Air Command and Staff College<\/a> and later stayed on to help administer the course.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cIn JADS, we talked about operational design and how to be a good designer of strategy,\u201d Berlin said. \u201cThere\u2019s strategy at all levels \u2014 strategic,\u00a0operational\u00a0and tactical.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0not just a single operation but a strategy that lasts over time, and I realized I had a lot of gaps in my knowledge.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
That realization pushed her to pursue deeper study.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
At SAASS, Berlin said she quickly discovered that strategy requires more than refining operational plans. The program challenges students to test assumptions, debate ideas and examine historical case studies that reveal how political goals, military capabilities and risk interact over time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Her intelligence background gave her a strong understanding of operational realities and adversary behavior. What it did not fully provide, she said, was experience interpreting political intent or aligning military capabilities with long-term strategic\u00a0objectives.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cMany officers are very good at executing missions,\u201d Berlin said. \u201cBut fewer are trained to connect policy with capability across time and risk.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The program\u2019s emphasis on history also helped reframe experiences from earlier assignments. While serving in an Air Operations Center, Berlin said she often saw competition over resources,\u00a0airspace\u00a0and authorities among\u00a0different parts\u00a0of the joint force.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
At SAASS, she began to see those tensions differently.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThe historical perspective is important because it allows you to predict, harmonize and reduce friction in the future,\u201d Berlin said. \u201cYou start to see the same themes repeat.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
SAASS is one of several programs at Air University focused on preparing officers to think more deliberately about the relationship between political goals and military action. The school\u2019s curriculum draws heavily on history,\u00a0theory\u00a0and strategic analysis to help officers better understand how decisions made today can shape risk years into the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
After graduation, Berlin will move to A5\/7 Strategy at Headquarters Air Force. There, she will work on issues related to strategy, force\u00a0design\u00a0and modernization, helping translate national security priorities into Air Force planning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cLt. Col. Berlin has been an excellent classmate, leader and friend,\u201d said Maj. Daniel Hayes, a SAASS student. \u201cShe has been critical to our class as a link to leadership and has been a great example of the virtues we expect from our leaders.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Hayes said the relationships built at SAASS often continue well beyond the program as graduates move into planning and strategy roles across the Air Force.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Berlin often refers to what strategist Colin S. Gray called the \u201cstrategy bridge\u201d \u2014 the idea that strategy links political purpose with military power. For Berlin, the concept helps explain the type of work she hopes to do after leaving Maxwell.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
At Headquarters Air Force, senior leaders must constantly weigh global posture, force\u00a0design\u00a0and long-term risk. Political leaders define national\u00a0objectives, but military planners must translate those\u00a0objectives\u00a0into capabilities and decisions about how forces are organized and employed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Berlin sees her intelligence background and SAASS education as complementary. Years spent reducing uncertainty sharpened her understanding of operational realities. SAASS added another layer \u2014 a way to step back, question assumptions and consider the second- and third-order effects of strategic decisions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cStep one: slow down,\u201d Berlin said. \u201cSAASS has really forced me to analyze things from multiple perspectives instead of stopping at the first explanation or narrative.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
For Berlin, the experience has been less about earning another degree and more about changing how she approaches complex problems.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
At Headquarters Air Force, she said, the goal will not simply be to provide information for decisions. Instead, it will\u00a0be helping\u00a0leaders think through when risk should be accepted, when it should be reduced and when pushing it into the future may carry consequences far beyond the battlefield.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. — \u00a0 Winning battles requires tactical\u00a0expertise. Shaping national strategy requires something…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[21099,7556,21100,21101,112,190,21098],"class_list":{"0":"post-36482","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-berlin","8":"tag-af","9":"tag-air","10":"tag-air-force","11":"tag-air-university-au","12":"tag-berlin","13":"tag-germany","14":"tag-maxwell"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116202005151210767","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}