Poli 378 - American National Security

Fall 2010

Assignment 1. Due Tuesday, September 14 at the beginning of class.

Introduction

This assignment is designed to acquaint you with the backgrounds of the top leadership of the uniformed services, building on some of the topics discussed in lecture. You will look at the current members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Commanders of the Unified Combatant Commands.

For this assignment you will identify the combat specialization of the highest ranking officers in the US military. Specifically, you should identify the combat specialization of the following individuals:

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Joint Chiefs (i.e., the service chiefs)
The commanders of all the unified combatant commands

Combat Specializations of the Armed Services

The major combat specializations for each service are:

Air Force: Bomber pilot, Fighter pilot, Ballistic missiles, Transport pilot.
Army: Infantry, Armor, Artillery, Airborne, Aviation, Special operations.
Navy: Surface warfare, Submarines, Aviation, SEAL.
Marines: Infantry, Aviation.

Identifying Combat Specializations

There are 3 main "clues" about the combat specialization of an officer:

Any special training needed for that combat specialization. (i.e., flight school to become a fighter pilot).
The first duty assignment of the officer.
The first command of the officer (what kind of unit did s/he command). A first ground unit command would probably be a platoon or a company. A first air unit command would probably be a squadron. A first sea unit command would probably be a surface ship or a submarine.

Often all 3 of these clues will lead to the same conclusion.

A Level Playing Field. I realize that while some of you may have a lot of knowledge about the military, others do not. For example, if an Army officer is in a cavalry unit, she is not riding horses. She is either riding in armored vehicles (tanks, mechanized infantry combat vehicles), or helicopters. I don't expect everyone in the class to know things like this. If you have a question, ask me for help!

Tasks for the Assignment

Go to the Department of Defense website. You can reach this through the link on the front page of the class website. Find the bios for the members of the JCS, and for the commanders in chief of each unified combatant command. Use the information in the bios to fill out a table that has the following columns:

(1)

Name, Rank, and Command

(2)

Special Training

(3)

Combat Specialization of First Duty Assignment

(4)

Combat Specialization of First Command

(5)

Combat Specialization of the Individual

(6)

Reference

Note that the special training is training for a combat specialization. You will discover that virtually all of the officers have gone to various military schools or programs (for example, some may have attended the Naval War College). You will also find a number have advanced academic degrees. These kinds of assignments are not what you are seeking. It is also possible that an officer has not had any specialized training in his combat specialization; in that case, the correct answer for that person is "none."

For the most part, finding the information for these people will not be that difficult. For service chiefs, start with the JCS website. Information on the unified combatant commands can be found through that website as well. If you cannot find a biography this way, then try to find the name and the service affiliation of the combatant commander. Then go to the website of the service and search there. You could also try a search engine.

FYI, last week I was able to find information on all the people. But it is possible that you may encounter difficulties.

Once you have the information, you will have to determine the combat specialization. For some people, this will be very easy to do. Others may be ambiguous and you will have to use some judgment in drawing your conclusions.

Your grade will be determined on two things:

The number of correct answers in columns 1 (name, rank, and command) through 4 (combat specialization of first command).
Your judgment about the combat specialization (column 5).

Under appropriate circumstances, more than one answer may be scored as correct for combat specialization.

Include specifics about the training, first duty assignment, and first command. For example, if the officer's first command is a fighter squadron, include the designation of that squadron. This information can help earn you partial credit.

You should also include the references you used for the assignment in column 6 of the table. In most cases this will be a link to the biography of the officer. If you use additional sources, they should be included as well. Although this may seem to be a small matter, failure to include proper references is an honor code violation, and neither you nor I want to have that happen.

A Hint for Printing. If you put the information into Excel you will probably find that when you print it out, it takes a lot of pages and is difficult to follow. You will probably find that printing is easier if you select the entire spreadsheet and past it into Word (with the print orientation of landscape), and print the resulting Word file.

Honor Code.This assignment is pledged. You may not consult with anyone outside your group about it. If you have any questions about the assignment, please contact Dr. Stoll.