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Colombia The Military Education System
In the 1980s, the military education system continued
to play
a critical role in the formation of a professional officer
corps.
With the exception of officers trained in medicine or law,
all
commissioned officers were graduates of one of the three
service
academies. The Military Cadet School, the army's service
academy,
represented the backbone of the military's professional
education
system. The school's rigorous training program ranged from
three to
five years, depending upon the entrant's prior level of
education.
Reportedly, coursework in military science was emphasized
during a
cadet's final year of study. Beginning in the 1960s,
increased
emphasis was placed on courses dealing with national
security and
international relations. Fields of specialization included
economics, engineering, and international law and
diplomatic
studies.
The navy's service academy, known simply as the Naval
Academy,
was established in 1938 in Cartagena. It offered a
four-year course
for youth who planned a career in either the navy, the
marine
corps, or the merchant marine. Navy cadets spent nearly a
year at
sea on the navy's sail training ship. The Air Force Cadet
School,
located in Cali and opened in 1933, placed primary
emphasis on the
cadets' technical training.
The requirements for admission to the service academies
included being a Colombian male by birth, having a minimum
of two
years' secondary school education, being between eighteen
and
twenty years of age, and being unmarried. In addition to
the
physical examination that candidates were required to pass
before
admission, comprehensive examinations were given in
history,
geography, mathematics, and Spanish. Performance on these
examinations helped determine the candidate's placement in
the
program.
Postacademy professional training--coordinated by the
command
of the BIM--was provided at a number of schools. In the
1980s, the
completion of a number of the schools' programs had become
a
requirement for a successful military career. The Lancers
School
(Escuela de Lanceros), created during the 1950s, provided
specialized training in counterinsurgency strategy and
tactics.
Completion of a one-year course at the school reportedly
was
required of all army personnel before promotion to first
lieutenant. Each of the branches of the army--infantry,
cavalry,
artillery, engineering, and combat support
services--operated its
own applications school, which offered a forty-week
training
program required for promotion to the rank of captain.
Members of all three armed services were eligible to
attend the
Superior War College (Escuela Superior de Guerra).
Completion of a
one-year command and general staff course offered by the
college
was required for promotion to the rank of lieutenant
colonel.
Completion of an eleven-month course that emphasized the
formulation of national security policy and analysis of
national
and international affairs was required for promotion to
the rank of
general or admiral. In addition, an eleven-month course
taught at
the college, known as the Higher Military Studies Course
(Curso de
Altos Estudios Militares), was required of all
personnel--usually
officers holding the rank of major or lieutenant
commander--before
they were eligible for general staff assignments. A select
number
of Colombian officers also received advanced training in
special
programs for foreign military personnel that were offered
by the
United States military's professional schools.
Military officers who had received advanced
professional
degrees but who had not completed the Superior War
College's
general staff course, had to complete the special
four-month
Military Information Course. Another special course
offered by the
Superior War College was the six-month National Defense
Information
Course. The course, attended mainly by representatives of
Colombia's governmental agencies and other civilian
organizations,
was designed to provide basic information on the
military's mission
and organization as well as to familiarize civilian
personnel with
the military's perspectives on national policy.
Data as of December 1988
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