ROTC Cadets paid to learn languages

[Surferbeetle]

I majored in biology. That qualifies me to explain glucolysis on a sheet of paper to anyone who cares to listen (probably nobody). I think the undergraduate education should be, first, a liberal education that lays the foundation for the professional officer. But since undergrads generally choose to major in something - and many of us put very little thought into it - we might want to identify certain majors/minors that we value more than others.
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Schmedlap & John T. Fishel,

Multidisciplinary teams are fun to work on because a liberal arts background is helpful with understanding appropriate context for solutions and a quantitative background helps with creating testable and functional solutions. Overweighting a team in just one arena can lead to the stereotypical solutions that we enjoy poking fun at from time to time, i.e. granola science and nerd sociology.

My first degree was in biology, and it included 3 years of chemistry and german. When I left active duty for the civilian world the biology was enough to get me into a genetics lab, but the chem background was the real money-earning portion of my academic training and it allowed me to move to a chem lab. From there it was back to school for the engineering, solt for spanish, and then later the mba. I have needed it all in order to be semi-effective at IW.

The SWJ - IW definition thread has been interesting to watch as the MCO and IW camps maneuver. Irregular Warfare Joint Operating Concept, Version 1.0, 11 September 2007 has a section that I found worth ripping off and incorporating into my personal definition… IW is the use of any means available to attrite, influence, and or exhaust an opponent in order to have him succumb to your will. The use of multidisciplinary teams in DIME operations are needed for IW success and so it’s good to have access to the Liberal Arts and Quantitative Science crowd to solve things…

Regards,

Steve