Military's war colleges take steep budget hits - Merrill D’Arezzo, Medill News Service

As the Defense Department grapples with cutbacks across its broad budget, one of the military’s premiere war colleges is feeling the pinch, with a funding drop of 29 percent in the past few years. But some critics say that even at reduced levels, professional military education is still receiving more than enough funding. Dr. David Tretler, a professor and former dean at the National War College, said that school offers an intensive 10-month higher education training program. The courses include strategy, ethics and leadership as well as war and statecraft and non-military instruments of power, which Collins said require up to 80 hours of classwork each. But NDU’s total budget request for fiscal 2015 is $73.6 million for fiscal 2015, down by $29.4 million since 2010. http://www.navytimes.com/article/20141014/EDU/310140041/Military-s-war-colleges-take-steep-budget-hits