 28, 2007) was a United States Army general who served as the commander of U.S. Central Command. Early life and education Kingston was born in Brookline, Massachusetts on July 16, 1928, and graduated ...

(1960) *

John C. H. Lee John Clifford Hodges Lee (1 August 1887 – 30 August 1958) was a career US Army engineer, who rose to the rank of lieutenant general and commanded the Communications Zone (ComZ) in the European Theater of Operations during World War II. A gra ...

(1918) * Kirk Lippold (1994) * Douglas MacArthur (1912) * Raymond S. McLain (1938) * George Marshall (1907) * Troy H. Middleton (1924) * Aubrey Newman (1943) * Lunsford E. Oliver (1928) * John McAuley Palmer (1910) *

George S. Patton George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France ...

Jr. (1924) * David Petraeus (1983) * Colin Powell (1968) *

Elwood Richard Quesada Elwood Richard Quesada, CB, CBE (April 13, 1904 – February 9, 1993), nicknamed "Pete", was a United States Air Force Lt. General, FAA administrator, and, later, a club owner in Major League Baseball. Early years Elwood Richard Quesada was bor ...

(1937) * Matthew Ridgway (1935) *

Bernard W. Rogers Bernard William Rogers (July 16, 1921 – October 27, 2008) was a United States Army general who served as the 28th Chief of Staff of the United States Army, and later as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, Europe and Commander in Chief, United Sta ...

(1954) * Richard J. Seitz (1950) *

Peter J. Schoomaker Peter Jan Schoomaker (born February 12, 1946) is a retired four-star general of the United States Army who served as the 35th Chief of Staff of the United States Army from August 1, 2003 to April 10, 2007. Schoomaker's appointment as Chief of S ...

(1982) * H. Norman Schwarzkopf (1969) * Walter Bedell Smith (1935) *

Carl Andrew Spaatz Carl Andrew Spaatz (born Spatz; June 28, 1891 – July 14, 1974), nicknamed "Tooey", was an American World War II general. As commander of Strategic Air Forces in Europe in 1944, he successfully pressed for the bombing of the enemy's oil produc ...

(1936) * Donn A. Starry (1960) * Joseph Warren Stilwell (1926) *

Gordon R. Sullivan Gordon Russell Sullivan (born September 25, 1937) is a retired United States Army general, who served as the 32nd Chief of Staff of the Army and as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Sullivan also served as acting Secretary of the Army. Afte ...

(1969) * Loree K. Sutton *

Maxwell D. Taylor Maxwell Davenport Taylor (August 26, 1901 – April 19, 1987) was a senior United States Army officer and diplomat of the mid-20th century. He served with distinction in World War II, most notably as commander of the 101st Airborne Division, n ...

(1935) * Maxwell R. Thurman (1967) * Hoyt Vandenberg (1936) * James Van Fleet (1918) * Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright IV (1931) * Albert Coady Wedemeyer (1936)

Notable foreign alumni

The college reports that 7,000 international students representing 155 countries have attended CGSC since 1894 and that more than 50 percent of CGSC International Military Student (IMS) graduates attain the rank of general. * General Carlos Prats, Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Interior and Defense Minister, Vice President of the Republic of Chile. * Minister of State General Mohammed F Abo Sak of Saudi Arabia * Prime Minister and General Kriangsak Chamanan of Thailand * General

Alfredo M. Santos Alfredo Manapat Santos (July 13, 1905 – February 7, 1990) was Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in 1962 to 1965, making him the first four-star general of the Philippines' armed forces. Early life Santos was born in Santa Cru ...

of the Philippines * Lieutenant General Rafael Ileto (former Secretary of the Department of National Defense) of the Philippines * Prime Minister and General

Tran Thien Khiem Tran may refer to: Arts, media, and entertainment * "Tran", a novel in the Janissaries series named for a fictional planet * Dr. Tran, an animated miniseries People * Trần (陳), a Vietnamese surname * Tran, member of the Nazi-era comedy duo ...

of South Vietnam * General Do Cao Tri of South Vietnam * General Hau Pei-tsun of the Republic of China (Taiwan) * President

Paul Kagame Paul Kagame (; born 23 October 1957) is a Rwandan politician and former military officer who is the 4th and current president of Rwanda since 2000. He previously served as a commander of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a Uganda-based rebel ...

of Rwanda * General Katumba Wamala of

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The ...

