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Video by Michael Tate

Staff Rides and PME - Bringing Critical Thinking to the Battlefield

Air University Public Affairs

Dec. 7, 2023 | 01:01:05

Dr. Bradford Wineman, Dr. Christopher Stowe, & Dr. Paul Gelpi

The historical staff ride has for over a century been lauded as a preferred, if not exclusive, pedagogical tool in the education of military professionals. Most current rides conducted by Professional Military Education (PME) institutions adhere to one of two methodological approaches: the character-driven (or role-player) ride and that which adopts the “Socratic dialogue” method. Each has its devotees within the PME establishment, and each offers advantages in its approach. Yet, since the dawn of the twenty-first century, criticism of staff riding has emerged to challenge these exercises’ utility. This panel acknowledges the merits of existing methods, yet it places its emphasis upon exploring alternate ways to execute the present and future ride. Interestingly, it does not favor an abandonment of past practices in toto. Indeed, it encourages the military schoolhouse to return to the intellectual spirit of staff riding as informed by the Clausewitzean concept of re-enactment—the insertion of the student in the place of an historical actor, without prejudice of what actually occurred—as a means better to execute PME’s mission of developing critical thinkers and creative problem-solvers.