Page 6 - Cormorant Issue 18

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Editorial
by Wg Cdr Brassington and Wg Cdr Johnson
What has ACSC ever done for us?
On a super cial level, one might view the output of ACSC 18 as somewhere in the region of one million written words, the majority of which will never be referenced. However, this trite statement belies
the effort it took to complete the course and does little to explain the journey undertaken by 261 senior of cers from 49 countries, navigating their way towards a greater understanding of joint, integrated and multi-national defence issues. And of course the challenges presented along the way are individual in nature. Whereas some struggled to gain and maintain academic focus, others found it harder to contribute in a social context. Nevertheless, the sense of
relief, nay achievement, upon nishing the course is undoubtedly common to all and therefore what follows is a re ection on the experience of ACSC 18.
Right from the off, the global context set the scene for many discussion points. The 2014 NATO summit in Wales saw a pledge by many countries to work towards committing 2% of GDP to Defence, against a backdrop of scal austerity in Europe and increasing concern over the con ict in eastern Ukraine. This proved to be a subject of considerable discourse whilst visiting NATO member countries during Regional Security Exercises (RSE) and it came as no surprise that the topic of a resurgent Russia cropped up routinely throughout the year. The impact
of globalisation on international security also featured heavily, with the ongoing situation in Syria and Iraq offering plenty to discuss as well as the aftermath of the Libyan intervention. In addition, the UK political landscape provided debate over the future with both a referendum on Scottish independence and a general election falling within the course’s timeline. Although an unstable
world is not a new phenomenon, live events continually underlined the relevance of studying the international system and the associated role of the military.
Over the course of 46 weeks a range of subjects
were covered in varying depths, including leadership, management, strategy and policy, and military operationsandcampaigning. Inaddition,students were exposed to the capabilities of each others’ services which included a ight experience on the RAF’s new Voyager air -refuelling platform, putting to sea with the Navy’s amphibious task group and getting muddy with the Army on Salisbury Plain. Time spent
in the Cormorant Hall lecture theatre was rewarded with several outstanding moments. These included
a presentation on leadership from former England Rugby and Olympic Team GB coach Clive Woodward, an examination of risk with respect to the Challenger shuttle disaster, and even more astonishing, a lecturer who insisted on using an overhead projector, even though his slides were available in Powerpoint. During the year, all three UK service chiefs addressed the course with wise words for the future, whilst Commander Joint Forces actually described it. His vision of a world of robot gun crews and big data is re ected in the technologically themed academic articles presented in this magazine.
Yet whilst the nature of the course would still be recognisable to any alumni, its character has changed. For the rst time in many years, a major and somewhat controversial rewrite of the nal term was enacted, resulting in 3 in-depth modules, namely ‘Ends’, ‘Ways’, and ‘Means’, being delivered concurrently in the last term, with the ACSC 18 cohort streamed into thirds and each student completing one of the modules. Of course, this led to some good-natured banter throughout the nal phase, mainly revolving around the disappointment of the ‘Ends’ and ‘Means’ students at having to prepare a 20 minute presentation instead of taking part in the full-time three-week operational-level headquarters exercise. But overall, and despite the time made available for ‘self-re ection’ which certainly appeared inversely proportional to the size of the essential reading list and the proximity of the next deadline, most people would agree that they have learned something on the course, and not necessarily just the things that are quanti able such as academic ability.
The opportunity to learn about other students, services, agencies and multi-national forces through interaction at Shrivenham in the classroom, on the sports eld, at one of the many social events, or on one of the overseas exercise destinations (Prague, Normandy, Paris, Berlin, Hamburg, Rome, Estonia, Latvia, Georgia, Oman, Indonesia and the US) has contributed to friendships and relationships that will hopefully thrive and be of bene t in the future. For, as was touted in several lectures, you can’t surge trust.