* Brigadier General Muhoozi Kainerugaba son of Ugandan president * General Yahya Khan of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

* General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq of Pakistan * General

Rahimuddin Khan Rahimuddin Khan (21 July 1926 – 22 August 2022) was a general of the Pakistan Army who served as the 4th Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee from 1984 to 1987, after serving as the 7th governor of Balochistan from 1978 to 1984. He also ...

of Pakistan * General Jehangir Karamat of Pakistan * General

Ashfaq Parvez Kayani General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani ( Urdu: ; born 20 April 1952), is a retired four-star general of the Pakistan Army who served as the 8th Chief of Army Staff , being appointed on 29 November 2007 after his predecessor Pervez Musharraf retired f ...

of Pakistan * General Eiji Kimizuka of Japan * General Hisham Jaber of Lebanon * General Krishnaswamy Sundarji of

Indian Army The Indian Army is the Land warfare, land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Arm ...

* Brigadier-General Lee Hsien Loong of

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

, 3rd

Prime Minister of Singapore The prime minister of Singapore is the head of government of the Republic of Singapore. The president appoints the prime minister, a Member of Parliament (MP) who in their opinion, is most likely to command the confidence of the majority o ...

* General Dieudonné Kayembe Mbandakulu of the Democratic Republic of the Congo * President Gaafar Nimeiry of Sudan * Lt. Colonel Anastasio Somoza Portocarrero of the Guardia Nacional de Nicaragua * General Nguyễn Hợp Đoàn of South Vietnam * General

Nguyễn Khánh Nguyễn Khánh (; 8 November 192711 January 2013) was a South Vietnamese military officer and Army of the Republic of Vietnam general who served in various capacities as head of state and prime minister of South Vietnam while at the head of a ...

of South Vietnam * General Phạm Văn Đồng of South Vietnam * Ministry/Chief of Army General Staff and General Ahmad Yani of Indonesia * President and General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia * General

Veljko Kadijević Veljko Kadijević ( sr-Cyrl, Вељко Кадијевић; 21 November 1925 – 2 November 2014) was a Serbian general of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA). He was the Minister of Defence in the Yugoslav government from 1988 until his resignatio ...

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

* General Antonio Domingo Bussi of Argentina * General Moeen U Ahmed of Bangladesh * General Amer Khammash of Jordan * General

Arne Dagfin Dahl Arne Dagfin Dahl (24 May 1894 – 26 October 1990) was a Norwegian military officer most renowned as the commander of the Alta Battalion during the fighting at Narvik in Northern Norway in 1940. Early and personal life Born in Kristiania on ...

of Norway * General Gustav Hägglund of Finland * General

Avigdor Kahalani Tat Aluf (Brigadier General) Avigdor Kahalani ( he, אביגדור קהלני, born 16 June 1944) is a former Israeli soldier and politician. Early life Avigdor Kahalani was born in Ness Ziona during the Mandate era. His parents, Moshe and Sa ...

of Israel * Lieutenant General

David Tevzadze David Tevzadze ( ka, დავით თევზაძე) (born 30 January 1949) is a retired Georgia (country), Georgian lieutenant general who was the country’s Minister of Defense from April 1998 to February 2004. Education and academic ca ...

of Georgia * Major General

Vladimer Chachibaia Vladimer Chachibaia ( ka, ვლადიმერ ჩაჩიბაია) (born 4 November 1971) is a Georgian lieutenant general (2019) and former Chief of Georgian Defense Forces from 20 December 2018 to 1 July 2020, the first to be appoin ...

of Georgia * Colonel

Nikoloz Janjgava Nikoloz "Nika" (Nick) Janjgava ( ka, ნიკოლოზ ��იკაჯანჯღავა; born 23 April 1970) is a Georgian major general, military historian and currently a deputy chief of general staff of the Defense Forces of Georgia. ...

of Georgia * General Moeen U Ahmed of

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...

