Growing Strategic Thinkers in the Air National Guard

The Air National Guard is struggling to develop leaders that have the right combination of experience, training, and education strategic thinkers prepared to work at the highest level of strategy and policy-making. General Craig McKinley, Chief of the National Guard Bureau, perceiving a shortage of strategic thinkers in the National Guard, committed to build(ing) a bench of future leaders who are ready to step into key positions as needs and opportunities arise. Residence senior developmental education and many advanced civilian degree programs facilitate the transition from the tactical world to the strategic realm. Unfortunately, only about 10 percent of the Air National Guard colonels through major generals have residence professional military education and only 58 percent in those ranks have advanced academic degrees. Most of the Air National Guard bench lacks the academic tools and credentials to operate with maximum effectiveness at the highest levels of strategy and policy- making.To build a bench of well-prepared strategic leaders, the Air National Guard must put officers that have tactical experience, residence senior developmental education, and advanced academic degrees into senior leader positions. One way to achieve this is to create a system whereby every officer selected for 0-7 attends senior developmental education before becoming a general.