REFLECT
Greener Pastures: Can the Implementation of Self-determination Theory Improve the Army Talent Management System?
by Catherine Cline Joining any military requires some intrinsic motivation to commit to selfless service. However, the Army has a growing disparity in the retention of mid-grade officers and for various reasons, loses almost half its officers by...
The 7 Be’s of Peer Leadership
by Orlandon Howard In the military, peer leadership is critical to developing its members’ professional and personal lives. Contrary to the oft-overstated power of traditional superior-subordinate relationships, research has shown the power of...
Operationalizing Multi-Domain Operations at the Tactical Level: SOSRA and Seven Steps of Engagement Area Development
by Michael Soyka The United States Army made a significant leap forward in modernizing its doctrine to align to current and future threats with the publication of FM 3-0 Operations in 2022. While the new FM 3-0 builds on the changes...
Knowing When to Hang Up Your Boots
by Jakob Hutter Deciding when to hang up your boots is not as straightforward as some make it out to be, especially when someone has dedicated a larger part of their life to serving their country. People in the military come from diverse...
A Lesson from History: Never Present the “Throwaway” COA
by Rick Chersicla From 431 BC to 404 BC, the two preeminent Greek city-states of the time engaged in what would be a generational struggle. This war (really a period of intermittent conflict with the occasional stretches of peace) commonly known as...
Yours, Mine, Ours: Identifying Responsibilities Amongst Leaders
by Andrew Wilhelm and Michael Hellman In the winter of 2021, my new Platoon Sergeant and I sat down over coffee and began building our new partnership. I had seven months of Platoon Leader time under my belt and a relationship with my first PSG...
Transparency and Stability: The Twin Beacons of Leading Highly Effective Organizations
by Ben Showman The Leader’s Responsibility The Army has a clear definition of leadership. It is carefully and intentionally crafted for Army leaders to flexibly accomplish missions while simultaneously improving their organizations. However,...
Is Foreign Service ILE Right for You?
by Jake Kohlman As I filled out my location preferences ahead of Intermediate Level Education (ILE), I knew I wanted to try something other than the traditional path of the Army’s Command and General Staff College (CGSC) in Fort Leavenworth,...
Creating an Army Master Tactician Additional Skill Identifier
by David Weart Editor’s Note: This article was modified from its originally published version on February 7th, 2023. Simply stated, the Army should expand the Master Tactician Test (MTT) offered at the Command and General Staff Operations...
Searching for a Purpose in Professional Military Education
by David Kahan My time at the Captain’s Career Course (CCC) was a disappointment. Arriving at Fort Huachuca, Arizona in April 2022, I hoped that Military Intelligence CCC (MICCC) might help either to prepare me for my next position or teach...
Busy is a Choice
By Maggie Kurtts About a month before COVID brought our world to a grinding halt, I wrote a book review on Ryan Holiday’s latest book Stillness is the Key. At the time, I was feeling pretty overwhelmed by all the demands I had placed on myself and...
Stop Focusing on ‘If Only’, and Focus on ‘What Is’
By Joe Byerly I recently arrived back to the States from an overseas deployment, and unlike previous homecomings this one was different. There were no welcome home parties; no celebratory dinner at my favorite restaurant; no trips to Disney World...
Feeling Stressed? Make it to Chow
By Maggie Kurtts 455 days deployed in Iraq. Single parenting for months while my spouse was deployed. 8 weeks of Beast Barracks wondering why I signed-up for this while all my friends spent their summers partying. My military experiences were not...
Welcome to Your First Deployment, America!
By Ted Croy Welcome to your first deployment, America! Thank you for your service. Here we are, America. Over the last 10 days, we’ve entered into our own experience with the COVID-19 global pandemic that has catapulted the United States into...
Avoid Becoming Sisyphus: The 7 Rules for an HHC XO
By 1LT Koskinen, John J. A common company-grade belief is that being the Headquarters and Headquarters Company Executive Officer (HHC XO) is a great looking job on paper, which nobody wants. In my first few months as an HHC XO, I found that...
Maybe Dad was Right
by Casey & Courtney Dean Listening to your Dad can be tough. “What does he know?” “Things are different now.” “The Cold War Army had nothing on what we do now.” But over time, as we gain experience, and by experience we mean all the...
Should Officers Try to Map Out Their Careers?
By Joe Byerly Over the course of my career, I’ve seen a number of raters and senior raters ask their subordinates (including me) to bring their five or even ten-year timelines to an initial or performance counseling session. I’ve always shown up...
The Two Questions We Should Ask Ourselves Every Day
By Ryan Hill President Dwight Eisenhower is credited with saying, “The things that are urgent are seldom important, and the things that are important are seldom urgent.”[1] His statement hits on a problem that haunts all leaders; we often spend too...
Stoicism and the Military
Editor’s Note: I first listened to Robertson’s book, How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius last year on Audible, bought a hard copy, and I continually recommend it to friends in the military. The...
Becoming Number One – Assuming Battalion Command as the Executive Officer
By Daniel Clark You’ve been at the job for a few months now. You’re just starting to get the hang of this executive officer thing. You know the unit’s mission, you understand most of the personalities in your battalion, and you’re starting...
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The History of a Great Culture
By James “Beau” Wasson “This is the story of three years in the lives of thirty-eight American soldiers. Typically, they are descendants of nine nationalities, from all sections of America, helping to defend their liberty, families, and the rights...
3 Leadership Lessons Observer, Coach, Trainers Understand That You Should, Too
By Joshua Trimble Leadership traits are taught and leaders evolve in some of the most unsuspected places. Consider that U.S. Army training centers are built and designed to put units through rigorous and realistic training to evaluate their...
Want a Strong Culture? Tell a Good Story
By Joe Byerly Our lives revolve around stories. How much so? In his book, The 7 Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories, Christopher Booker argues that narratives are primarily how we think, communicate, and receive information. Stories are the most...
How to Succeed in a World of Merciless Taskers
By Colonel Glenn A. Henke The Problem Every Army command team faces the same challenge: how to manage the ceaseless onslaught of tasks that come from higher headquarters while conducting your own training and operations. Battery, company, and...
Becoming Number One – Assuming Battalion Command as the Executive Officer
By Daniel Clark You’ve been at the job for a few months now. You’re just starting to get the hang of this executive officer thing. You know the unit’s mission, you understand most of the personalities in your battalion, and you’re starting...
From the Lost Generation to the iGeneration: An Overview of the Army Officer’s Generational Divides
By Scotty Autin In 2015, a new generation of lieutenants arrived at Army units. They arrived unannounced with no notice to their receiving commands. These officers are technology-based, possess an innate ability to find information, and are closely...
Winning the Right Way: Positioning Your Team for Long Term Success
(U.S. Army photo by Spc. Devron Bost) By Richard Farnell We all understand the importance of running an organization both effectively and efficiently. However, it is important to realize organizational goals have the potential to be jeopardized...
Training as a Multi-Component Force
Observations of an active duty exchange officer serving with the Indiana National Guard. By Andrew Shattuck The Army National Guard is a capable and professional military force steeped in centuries of history that stands ready to defend our...
Social Media: Senior Leaders Need to Get on the Bus
By General Robert B. “Abe” Abrams The emergence of social media over the last decade has impacted just about every facet of life, reshaping the ways in which we interact, socialize, and communicate. Digital natives – like my 24-year old...
The Capacity Cup: Managing Your Organization’s Capacity
By Terron Warton The Oxford English Dictionary provides three definitions for capacity. Two of those definitions std out to me. Capacity is both the amount that something can contain and the amount that something can produce. Individuals and...
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