What would more education do for you?

By David W. Kuhns Sr., Northwest Guardian

The Army has always encouraged Soldiers to get an education. It is sometimes hard to get a handle on why.

More education is better than less. We know that — instinctively. But, after you get past learning the basic skills of reading, writing and doing basic arithmetic it is harder to describe the value to most Soldiers.

I am talking about civilian education, of course. The Army has a wonderful system of professional education. Both enlisted Soldiers and officers progress through series of planned educational experiences that develop them into better leaders, better staff members, better technicians.

There are civilian courses that fill the same need. Long ago, while working on the newspaper at Fort Hood, Texas, I took a photography course from a local college. It was duty related, so the Army paid for the class. I learned a lot and I am sure my performance as an Army journalist reflected the value of the Army’s investment.

But how would my duty performance have been improved by my working toward a degree in, say, fish and wildlife management?

I got most of my education — the non-Army part — before I enlisted. I was the classic baby boomer, professional student. I started out in college, like many of my peers, focused on maintaining a student deferment and avoiding the draft. But I didn’t really have a post-college goal.

I took the classes I enjoyed; I took the classes they said I had to take; and I didn’t take anything else. I look back now and joke that I majored in the path of least resistance.

I had a great summertime job fighting forest fires. It paid enough to get me through a school year at the University of Oregon. I ended up staying there, as an undergraduate, until the university forced me to take a degree. I received a bachelor’s degree in history and general social science. What do you do with that? I went to graduate school for a couple of years, working on a teaching certificate, then learned I didn’t like teaching. I ended up in the Army — the best move of my young life.

That degree in history certainly didn’t do anything directly to make me a better artillery Soldier. It rarely had any direct effect on my later work in public affairs, either.

Of course having a degree was helpful, from a career standpoint. I got extra points when I was competing for promotion to sergeant and staff sergeant. Having a degree was something to set me apart from some of my peers when later DA boards were considering me for senior NCO promotions, too.

But why should the Army care?

Well, there are a lot of intangibles to continuing education.

Part of it is our self-image. All those college classes I took didn’t directly change decisions I made as an NCO. But that background helped give me the self-confidence to effectively lead the men and women placed in my charge.

There is no way to know what little piece of education will drift into relevance later, either. I took a couple years of German, because I needed a foreign language. A dozen years later, I pulled that old knowledge out to work better with German soldiers on joint exercises.

When I was a young sergeant I was mentored by a great NCO, Command Sgt. Maj. Douglas Hayes, the 1st Cavalry Division’s top NCO. He was an old school, hard as nails, veteran of the school of hard knocks. He was also a decorated combat veteran and an inspirational leader, one who rose to the top of his profession. He did it all without much formal education — and I think he regretted it.

My old command sergeant major was self conscious about the way he wrote. He hated that he lacked knowledge of history and the arts. He was a great Soldier, but he knew he could have been even better. The Army recognizes that there are some benefits you can’t put your finger on. Command Sgt. Maj. Hayes knew it. We all know it.

More education is just better than less.