Everyone Can Contribute to Professional Discourse

I've been writing for almost twenty years. From my first website in fourth grade to the portfolio I maintain today, this long journey has put me in a position now to frequently write professionally both for work and for outlets like the Modern War Institute at West Point.

For the vast majority who have not spent years writing hundreds of thousands of words, though, the Army's recent push for renewed professional discourse can be daunting. Still, I have seen many step up to write great articles tackling tough issues—but many more self-select out. Strengthening the profession through professional discourse doesn't require you to be a genius with revolutionary, groundbreaking ideas, though, or to have the eloquence of Mark Twain.

Just read, write, edit, and find the right outlet—that's it.

Read

Good writers read—and they read a lot. Command Sergeant Major Tyson Crosby, the leader of the Command Sergeant Major's Enlisted Initiatives Group in Training and Doctrine Command, made this clear in Start with a library: "If you want your team to write, they need to read first." Reading not only expands your knowledge, but also builds the connective tissue necessary to distill complex notions into communicable ideas. It fosters the instinct to sequence concepts in a logical manner. It develops the ability to work through the mechanics of sentence structure, word choice, cadence, and rhythm. Even better writers read about writing itself with books like On Writing by Stephen King, On Writing Well by William Zinsser, and The Elements of Style by Strunk & White.

Reading won't just improve your writing ability, it can also give you material to write about. I have written about where I get my news from, and how I find interesting, niche works. I have my own developmental reading list that covers personal, professional, and military development. I have an artificial intelligence reading list, and a data science reading list in draft. Read to learn, read to become a better writer, but also read to write.

Just Write!

As much as reading will help, the best way to get better at writing is to write. You might love the first draft, but you will probably hate it; you might discover that you have nothing to say, or end up taking your work in an entirely new direction—but you will never find that hidden gem if you don't go looking for it. Do not wait around for a revolutionary, groundbreaking idea. The single right answer, the solution to every problem, does not exist. Do not waste your time searching for perfection. Writing is about sharing ideas. If you have an idea, share it. You don't have to be an expert. I don't consider myself an expert on anything, but I have written extensively about a range of topics from leadership to artificial intelligence. You certainly don't have to be a field grade officer. You are the only person who has your unique experiences, and your unique perspective on those experiences. Share them. Just write.

Edit, Edit, then Edit Some More

You should spend a great deal of time editing. Most of your time, in fact. Resist the urge to kick half-baked ideas out the door. This is where good writing becomes great. Take a step back after the first draft, then re-read it with fresh eyes. Get to the point. Be concise. Slash fluff. As a rule of thumb, the less the final product looks like its first draft, the better. For my second draft, I like to go paragraph by paragraph and re-write the entire piece.

I usually end up re-writing everything at least once.

Tools like Grammarly can help here to identify basic errors, and also more subtle mistakes like poor sentence structure and unnecessarily complex words. I have also had some success integrating artificial intelligence into this step. For example, given a paragraph, an artificial intelligence agent can suggest different sentence structures and word choices to make it easier to understand. While no agent will replace an author yet, they can be powerful tools in the writer’s tool belt.

Finally, when you think you’re done, you’ve only just begun. Good writing does not conform to the linear process from school. Edit once, edit again, then edit some more. I might have three or four major revisions for a single article, with edits all throughout the paper at each phase.

Find the Right Outlet

After a long and painful editing process, choose your venue.

I had a great first experience with the Center for Junior Officers. I like writing for the Modern War Institute now because the editors give me prompt, thoughtful, and well-considered feedback that makes the editorial process a breeze. Give the Modern War Institute a try, or any number of other venues. West Point also publishes The Cyber Defense Review. The Army War College sponsors Parameters. You could also explore The Army University Press, which offers access to a host of unofficial branch journals. For defense-related research, consider the Defense Technical Information Center. Platforms like War on the Rocks and the Texas National Security Review focus on national security issues. The Irregular Warfare Initiative and From the Green Notebook offer perspectives on unconventional conflicts and leadership. Try Task and Purpose or Small Wars Journal. For more strategic discussions, explore Thought 2 Action and The Strategy Bridge. Each of these venues publishes different types of work, so read them to see where your article might best fit. As a steppingstone, offer to write a newsletter for your company or battalion. Fine like-minded writers and put together a periodical for your brigade. Not every idea has to affect the entire Army; start with your Army first. Then, as you write more, diversify to broaden your reach and impact.

Conclusion

You don't have to be an eloquent genius to write, but you should write. Everyone has forgotten every presentation I have ever given. Oral briefs have a shelf life of days. Those perfect slides I spent hours crafting might have lasted a little longer in some shared folder, but those have disappeared into the ether, too. I can look back on articles I wrote almost fifteen years ago, though. The only way to present ideas to large groups of people, with any meaningful degree of staying power, is through the written word. This is the way we strengthen the profession. This does not have to be complex, and you should not self-select out of this just because you don't think you have what it takes. Just read, write, edit, and find the right outlet—that's it.

Bio

Captain Zachary Szewczyk commissioned into the Cyber Corps in 2018 after graduating from Youngstown State University with an undergraduate degree in computer science and information systems. He has led defensive cyberspace operations from the tactical to the strategic level, including several high-level incident responses. He currently serves in the 3rd Multi-Domain Task Force.