To best serve the nation, the Profession of Arms must nurture a culture of candor that enables good ideas and adaptation in order to successfully adjust to the rapidly changing circumstances of the modern world. To achieve this, we should practice moral courage by occasionally, respectfully expressing Divergent and “Red” Ideas.
Image courtesy of Tremr. Make no mistake, this is not an assessment one offers with a smile. But it’s a fact: ISIS (or ISIL) has achieved victory in Northern Iraq and Eastern Syria and does meet minimum requirements for statehood. Just spend a few miserable minutes reading the most recent situation updates or listen to the Foreign…
Image of British World War I poster and slogan courtesy of the Imperial War Museum (UK). War is big, huge, enormous, large, vast, and giant elephant-sized. Though this claim needs no support, try these two data points on for size: Exhibit A: the incredible amounts of people killed in the world’s wars. Exhibit B: the…
Image courtesy of The New York Times (Credit: Ruth Fremason). Note: We’re revisiting some of our most popular material from the past 10 months for our newer readers; this was originally posted June 9, 2014. Enjoy! Though this may seem gratuitous, as I’ve already done this once before (and responded to critics), I had more questions to…
West Point cadets departing for a two month-long trip to study European Great War battlefields in the summer of 1919. Note: We’re revisiting some of our most popular material from the past 10 months for our newer readers; this was originally posted June 4, 2014. Enjoy! My last essay – on a representative list of…
Image courtesy of Flikr user United States Marine Corps. Note: We’re revisiting some of our most popular material from the past 10 months for our newer readers; this was originally posted May 30, 2014. Enjoy! At West Point, we often address cadets as “scholar warriors” or “warrior scholars.” This phrasing suggests that our objective is…
Image courtesy of the Wall Street Journal. Pull Pin, Throw Grenade, Run Away: A provocative thought to kick off the weekend… Should retired generals and admirals be allowed to “cash in” and keep their commissions? I realize this is thin ice, but as a commissioned officer and member of the Profession of Arms, I…
Image courtesy of Life Magazine and Flikr user Vietnam History in Pictures. The US Army will not be very successful in the coming operating environment unless it develops a sense of strategic understanding in its officers (and senior noncommissioned officers). For the purposes of this essay, strategic understanding is defined here as: awareness, comprehension, and…
Image courtesy of Flikr user US Army. Note: Departing for Gettysburg Historical Staff Ride, so this is coming a day early. Friday’s Last Word – Pull Pin, Throw Grenade, Run Away: A provocative thought to kick off the weekend… No West Point cadet will attend academic classes today due to the Simon Center for the…
Images courtesy of the Royal Society (L) and Zazzle (R). Friday’s Last Word – Pull Pin, Throw Grenade, Run Away: A provocative thought to kick off the weekend… In war, as in the Profession of Arms, two major concepts often collide – the search for truth – and obedience. George Orwell wrote about this indirectly in 1946,…