AGS takes learning beyond the classroom.
Every spring break, the program travels on an international staff ride to help students enrich their understanding of a pivotal global conflict.
What Is a Staff Ride?
"The staff ride was created in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars by Prussians, the perfectors of European military strategy. They would walk battlefields of previous wars, observe the terrain and have officers research and take the roles of various commanders and political leaders on all sides. An officer would present their character's personal history, plans for the conflict and actions during it. The other participants then adopt their characters’ roles and counter or question the presenter’s arguments in order to point out disagreements, mistakes or good strategies. Staff rides are invaluable because they help the participants understand not just who fought where and when, but what was planned, what ended up occurring, why those events occurred, and how they fit into the broader geopolitical context."
- AGS Alumnus Adam Lemon '17
This Year's International Staff Ride
Over spring break (March 8-16, 2025), AGS will take students to Okinawa, Hiroshima, and Tokyo to study the end of World War II in the Pacific.
Applications are closed at this time.
Past International Staff Rides
The Cold War in Europe
Over Spring Break 2024, students and faculty traveled to Berlin and Prague to study the Cold War, from the Potsdam Conference in 1945 to the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Participants visited sites like Flughafen Tempelhof (a major site in the Berlin Airlift), Checkpoint Charlie, a Stasi Prison memorial, the former Communist Party headquarters in Prague, and Wenceslas Square (a major site of Prague’s 1968 Uprising).
Duke Today Article: The Cold War in Europe | 2024
World War II: Road to Rome
During Spring Break 2023, Duke’s Program in American Grand Strategy took a group of 39 students, alumni, faculty, and staff on a weeklong staff ride to Italy. The group followed the Allied Italian Campaign of Jan-Jun 1944 from Anzio-Nettuno and Cassino to Rome.
Lens Visual Article: Where All Roads Lead
Pearl Harbor
During Spring Break 2022, 38 students, faculty and alumni travelled to Oahu, Hawaii for a staff ride to learn about the planning and execution of Operation Z, failures in American intelligence and response to the attack, and how this part of history is relevant to the modern era.
Lens Visual Article: Exploring Waters of Pearl | 2022
World War II Operation TORCH in Gibraltar and Morocco
Over spring break 2019, 40 Duke students, faculty, alumni and guests spent 8 days traveling throughout Gibraltar and Morocco tracing the steps of Operation Torch, part of the US North Africa Campaign during World War II. Cities visited included: Gibraltar, Tangier, Fes, Rabat, Casablanca, and Marrakech. Students were challenged to role play military and war-period characters alongside faculty and military experts to learn the stakes of war. Led by Professor Peter Feaver, students debated strategy from the perspective of embroiled contemporaries of war to learn the true costs and sacrifices of leadership.
Duke Political Science Article: Operation TORCH | 2019
WWI Endgame
During spring break 2018, AGS traveled to Belgium and France to study the end of WW1. Students and faculty visited sites ranging from military trenches, to monuments, to the American Aisne-Marne Cemetery, to the Versailles Palace. Participants portrayed a wide range of historical characters on the trip, including General Patton, John Maynard Keynes, Maria de Victorica, and many more.
Lens Visual Article: WWI Endgame | 2018
Vietnam
In early January 2017, AGS embarked on an international staff ride to Vietnam to study the Tet Offensive. Students and faculty visited numerous sites of historical significance to the war, including Mai-Lai village, the Hanoi Citadel, the Imperial City, and Hoa Lo Prison. Participants also had the opportunity to portray a variety of historical figures on the trip, from Ho Chi Minh, to Martin Luther King Jr., to Robert McNamara.
Duke Today Article: Vietnam | 2017
Grenada
In January 2016, the second ever AGS international staff ride took students and faculty to Grenada to study the 1983 U.S. invasion of the island. Participants gave presentations as historical figures and had the chance to visit locations of significance to the conflict, such as Pearl's Airstrip and Fort Matthews.
D-Day
For the inaugural AGS international staff ride in March 2015, participants traveled across the pond to London, Portsmouth, Normandy, and Paris to deepen their knowledge of the D-Day campaign. Students and faculty visited sites ranging from Omaha Beach to the American Cemetery in Normandy. Each participant also researched a historical figure from the war era and delivered a presentation as that figure to the rest of the group. Characters included Dwight D. Eisenhower, Winston Churchill, Noor Inayat Khan, and Gerd von Rundstedt, among others.
