Establishing a Writing Culture

Little by Little

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Reading and writing have always been important to me, and I have known their benefits for some time. As the incoming CSM for 2-6 Air Cavalry Squadron (ACS), I intended to incorporate both into our organization to better our soldiers and the unit. In 2-6 ACS, I have focused on two primary efforts to establish a writing culture. The first is leading from the front and demonstrating that I am not telling anyone to do something I am unwilling to do myself. The second is creating a low-threat Leader Development Program (LPD) focused on writing.

Deliberate Efforts

Lead From the Front. Before I became the CSM, I worked extensively with the NCO Journal (NCOJ) to have an article published about use-or-lose leave. Then, I published another article the month before taking responsibility titled “Ten Things.” This came from an NCOJ request to write five (which quickly spiraled into ten) things I wish I had known as a Sergeant. Since then, I have continued writing and routinely share my work with the Squadron, even if I am embarrassed to do so. Recently, I wrote Part II of the Drone Patrol series, a FICINT story started by Chago Zapata, and a poem, both for the NCOJ’s Creative Domain.

Writing in Your LPD Program. To evolve the organization’s LPD program, I incorporated quarterly individual and group writing sessions throughout the Squadron’s preplanned program. Leading each session is a selected NCO, typically a First Sergeant or a Platoon Sergeant. This NCO and I design each session to be approximately an hour long, even though they may range from 15–120 minutes. The required attendance for these sessions is one NCO per platoon in the squadron, and we publish the LPD program a quarter in advance. This means an NCO who volunteers to teach or is “voluntold” has ample time to prepare. As the CSM, I purposely lead the first session and last session of each quarter with a focus on leader communication and writing.

Habitual reading can be difficult to maintain, especially with the amount of technology available to distract us. It might seem rudimentary, but when prudent, we will even take turns reading assigned material aloud to each other as part of our LPDs. I want to show the team that reading is not only okay but beneficial and rewarding.

Testimonies of Growth

An established writing culture does not have to be force-fed and can flourish if allowed to grow. The following stories demonstrate just that.

• Our best writing LPD session involved the Aviation Maintenance Training Program and Aviation Safety. There were approximately 20 NCOs in the room, ranging from Corporal to Command Sergeant Major, and a diverse leadership population. I stood at the whiteboard and drafted a proposed thesis statement: “This collaboration emphasizes the critical importance of aviation safety through the experiences of aircraft maintainers, demonstrating how aviation maintenance programs ensure that all personnel are well-informed and proficient in their duties.” After that, we built a rough outline on the whiteboard with several important topics generated by leaders in the group. These topics became the main points and sections of the paper. With the outline complete, I split them into groups of four or five people and gave them 45 minutes to write about their topics. They put pen to paper, and each group finished with a few paragraphs on their topic. One of the First Sergeants volunteered to author the introduction, and I opted to finalize the edits on the final draft and create the conclusion.
  Note: One Platoon Sergeant who could not attend the entire session took a picture of the whiteboard and turned in an essay he completed over the weekend. I did not specifically ask him to do this, but I certainly praised him for it, and many of his thoughts made it into the final draft. Today, the paper is finished, and I am finalizing the edits and providing citations to reinforce the statements made throughout the paper. The goal is to submit this collaborative work to an Army journal so that others can see how 2-6 ACS thinks about safety and aviation maintenance.

• I have a Supply NCO in 2-6 ACS who talked to me about cohesive teams and ways to improve organizational cooperation. After a few minutes of discussion, I lent this NCO a book, Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger. The NCO had the book for a few weeks before I followed up and asked if they had completed it. Not only was it finished, but the NCO was proud to tell me that an essay about the book was in the works, and I was told to expect this essay within the week. I did not ask this NCO to write. I merely lent a book I thought they might like based on our conversation. The fact that an NCO wanted to produce an essay to demonstrate what they learned and its key takeaways is definitive evidence of a growing writing culture.

• Another example of gently fostering professional discourse involves an NCO with whom I was privileged to serve as his first sergeant. This NCO does a phenomenal job of sharing aviation maintenance techniques, procedures, and safety-related content on social media. Through our conversations, I learned he loves to write but simply needed some encouragement to get started. One day, I recommended he start a Substack to open his content to a broader audience. This NCO now manages The Red X Files, and I am excited to share content and expertise with my soldiers.

Little by Little

Whether it’s Joint Force Entry, out-of-contact Attacks, Air Assaults, massive Airborne operations, or logistics, we want our people to understand their part of the operation. Reading and writing can further cement these concepts and others in our brains and develop critical thinking skills. While repeating this quarterly LPD program and finding time to write myself can sometimes be difficult to sustain, the cultural change and benefits are evident. So, why not challenge them to write down what they know? It doesn’t take grand gestures or forcible tactics to foster a writing culture within your formation—just a little planning, encouragement, and setting the example.

CSM David Vowell, US Army, has a master’s degree from Western Governor’s University and currently serves as the 2-6 Air Cavalry Squadron Command Sergeant Major at Wheeler Army Airfield in Hawaii. CSM Vowell has served in the 25th ID, 82nd Airborne Division, 1st Armored Division, and the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). Daily reading and writing help him find balance and strive to become a better person and leader every day.