Review: Raising the Bar – The School of Advanced Military Studies and the Introduction of Operational Art in U.S. Army Doctrine

David Maxwell

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Colonel Kevin M. Benson’s Raising the Bar: The School of Advanced Military Studies and the Introduction of Operational Art in U.S. Army Doctrine, 1983–1994 is more than a history of a military school. It is a study of intellectual reform inside a great institution, key for the U.S. armed forces’ development. The book shows how ideas, when paired with disciplined education, can reshape doctrine and change the conduct of war.

I have to admit my professional bias. I graduated from The Advanced Military Studies Program of SAMS in 1996, and I believe it shaped my thinking for the remainder of my Army career to this day. Benson tells the story of how the School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS) emerged at a moment of doctrinal crisis. In the late 1970s, the Army struggled with the limits of tactical thinking. The service had mastered the mechanics of battle but often failed to connect tactical actions to strategic objectives. Brigadier General Huba Wass de Czege saw the gap. Drawing lessons from World War II and from the disproportionate number of Command and General Staff College graduates who later became senior commanders, he argued that the Army required a cadre of officers educated in the operational level of war.