Online Education

In my work as an Air Force pilot during the seven years since graduating college, I’ve continually found ways to show how the tools of a professional geographer can be used to help my organization do its job better. My experiences in combat since the fall of 20xx have only reinforced this assertion. A revolution, driven by information, is underway in war fighting. The ability to collect and analyze information is as important to today’s soldier as mass and maneuver was to Clauswitz. Battlespace situational awareness and the subsequent ability to shape the battlespace is an intrinsically geographic problem. During WW I, observers in hot air balloons and biplanes handsketched the location of enemy emplacements. That ‘eye-in-the-sky’ evolved into modern satellite imagery and signals intelligence. Historically, the wealth of collected data has been diminished by the time and expertise necessary to analyze it and the organizational stovepipes through which it was disseminated. In contrast, Operation Enduring Freedom saw the first use of real-time sensor-to-shooter links over the mountains of Afghanistan. Unmanned USAF Predator aircraft, hosting a suite of multispectral sensors, were deployed to loiter over and survey areas of enemy activity. Decisionmakers and front-line operators used those dynamic images to swiftly identify and attack the enemy. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), for the first time, deployed personnel to front-line units. NGA teams’ know-how and communication suites allowed combat commanders to reach back and exploit all of the agency’s spatial data and technical expertise. Commenting on this theme in NGA’s Pathfinder magazine, Major General Roger Over states, “That’s exactly what I wanted, but I didn’t know that until you showed me.” As a geographer, I understand that our community views problem-solving through a unique lens. GIS gives the professional geographer powerful tools to collect, analyze, and exploit spatial information. Unfortunately, many leaders and decision-makers are unaware of the speed and flexibility the geographer can bring to problem solving. I’ve served as an Air Force pilot for the past six years and have logged several hundred combat hours during operations in Southwest Asia. I’ve experienced first-hand the power of well-applied spatial data in battle. During mission planning for a flight to a hostile dirt landing zone in southern Afghanistan, I used NIMA’s computerized fly-by products to familiarize my crew with the area. Squadron tacticians merged our planned route and altitudes with images based on DTED and satellite data. These images gave me the invaluable experience of, virtually, having been there before. Later in the same mission, adverse weather blocked our planned route of flight. Using his onboard laptop, my navigator overlaid the day’s air coordination plan depicting air refueling tracks and combat ‘kill-boxes’ with a tactical chart of the area. We safely avoided those danger zones and successfully completed the mission. My expertise in flying, particularly airlift operations, puts me in a position to appreciate both the support our mission receives from geographers today and to envision the possibilities that exist through technical advances and more flexible organizational collaboration. I think that the most significant roadblocks to realizing these possibilities are fiscal constraints and ignorance within my own professional community about what the professional geographer brings to the fight. Personally, I can do little to affect Congressional funding. However, my military experience, wedded with a more advanced background in GIS, would help me to bridge the military and geospatial communities. GIS and the geographers’ approach to problem solving promises decision makers, at all levels, unprecedented situational awareness across any layer of the battlespace. I don’t expect the military to begin training squadrons of GIS wizards. However, it’s become increasingly important that a broader cross-section of people within our force understands how individual pieces of the puzzle can benefit from the geographer’s tools. That message can be delivered through cooperation among agencies like the Air Force’s Air University, the Air Mobility Warfare Center, the NGA, and Mythic University’s e-Education Institute. I imagine a ‘geoinfo-awareness’ course for officers attending Army Command and General Staff college or the Air Force Weapons Instructor school, proctored by a capabilities expert from NGA, and hosted on-line by our own geography department. The on-line format would allow an infinitely customizable curriculum outlaying the power of filtering information and solving problems within a spatial context. Moreover, the on-line forum, unconstrained by classroom space or time zones, would both enable and encourage professional collaboration across the military’s often rigid organizational and functional lines. That kind of collaboration, linked with an awareness of capabilities, yields success when the ever-changing demands of conflict require innovative solutions. I’ve articulated my professional motivation and logic for pursuing an on-line MGIS degree through Mythic University’s innovative program. More personally, I’m excited to find this opportunity to become a more expert geographer while continuing my active duty military service. My experience as an Air Force pilot has been both enriching and adventurous, but I miss the intellectual challenges I faced as an undergrad. I see unlimited opportunities to put my professional experience and academic interest to good use, and the MGIS program promises a means to do so.