A Unit Syllabus to Professional Discourse

Report from a Harding Project Workshop

What if an idea in your unit led to winning the next war? Or perhaps more practically, what if one of your soldiers had an idea that sparked a thought that facilitated a discussion that eliminated a bureaucratic process that led to winning the next war? Can you see where I’m going with this? Professional discourse is the key to linking leaders to winning wars.

As we look towards the next conflict, we ready the Army by renewing our professional discourse and its professional journals. We must bring good ideas into the conversation.

The Harding Project and Military Review partnered to publish a special “how-to” issue to foster this professional discourse across the Army. On May 2, 2024, these two teams convened at the Army War College’s new Root Hall. The authors in this issue, who range from Command and General Staff College professors to graduate students and battalion to platoon-level leaders, aim to publish a practical and succinct guide to professional writing.

This issue, with thirteen articles, is designed to provide leaders with a progressive syllabus to generate professional discourse at the unit level and arm individuals with publishing advice and practical writing tools. The articles in this guide will also be published as stand-alone pieces.

The guides

Below are some of the articles that will be included.

Unit:

Articles like “Drink, Think, Link: Guiding Online Mentorship” by Nicholas Frazier and Erik Davis teach us how we can inspire small communities of stewards to discuss ideas and share insights–the perfect primer for clear writing.

Max Ferguson’s “A Catalyst for Writing” shows how we can encourage these stewards to pen their thoughts in an informal and non-intimidating format, such as a white paper.

Then, Jay Ireland and Ryan Van Wie’s article, “Aligning Incentives: Professional Writing in the Army’s Operational Domain,” gives leaders a framework to establish their own unit writing program, similar to a traditional Leader Professional Development program.

Working with others:

Professionals like John Amble–the editor-in-chief of the first-class outlet Modern War Institute, and Rebecca Segal–a volunteer editor at the esteemed From the Green Notebook publication, share their insights and advice for both editing and being edited.

Individual tools:

Theo Lipsky, a recurring author in and out of the Army’s journals, walks a new writer through his process of writing an article and explains the difference between this and a traditional essay.

We all need a first step. Something that eases us into the field we want to approach. Zachary Griffiths, a frequent book reviewer and founder of the Harding Project, provides a simple guide to writing a book review.

In the Army’s Primary Military Education courses, students dedicate their time to writing essays. The problem with these academic papers is they often stay locked in the institutions. Whether it is your persuasive essay in the Basic Leader Course or your capstone assignment at the Sergeant Major Course, Gordon Richmond and Brennan Deveraux (recent author of Lessons Learned & Unlearned: The Drivers of US Indirect-Fire Innovation) understand the importance of sharing these insights and show us how to take this paper and turn it into a thoughtful article.

Dr. Trent Lythgoe, the writing powerhouse at CGSC, teaches us how to write simply and clearly to reduce the noise, keep our readers engaged, and convey our message succinctly.

History to remember:

Additionally, another piece reminds us of the vital role the Army’s journals play in linking leaders to winning wars by helping the Army learn and adapt faster—a critical role that others cannot.

Finally, JP Clark, a professor at the Army War College and editor-in-chief of War Room, shares with us the legacy of the Army’s journals—lest they be forgotten.

Out this summer

Military Review, Army University Press, and the Combined Arms Center will publish this special issue electronically and aim to send copies of this special issue to every battalion in the Army. This means every company-level leader and higher will be armed with a guide to generating professional discourse, capturing it in clearer writing, and sharing it with the rest of the Army. This is how we stay ahead. This is how we win the next war.

What other articles would you like to see in this “How-to” guide? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.