 War Studies is a multidisciplinary approach to the study of what is still the biggest problem that the world faces today. It starts with the premise that the only way to deal with problems is to understand them, and rather than turning our back on the problem, we need to engage with it, we need to study how wars come about, how people wage them, what they use for, the connection between war and other forms of political activity from radical protests right the way through to democratic consent politics. The most interesting thing about being a War Studies is that you can read the newspaper every day and see something that's interesting for your course, and you can also discuss it with your fellow students and your professors and get really interesting views on these topics. The MA War Studies programme is the department's original postgraduate programme of study. It offers students a unique opportunity to develop a well-rounded understanding of war that's informed by a variety of academic disciplines. I thought it would be a good opportunity to learn more about conflict as such, from a multidisciplinary angle to really learn how conflict plays out, what causes for conflict are. I served as a US Marine in Iraq in 2004, 2005 and 2006, and I came out of that experience with a desire to learn all I could about war, why it's fought, why it's so hard to stop. Given that it's a masters just for a year, you would obviously delve into it quite quickly, get to know the people very quickly, you would have to engage in a lot of discussions right from the start, which is what I really like. There aren't any programmes like this in the US. I don't think really anywhere else in the world there's quite a unique programme here at King's. War Studies is a very unique construction. The way we do war studies here is original, it was invented here, and it is this blend of history, strategy, contemporary affairs, politics, law. It's a very rich mixture. My favourite thing about studying in London is that it's a place where a lot of really interesting people come. For example at the school we have a lot of events where you can attend and see speakers from whether it's the UN or the work in the government. After King's I am going back home to Norway and hopefully I can work within either the government or an NGO, which will be really interesting. For me the core of a war study student is somebody who's not hide bound and constrained in the way they think. They have an interest in problems, they want to solve problems, they want to address issues. They're not bound up in one particular disciplinary model. They don't see the answer to the world coming out of a history programme. They see it coming out of an approach. I was blown away by the diversity of the people studying war studies. I was probably one, some people were younger than me, some people were older. We had retired, people had had successful careers studying the history of warfare. We had students fresh out of undergraduate studies looking to go into internships and work for the UN. It was an eclectic mix and an extremely stimulating environment. Very intellectually challenging because the academic standard was extremely high. There is no standard war studies outcome. We don't produce war studies. We produce original creative people who have come and experienced the opportunities of working with many disciplines. Where they go is invariably interesting. There are people who rise to a challenge to get onto the programme and to complete the programme is a really strong indication that whatever you want to do, it's a pretty good chance you'll be able to do it. You should come to war studies if you want to study really interesting and challenging subjects such as war or terrorism and it's really great.