REFLECT
Thought Partner: A Primer
by Nicholas A. Rich I recently spent a weekend with a good friend. After the long weekend, I received a message from him thanking me for being both a friend, and a “thought partner.” I met him in the Army in 2015, and we deployed...
Fight The Tank! A Practical Lesson in Army Leadership
by Marc E. “Dewey” Boberg, Ed.D. “Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.” – John Wooden A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… Shortly after commissioning and attending the Armor Officer Basic...
Lessons from Large Scale Combat Operations, Part III
by Larry Kay, Josh Cosmos, Dan DeNeve, Nicole Courtney, Jeremy Mounticure Editor’s Note: In this final article of our three-part series, the authors will describe the staff’s attempt to create “decision space” for the commanding general, while also...
Lessons from Large Scale Combat Operations, Part II
by Larry Kay, Josh Cosmos, Dan DeNeve, Nicole Courtney, Jeremy Mounticure Editor’s Note: This is the second of a three-part article, stay tuned for the final part tomorrow. In the previous article, the authors discussed the importance of aligning...
Lessons from Large Scale Combat Operations Part I
by Larry Kay, Josh Cosmos, Dan DeNeve, Nicole Courtney, Jeremy Mounticure Editor’s Note: This is the first of a three-part article, stay tuned for the next two parts over the coming days. The division is the Army’s principal tactical...
Lessons From the Dark Side: Leadership by Vader
by Eric Shockley The presentation with the Emperor had not gone well. Progress on the completion of the Death Star had been slow. Delays, complications with contractors, hiring challenges, and the ongoing war with the Rebel Alliance had all...
Expertise: How Interwar Periods Inform our Army Officer Development
by Ben Elliott Imagine this scenario: A mainland force for years has been steadily infringing on the domestic issues of its regional neighbors and most recently began to advance toward its strategic direction to control its near abroad. At...
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...
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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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...
Finding the Right Vision, Culture, and Climate
By Ryan Kendall Vision, culture, and climate In a previous post, I discussed the importance of developing a shared organizational vision. This idea is not new to our profession. However, when it came time for me to begin the process for my...
The Map on the Wall
By Jack “Farva” Curtis Whenever I write, I try hard to avoid expressing political or partisan opinions. Not only do I doubt you care about my opinions, but it would also be wholly inappropriate for me, in my current position as an active duty...
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