SOPHY GARDNER Sophy Gardner is a PhD student at the University of Exeter, and a former RAF Wing Commander of twenty-years experience. You can follow her on Twitter @sophygardner In many ways, the newly created RAF’s approach to the resource and recruitment challenges of the early inter-war period was highly modern, presaging later educational reforms such… Read More ‘Your Boy’s Future’ – Apprentice Training and Social Mobility in the Early Royal Air Force

PAUL BARNES Paul Barnes is a British Army Warrant Officer and the current Army Visiting Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute. His research focuses on adaptability and the diffusion of innovation in contact. He has seen operational service in the Balkans, Northern Ireland, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and holds an MA in Military History from… Read More Encouraging the horse…

This post is part of a special feature on military learning co-hosted with the Wavell Room, a blog & forum for discussions about contemporary British military thought. ANDY NETHERWOOD Sqn Ldr Andy Netherwood joined the RAF as a pilot in 1993 and completed tours flying the C130 and C17 as well as staff tours in… Read More Fools and Cowards

ROD THORNTON In sharp contrast to the emphasis apparent within the defence establishments of some of its closest allies and partners, the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) seems to be ignoring the value of professional military education (PME). There is no mention at all of the role of PME in the two most recent… Read More Professional Military Education in the United Kingdom: An Asset Ignored

THE EDITORS Military learning is a hot topic. It comes in many different guises: ‘conceptual development’, ‘the intellectual edge’, ‘strategic adaptability’, or ‘innovative by design.’ Yet behind the buzzwords and the dogma, what do we really mean when talk about learning in a military context? And how can we do it more effectively, without sacrificing… Read More Military Learning in the 21st Century