Details

Staff Rides and Field Trips

The Strategic Studies Program continues to plan and execute a large number of trips and staff rides. Our many excursions allow on-site views of military operations, historical events and museums that offer perspectives a classroom often cannot deliver. The staff ride tradition stretches back to the 19th-century Prussian General Staff and concentrates on more than just operational history. Rather, a staff ride will focus on important issues of leadership and decision-making that have applications well beyond the field of strategic studies. Students, faculty and guests examine battles, campaigns and even entire wars in order to actively engage in a dialogue with history.

Previous Trips

 2011-12

  • Fall Staff Ride 2011: Ten Crucial Days, Trenton and Princeton, October 1-2, 2011 
  • International Staff Ride 2012: The Battle of Britain, March 17-21, 2012
  • Spring Staff Ride 2012: Shenandoah Valley Campaign, May 6-7, 2012

2010-11

  • Fall Staff Ride 2010: The Philadelphia Campaign and Valley Forge, September 25-26, 2010 
  • International Staff Ride 2011: The Peninsular War in Spain, March 13-17, 2011
  • Spring Staff Ride 2011: Yorktown Campaign, May 22-23, 2011

2009-10

  • Fall Staff Ride 2009: The British Burning of Washington, October 17-18, 2009 
  • International Staff Ride 2010: The Fall of France, March 13-18, 2009
  • Spring Staff Ride 2010: The Appomattox Campaign, May 23-24, 2010

2008-09

  • Spring Staff Ride 2009: Shenandoah Valley: The 1864 Valley Campaign, May 18-19, 2009
  • Visit to Naval Station Norfolk and Amphibious Base Little Creek, April 10, 2009
  • Marine Corps Challenge at Quantico, April 3-4, 2009
  • International Staff Ride: Frontline of the Cold War: Berlin and Prague, March 13-20, 2009
  • Fall Staff Ride: Harpers Ferry, September 26-28, 2008

2007-08

  • Fall Staff Ride: Battle of Yorktown, September 28-30 2007
  • International Staff Ride: Spanish Civil War, March 19-25, 2008
  • Spring Staff Ride: The Siege of Petersburg, May 16-17, 2008
  • Rob Knauer's Marine Corps Events Webpage

2006-07

  • Spring Staff Ride, May 21-22, 20012
  • Strat Shooting Trip, April 14, 2007
  • Visit to Norfolk Naval Station, April 13, 2007
  • SAIS-U.S. Marine Corps Leadership Training, April 6-7, 2007
  • International Staff Ride:  The Battle for Sicily, March 12-18, 2007
  • Visit to Quantico, Novemeber 17, 2006
  • Visit to Aberdeen Proving Grounds, September 21, 2006
  • Fall Staff Ride: Ft. Ticonderoga and Crown Point, September 15-17, 2006

2005-06

  • Spring Staff Ride: Antietam, May 22-23, 2006
  • Visit to Quantico, May 19, 2006
  • Visit to Norfolk Naval Station, April 21, 2006
  • International Staff Ride: Irregular Warfare in Ireland, March 19-25, 2006
  • Fall Staff Ride: Brandywine and Valley Forge, November 5-6, 2005

2004-05

  • Spring Staff Ride: Shenandoah Valley, May 9-10, 2005
  • International Staff Ride: Cassino, March 12-18, 2005
  • Fall Staff Ride: Fredericksburg, October 24, 2004

2003-04

  • Spring Staff Ride: Antietam, May 15-16, 2004
  • SAIS-U.S. Marine Corps Leadership Training, April 8-9, 2004
  • International Staff Ride: Waterloo 2004
  • Fall Staff Ride: Gettysburg, October 18, 2003

2002-03

  • Spring Staff Ride: Battle of Cedar Creek, May 18-19, 2003
  • SAIS-U.S. Marine Corps Leadership Venture, April 9-10, 2003
  • International Staff Ride: Normandy, March 8-14, 2003
  • Fall Staff Ride: Battle of Fredericksburg, October 20, 2002

2001-02

  • Capabilities Exercise, Camp Lejeune, April 22, 2002
  • International Staff Ride: Franco-Prussian War, March 16-22, 2002
  • Antietam, September 23, 2001

2000-01

  • Yorktown, May 20-21, 2001
  • International Staff Ride: Gallipoli, March 17-24, 2001
  • Joint Readiness Training Excercise, February 5, 2001