Joint Service Defence College
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The Joint Service Defence College (JSDC) was a training academy for British military personnel in the period from 1983 to 1997. It has now been amalgamated into the Joint Services Command and Staff College.
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[edit] Prior history
The college was originally called the Joint Services Staff College (JSSC), established in 1947. For the period 1947-1983, the college was based at Latimer House in Latimer, Buckinghamshire.
By 1963, the Joint Services Staff College existed to train officers to fill joint command and staff appointments by studying modern war on a joint-service basis and widening their knowledge of inter-service problems. This developed that inter-service teamwork which is so essential for mutual understanding and efficient working between the three services. Nominations to the course were made by individual services.
It was renamed the National Defence College (NDC) in 1971 and was purely British in focus; there was also a joint warfare wing from 1979 - 1983.
In 1983 it was renamed as the Joint Service Defence College (JSDC), and moved to the Royal Naval College, Greenwich.
[edit] Nature of the course
The JDSC course had a more academic nature compared to its predecessors. The course covered crisis management, international issues, United Kingdom foreign and domestic policy, NATO and joint operations.
The purpose was to prepare officers of high ability for joint service staff work, appointments that contribute to the formulation of defence policy in Ministry of Defence and NATO staffs and for key posts in operational commands, by improving their understanding of other services - including their organisation, roles, methodology, capabilities, and introducing them to pressures and constraints which perforce bear on high level defence decisions.
The course became seven months long, purely United Kingdom-based in its nature. Those officers passing the course, or serving on the directing staff for at least six months, received the letters jsdc. Alternatively officers might attend an overseas course such as the NATO Defence College (nadc), or other overseas defence colleges such as Joint Services Staff College, Australia (odc(AUS)), Armed Forces Staff College, USA (odc(US)), Canadian Forces Command and Staff College (odc(CAN)), or the Defence Services Staff College, India (odc(IND)).
The course crest featured a cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo). The Cormorant was also the name of the college magazine. This animal was chosen as a symbol of all three services represented at JSDC: Britain's largest seabird flies, swims on the sea surface and catches its fish underwater, yet builds its nest on dry land (either on cliffs or in riverside trees).
[edit] Staff and students
The Commandant was always a Major-general or equivalent. Senior Directing Staff included Royal Navy, British Army, Royal Air Force, civilian colonels and equivalent: civilian G5 or Assistant Secretary (Counsellor).
Those officers attending the course had to have had the potential to rise at least two grades in rank. Three courses were held every two years, each with 60 officers (17 from each service plus 9 others from the civil service or the police). The majority of students went on to joint, central staff or international appointments.
[edit] Closure of the college
The college was closed in 1997 and amalgamated into the new Joint Services Command and Staff College.
