Adm. Munsch Highlights NPS’s Crucial Impact on Shaping Future Warfighters and Solutions

Admiral Munsch delivered an engaging lecture focusing on modern warfare’s evolving nature, emphasizing the era’s great power competition. He identified strategies to outmaneuver adversaries through enhanced proficiency and strategic thinking.

A central theme was the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS)’s role in cultivating intellectual superiority. Munsch highlighted NPS’s unique integration of students, faculty, alumni, and the Silicon Valley innovation ecosystem to drive military progress.

“It’s the people. That’s our real inherent advantage,” Munsch noted, emphasizing human resources in the joint warfighting concept as a fundamental edge in military competency.

During his visit, Munsch engaged with NPS students and faculty, examining classified research and innovative projects by U.S. and allied naval forces, particularly in operations across Europe and Africa.

His discussions underlined NPS’s capacity to foster asymmetry in warfare through global collaboration among military professionals. Such synergy across disciplines accelerates solution development and effective decision-making.

The lecture included an audience Q&A session, where Munsch addressed pressing topics like Ukraine war lessons, Africa’s strategic significance, and non-commissioned officers’ roles in contemporary conflicts.

He highlighted NCOs’ pivotal role in the U.S. military, viewing their ranks as starting points rather than limits to their abilities. Leaders, he argued, must cultivate this potential, stating, “It’s all our jobs to mature that and foster that for the subsequent pay grade.”

Munsch touched upon challenges and benefits of allied operations amid diverse national interests. Citing Winston Churchill, he reminded the audience of the critical importance of alliances: “There is only one thing worse than fighting with allies, and that is fighting without them.”

He left the NPS cohort with a resounding message of duty and commitment.

“All of us here have at least one thing in common – we were called,” Munsch stated, urging them to be protectors of peace, astute in mind, and formidable in action.

His visit underscored NPS’s mission to develop future military leaders and propel groundbreaking research that maintains a competitive maritime edge.

Located in Monterey, California, NPS offers defense-centered graduate education and conducts interdisciplinary research. Founded in 1909, it provides advanced education and innovative solutions for U.S. Department of Defense personnel and international allies.