* Général d'armée

René Imbot René Imbot (17 March 1925 - 19 February 2007) was a French general. In 1983 he was appointed as Head of the French Army. Two years later he reached the normal French army retirement age, but after the sinking of the ''Rainbow Warrior'' caused ...

, Chief of Staff of the French Army, General Director of DGSE, France * King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and a ...

* General

Abdulkadir Sheikh Dini General Abdulkadir Sheikh Dini ( so, Cabdulkaadir Sheekh Diini, ar, عبد القادر الشيخ ضئنئ) is a Somali politician and military official. He served as Chief of Army from March 2011 to March 2013, under both the Transitional Fe ...

of Somalia * Colonel

Ahmed Mohammed Ali Colonel Ahmed Mohammed Ali ( ar, أحمد محمد علي; also known as Ahmed Ali; born 19 November 1972) is the media adviser to the Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and the ex spokesperson of the Egyptian Army. He was appointed first A ...

of Egypt * Lieutenant General Sean McCann of Ireland * General Mahesh Senanayake of

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

* General Bipin Rawat of India, Chief of Defence Staff * Lieutenant General

Mykhailo Zabrodskyi Mykhailo Vitaliyovych Zabrodskyi (; born 24 January 1973) is a Ukrainian politician and retired military officer. A member of the European Solidarity party, he was elected to the Verkhovna Rada in the 2019 election. Zabrodskyi is a former com ...

of Ukraine

Notable faculty and deputy commandants

* Robert Arter (Deputy Commandant 1977–79) *

(faculty 1970–71) * Roger H.C. Donlon (1978–81) *

Frederick M. Franks Jr. Frederick Melvin Franks Jr. (born 1 November 1936) is a retired general of the United States Army. He commanded the Gulf War coalition VII Corps in the highly successful "Left Hook" maneuver against fourteen Iraqi divisions, a number of which w ...

(Deputy commandant 1985–87) *

Glenn K. Otis General Glenn Kay Otis (March 15, 1929 – February 21, 2013) was a United States Army four-star general who served as Commanding General, United States Army Training and Doctrine Command from 1981 to 1983, and as Commander in Chief, United Stat ...

Deputy Chief of Staff 1976–78 * Colin Powell Deputy Commanding General of the Combined Arms Combat Development Activity (1982–83) *

Deputy Commandant 1987–88 *

Adna R. Chaffee Jr. Adna Romanza Chaffee Jr. (September 23, 1884 – August 22, 1941) was an officer in the United States Army, called the "Father of the Armored Force" for his role in developing the U.S. Army's tank forces. Early life and education Chaffee was bor ...

1919–20 *

(1929–33) *

Walter Krueger Walter Krueger (26 January 1881 – 20 August 1967) was an American soldier and general officer in the first half of the 20th century. He commanded the Sixth United States Army in the South West Pacific Area during World War II. He rose fr ...

(1901–12) * Lucian Truscott 1934–40

Commandants

Since 1976, the commandant of the college has been a

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on th ...

. David Petraeus was the commandant between 2005 and 2007, immediately before going to command the Multi-National Force – Iraq.

Photo gallery

File:International students, class of 1998-99 (United States Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavensworth, Kansas).jpg, International Students of Class 1998–99 File:International students, class of 1998-99 (United States Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavensworth, Kansas) on a class trip to Burns & McDonnell Engineering.jpg, International Students of Class 1998–99 on a Kansas company visit File:International students, class of 1998-99 (United States Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavensworth, Kansas) on a class trip to Gettysburg.jpg, International Students of Class 1998–99 Gettysburg visit

References

External links

*
Command and General Staff College, Combined Arms Research Library

Command and General Staff College, Combined Arms Research Library Digital Library
{{Coord, 39, 20, 39, N, 94, 54, 57, W, format=dms, display=title, type:edu_region:US-KS 1881 establishments in the United States 1881 in Kansas Staff colleges of the United States Universities and colleges in Kansas Education in Leavenworth County, Kansas Military in Kansas Fort Leavenworth United States Army schools Buildings and structures in Leavenworth County, Kansas