FORT INDIAN TOWN GAP, Pa. — On Feb. 11 and 12, 2026, Pennsylvania National Guard Soldiers and civilians participated in the Artificial Intelligence 201 course here.
The course was taught by U.S. Army War College faculty and focused on developing critical thinking skills and responsible use of AI for military personnel.
“A lot of people find it very scary, and like any new technology, we need to be careful,” said Lt. Col. Kelly Eime, an assistant professor at the U.S. Army War College and one of the course’s instructors. “Trust, but verify. But this is a computer program. It’s predictive mathematics.”
AI 101 teaches Soldiers the basics, such as how to use and understand AI, while AI 201 focuses on critical thinking and effective AI prompts.
“At the military university, we are starting to develop those kinds of courses,” Imhe said. “The question is how do we think about problems, and where do we fit AI into those problem sets? So we’re not leaving humans out of the picture, but we’re really engaging critical thinking and really engaging questions about AI and where it fits in that are important.”
Students found the classes informative and knowledgeable and even wanted to participate further in the future.
“If the AI class is held again, I would like to attend it again,” said Maj. Maria Myers, director of the Logistics Branch of the Joint Forces Headquarters. “We might even run this exact same level again just for repetition and to make sure we’re using it correctly, because we’re going to try implementing it in some of the ways they’ve already mentioned.”
Ifume said the 201 class will force students to dig deeper than the basics of AI. This class forces students to take on leadership roles.
“This is a mission command skill. And if you’re not using AI with mission command ideals in mind, you’re going to get unpleasant outputs, inefficient outputs, and you’re going to sideline the AI. You’re not going to sideline a private and say they’re an incompetent private because you haven’t provided them with the leadership they need to be successful. It’s the same with AI,” Imeh said.
Myers said that while he believes AI should be used judiciously, it is still a tool that can help save time. However, she stressed that users need to understand how to properly use and prompt AI before leveraging it in their work.
“Some people will find it painful, and some people will object, because it’s different,” Myers said. “However, I think this class and its level is a good introductory class because you need knowledge, understanding, and human input to get the right answers.”
Imhe said the Pennsylvania National Guard wants to expand these classes to make Fort Indiantown Gap a center of excellence for AI. Imeh said he is ready for the next step in AI in the Army.
“Let’s continue to offer classes like this, both foundational and thought-provoking classes, so we can understand that we’re not just playing with AI, we’re taking the next leap forward of using AI to move forward,” Imhe said.
