Air University awarded its first doctorate degree Monday to an airman enrolled in one of the schools at its main campus on the grounds of Maxwell AFB, Ala. Lt. Col. Tadd Sholtis, deputy director of public affairs for Air Combat Command at JB Langley-Eustis, Va., received his doctorate of philosophy in military strategy. Sholtis was enrolled at AU’s School of Advanced Air and Space Studies. Traditionally the schools at Maxwell, like the SAASS, Air War College, and Air Command and Staff College, have awarded master’s degrees, not doctorates. At the same time, airmen have earned doctorate degrees from AU’s Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, for many years. Hank Dasinger, AU chief of academic affairs, said the doctoral program that Sholtis was a part of “reinforces the idea that we are a military school and a university,” while allowing airmen to pursue their doctorate degrees without being away from their functional areas.
When Donald Trump begins his second term as president in January, national security law experts anticipate he may return to his old habit of issuing orders to the military via social media, a practice which could cause confusion in the ranks.