West Point is going to war. There was a time when West Pointers regularly marched the globe, outside American combat, to learn from world military affairs as reconnaissance for our own future fights. One historian found that the American military went abroad on such trips over 150 times in the antebellum period alone. Following this tradition, this week, a detachment of cadets and faculty with the Modern War Institute (MWI) at West Point are in Sri Lanka. This encounter could be the most important military education these emerging warriors will ever know. Mastery of war requires us to not just be content with looking far back into military history via books and archives. We must seek out experiences and knowledge on more recent and ongoing events as well.
http://warontherocks.com/2016/07/to-study-modern-war-there-is-no-substitute-for-going/
