The Staff Ride as Reflective Practicum – Impressions and Experiences of the Faculty of Military Sciences and Maynooth University

Abstract

This chapter will take a close look at the function of battlefield tours, or staff rides, in the academic schooling of aspiring officers. It will apply the concept of the reflective practitioner, as developed by Donald Schön, to military education in general and staff rides in particular. Staff rides should establish a learning environment that allows for maximum student involvement, a non-hierarchical exchange of views and experiences and the positioning of the teacher as coach and enabler. This is the ambition of the staff rides within the bachelor course War Studies in the Faculty of Military Sciences in the Netherlands and in the Irish cadet and officers’ courses. The staff rides of the Faculty of Military Sciences are designed to expose students to the military, political, moral, as well as legal questions that arise in highly complex conflicts. The rationale behind the Irish staff rides is that they enhance the classroom experience and allow cadets and officers to gain first-hand experience of specific battlefield conditions. Professional military artistry cannot be learned solely through technical training and learning rules by heart, but it can be experienced in the reflective practicum. With the staff ride, we try to get as close as possible to the highly complex practice of conflict and war by visiting the sites and real contexts in which a conflict took place. The set-up of a good staff ride is a function of the aim to encourage reflection, ethical aspects, questions behind the questions and the confrontation of practice with values and deeply held personal convictions.