Lead with the best version of yourself.

The One Thing Series: Mentoring Through the Gauntlet

Operationalizing Individual and Team Development

by Scott Nusom

The field grade officer’s chief responsibility is to operationalize guidance and intent. However, often overlooked is how field grade leaders can just as effectively operationalize individual and team development. Simply stated, field grade leaders can build a useful framework for individual and team investment around teaching, professional development, team building, counseling, and influencing the organization.

Urban Combat Fitness: Preparing Today for Tomorrow’s Fight

by Benjamin Phocas

Urban warfare is a costly endeavor with a broad litany of demands. Among these vitally important demands, one that requires months if not years of preparation, is physical fitness. 

The physical toll of combat has long been a known quantity. However, the nature of urban terrain means that warfare conducted within its environs presents more physical challenges compared to other environments. A useful starting point to better understand the demands of urban warfare is 9/11. Firefighters moved as fast as they could up 110 flights of stairs, wearing up to 75lbs of gear. Anyone who has replicated this grueling physical event as part of a memorial workout knows just how physically taxing this can be without gear or the added physical stressors of combat. In a modern urban battlefield, soldiers will be doing this with all the added stressors of combat, day after day, potentially week after week. 

It is time to seriously consider how we prepare soldiers for the physical challenges of urban warfare. 

An Introduction to (Bullet) Journaling

by Jakob Hutter

Note taking may seem like a simple task of processing information and writing down ideas, thoughts, and other important information any time. However, it earnestly takes skill, time, and effort to be able to later retrieve this information and use it for impactful decision-making requirements or effective communication. Despite the digital methods of note taking available, pen and paper continues to serve humanity well.

Over the last few years, and largely through trial and error, I finally found a system of journaling that allows me to plan, track, and organize my life. This system, commonly known as Bullet Journaling, utilizes bullet points (hence the name) as its main structure. Created by digital product designer and author Ryder Carroll, the Bullet Journal method is an efficient way  to track the past, organize the present, and plan the future.