[3] Aligned to the U.S. Army's School of Advanced Military Studies, the plan called for a new course to be offered as a follow-on year to the Marine Corps Command and Staff College (CSC).

Gray, having recently read Stormtroop Tactics: Innovation in the German Army, 1914-1918,[5] tapped its author, Bruce Gudmundsson, a Marine Corps Reserve captain who was working as a case study writer at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, to develop the initial course.

It provides advanced intermediate-level school, and graduate-level professional military education for selected field grade officers who have completed the Marine Corps or sister service command and staff college course.

[8] The curriculum is administered through a 48-week resident program, consisting of 42 credit hours in the following core courses: Graduates are awarded a Master of Operational Studies degree by the President of the Marine Corps University.

The General Clifton B. Cates Award is presented in honor of the 19th Commandant of the Marine Corps by the Navy League to the two SAW students whose sustained demonstration of problem-solving capabilities far exceed their military experience and are considered most outstanding as exhibited by written assignments, participation in practical exercises, and in the exchange of ideas.