WRITE
Anyone Can Write for Military Publications—Even Cadets
by Ben Phocas Writing for a military publication may seem like a daunting or unattainable goal for a novice writer. Stereotypes about military writing–and writers in general–abound. They only reinforce tentative writers’ reservations about putting...
Digital Tools for Effective and Efficient Writing
by Trent Lythgoe I’m always looking for the latest digital writing tools. I suspect a few of my fellow professors secretly mock me for using technological writing crutches. But I feel no shame. Writing is hard enough—I see no reason to make it...
FM-VOICE – A Framework for Improving Communications in Your Organization
By R.T. Rotte You’re a company commander, and your platoons aren’t doing what you want them to. One platoon is always a little behind on tasks or unresponsive to key information. Another platoon is executing the tasks and preparing for training,...
Stories of Service: Mentor Your Subordinate to Engage with the Public
By Brian C. Gerardi Each year, our nation observes holidays centered on its service members and veterans. These commemorations—Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day and Veterans Day—often include invitations (“tasked” or “asked”) to senior service members...
Three Books to Improve Your Writing
by Trent Lythgoe For most of my 22 years in the US Army, I thought I was a decent writer. However, graduate school taught me a bitter truth: I wasn’t. But after accepting my failings, I found a powerful tool to help me improve—writing guides....
It’s Time to Write!
By Joe Byerly We have all been there at some point in our military careers. We have woken up in the morning, looked into the mirror, and asked ourselves “Is this sh*t worth it?” Maybe, you’re struggling with what you see as some arcane policy...
Our Sloppy Over-Reliance on Texting
by Jack Hadley Farewelled by my unit and signed out on PCS leave, I stood at a German train station headed to the airport. Then my phone went ding! I reflexively glanced at it, feeling a small but noticeable tinge of stress. I was no longer a...
The Bear: A New, Relevant Source of Professional Development
by Zach Batton By and large, military leaders are not diversifying their sources for professional development. Once and Eagle, Black Hearts, Black Hawk Down, and This Kind of War are just a few repetitive staples in most reading/watch lists....
Leading into the Future: Why You Should Write a Thesis at CGSC
by Benjamin Van Horrick To the incoming class, welcome to Fort Leavenworth and the United States Army Combined Arms Center Command and General Staff College (CGSC). You are embarking on the most pivotal—and certainly not the easiest—year of your...
10 Rules to Live by on Social Media for Those who Serve
by Orlandon Howard “When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise.” – King Solomon (1010-931 BCE) It’s easy to make mistakes when communicating regularly on social media....
Are You Hallucinating or Communicating?
By Joe Byerly Ten years ago, I received the best advice I’ve ever received on communication. My boss said, if no one else sees your vision, it’s just a hallucination. In other words, if you can’t communicate the thoughts in your head in such a way...
Communicate Like a Boss
By Ryan Crosby Effective communication is a learned behavior and professional skill, requiring deliberate practice, commitment, and consistency to master. At the mid-career level, the ability to communicate effectively is one of the strongest...
Social Media and the Problem of the Iceberg Bias
By Joe Byerly I’ve been thinking a lot lately about social media and the way it forms my perception of others based on the image they project through their social media platforms. I’ve also been thinking about how others must perceive me based off...
We All Need to Have a Little More Briefing Empathy
By Joe Byerly Have you ever been in a meeting and felt like a prisoner? It’s Friday afternoon, you are sitting in the last meeting of the week. The final briefer begins to speak. They see the clock. They know there are only five minutes left but...
Why Leaders Need to Learn the Skill of Writing
By Joe Byerly Anyone who has worked directly for a battalion commander or above probably has experience writing “ghost notes.” These are emails a subordinate writes and addresses for their boss to send to other people. Ghost notes can be weekly or...
A Tale of Two Influencers: Some Advice from the Cheap Seats
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness….” ― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities By Steve Leonard and Joe Byerly Imagine, if you will, two influencers. One, young and brash,...
4 Tips for Selling Your Ideas
By Joe Byerly Have you ever had an idea you thought was solid gold, but when you presented it to your boss or coworkers it fell on deaf ears? Maybe it wasn’t that your idea was bad. Maybe it was you. Hear me out: Sometimes our ideas ARE solid...
4 Tips from Sir Winston Churchill to Write Better Emails
By Joe Byerly Emails- They are the bane of our existence, but they are how we communicate in the modern world. Each day, military leaders clean out their inboxes only to have them fill back up within hours. Unfortunately, quantity doesn’t...
How to Write as a Thinker-Practitioner
By Vincent A. Dueñas In his treatise, Why Don’t We Learn from History, B.H. Liddell Hart opens the first chapter with a general discussion of history and its merit. In describing the advancements of the conduct of warfare over the course of history...
An Open Letter to Battalion Commanders: How to Use Social Media
By Scotty Autin Commanders- I feel like most of us are missing an opportunity. We’re missing a chance to get the command messages out to audiences and shape the narrative of our units. More so, we’re missing a chance to talk directly to...
How to Organize Your Notebook For Success
By: Jeremiah Hurley I grew up in an Army where pen and paper were as important uniform items as your pants. In the right hands, a pen and paper are powerful tools. As great as you think your memory may be, it’s not perfect – you need to take...
If You Want To Write, Collaborate!
By Gary Klein At some point in time, all of us have written for school, our jobs, or publication. However, chances are, most of us have done this alone. Admittedly, writing by yourself simplifies the process of prewriting, drafting, revising,...
Above and Beyond the Green Notebook
From ARMY Magazine, Vol. 67, No. 3, March 2017. Copyright © 2017 by the Association of the U.S. Army and reprinted by permission of ARMY Magazine. By Joe Byerly Walk into any organization in our Army and there is one thing I...
8 Reasons Why NCOs Should Write and Publish
By Alex Licea and Harlan Kefalas Whether it is flipping through the pages of military journals or reading articles on various military websites, we both notice one trend: Many if not most of the pieces we read are written by officers, both active...
Writing in the Military: The Problem of Time
By LTC Scott Shaw In a recent article, US Army Major and Strategist Matt Cavanaugh states there are three reasons that military officers do not write and thus do not contribute to our profession: the failure to wield the pen, the failure to wield...
Writing in the Professional Military: I tried it and was not attacked by sea monsters
This post originally appeared @ Tom Ricks’ Best Defense on 1/29/15. The maps of cartographers early in the Age of Exploration included an interesting element that affected early explorers. When drawing areas of uncharted waters, they...
Think, Write, and Publish: An Army Captain’s Perspective
This post is also available on the Small Wars Journal “Nail your whispers to the wall. Conclude the trilogy of read..think..and write. Is there ‘career risk’ in publishing? I suppose. Hasn’t hurt me too badly over the years, I’d...
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