Is the operational defense reflected in the education to become an officer?

This paper examines whether the American officer’s education at West Point and the Swedish officer’s education at the Military Academy Karlberg have adapted their history of the military art education in accordance to the new requirements of the Armed Forces and its focus on the operational defense. Sweden is evolving towards an operational defense and so is the United States. This in turn requires that training and education keep up with the changes. The National Defense College in Sweden do not focus the teaching of advanced history, which happened beforet he invention of the engine, in the officer’s training program, while the American education is rather advanced, with special focus on events taken place in the 19th century up to the Cold War. The Swedish history of the military art education is more of a philosophical and introductory character resulting in less military historical knowledge. The American education is more focused on dates, battles and events, making the West Point education both more profound and extensive in these dimensions in comparison with the Swedish education. However, it is very doubtful that 19th century military history is useful for a commanding officer during an operation, for example in Afghanistan. Having knowledge about the history of the military art’s development is important to be able to understand the evolution of the Armed Forces, but having knowledge of the number of battalions and name of the commander at the Battle of Austerlitz is of less importance. This paper compares the Swedish and the American history of the military art education in order to analyze the degree of adaption to the new operational defense