U.S. Navy Lt. Sarah Caldejon, left, is interviewed by Kansas University seniors Sarah Beals, Olathe, center, and Kelly Heavey, Manhattan, during a class exercise at KU. Information operations officers from Fort Leavenworth and KU journalism students teamed up for an interview exercise.

The cameras were rolling, pens scribbling and questions flying.

Kansas University’s strategic communications students were doing the asking. Officers at Fort Leavenworth’s Command and General Staff College were answering. All were in training.

The mixture of Army fatigues and jeans and backpacks made it clear that the collaboration of military and university was well under way.

The interaction that has sprung up between KU and Fort Leavenworth since the Iraq war is far removed from the university’s days of protests and firebombs during the Vietnam War era.

There have always been some connections between the two institutions. Traditionally, KU professors teach at Fort Leavenworth and Fort Leavenworth officers attended classes at KU. But the ties are growing beyond that.

Just this fall, the university kick-started a program focused on Fort Leavenworth students working on advanced degrees at KU. The university is also looking at developing special degree programs and offering classes at times that work with the officers’ schedules.

And talk is under way for the two to partner to provide education to wounded Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

KU professor Felix Moos teaches anthropology to Fort Leavenworth officers. He said the connections between the institutions have increased mainly because the United States is fighting a different kind of war. The front lines are gone and there is a new enemy.

“A better-educated, a better-informed military will cause fewer casualties rather than more casualties,” Moos said.

David Lambertson, a former U.S. ambassador and KU faculty member, said it is good for students to rub elbows with the military.

And, that was exactly what was happening in the class where KU students were interviewing Army and Navy information operations officers.

At first, students were urged to ask stumping questions as the officers practiced “staying on message.”

By the end of the class, the pens had come down and the cameras were turned off. But the soldiers were still talking about what it was like to serve in Iraq, and the students kept listening.