The Friday Formation
15 May 2026
🪖 The Friday Formation
This week’s dispatch on the Army, professional writing, leadership, and learning.
Friday, 15 May 2026
🏛️ Featured Leadership Essays
From Hedgerows to Kill Webs: The Soldier Leads Army Transformation
GEN (Ret.) James Mingus & LTC Dwayne Steppe – Modern War Institute
The squad and individual soldier are the real engines of change. This capstone draws Normandy lessons to today’s lighter formations, load discipline, and feedback loops—proving transformation succeeds only when leaders at the edge own it.
Change, Innovate, Prevail: US Army Pacific Troops, Partnerships Adapt to Rising Challenges
GEN Ron Clark – ARMY Magazine
INDOPACOM’s senior leader lays out how soldiers and allies are adapting doctrine, training, and partnerships in real time to meet theater demands. Essential context for anyone supporting or deploying to the Pacific.
⚔️ Warfighting
The Army Needs to Build Better Command Posts
Justin Lynch – War on the Rocks
TOC Mahals that shine in training would be destroyed in hours under persistent surveillance and precision strike. Calls for incentivizing survivable designs - urban concealment, underground options, and training that rewards survival over perfect staff process.
The Clarity Fallacy: Decision-Making and the Cost of Being Seen
SFC Jerae Perez – Modern War Institute
Even with perfect feeds and pushed authority, persistent observation creates hesitation. Leaders pause to confirm instead of acting - clarity solves information problems but introduces behavioral ones. Practical ways to reclaim tempo and disciplined initiative.
Army Doctrine for Defending the Littorals
CPT Daniel S. Hogestyn – Military Review
The Army lacks mature doctrine for amphibious/littoral defense, especially critical in the Indo-Pacific. This piece identifies the gap and charts a path forward for landpower in maritime terrain.
🔧 Delivering Ready Combat Power
Conflict, CASEVAC, and the Golden Hour in the Age of Persistent Surveillance
Kai Gilmour Gath – War on the Rocks
Drawing from Ukraine’s Pokrovsk axis, evacuation is now a tactical event under constant drone surveillance. The “Golden Hour” is collapsing - shifting to prolonged casualty care, warrior-medics, and decentralized decisions that balance medical need against unit risk.
Army Aviation at the Joint Readiness Training Center: A Concept for Optimization
MAJ Stephen D. Smallwood – Military Review
Practical recommendations to layer more realistic, complex aviation scenarios at JRTC so rotational training better replicates LSCO demands.
Forging an Engineer Regiment for Large-Scale Combat Operations
LTC Michael P. Carvelli – Military Review
Refocus the Regiment on core combat engineering (mobility, counter mobility, survivability). Divest non-maneuver missions and simplify to deliver decisive effects in contested environments.
🔄 Continuous Transformation
Unmanned Systems and Army Special Forces
MAJ John W. Kowalski, USARNG – Military Review
Case for dedicated unmanned systems NCOs in ODAs and expanded RUSIC training. Lessons from Ukraine, Houthi, and Myanmar on scaling UXS for strategic effects.
Balancing Artificial Intelligence with Army Leadership Competencies and Attributes
André Nelson & Matthew J. Scott, PhD – Military Review
AI excels at decision speed but cannot replace adaptive, ethical leadership. Guidance on integrating the two without losing the human edge.
🏛️ Strengthening the Profession
Late Nights Are a Signal to JOs, Not a Standard
LTC Michael Carvelli – Center for Junior Officers
As a battalion S-3, the author enforced a hard release time and treated late nights as a diagnostic for poor guidance, prioritization, or support. Powerful call for disciplined execution within the duty day and protecting people from performative busyness.
When AI is Wrong, Will Our Leaders Know?
Michael Hay – Modern War Institute
AI introduces new risks: over-deference, accept-and-forget bias, and eroded critical thinking. Leaders must deliberately train intellect, communication, and redundancy so units can fight through AI failure or deception.
Professional Military Education Is a National Security Imperative
Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Mike Plehn et al. – Military Review
PME as a strategic investment. Strong call to leverage civilian institutions, allies, and reform to produce better strategic thinkers.
📖 Resources & Calls
Professional Writing Playlist (YouTube) – Talks and discussions on military writing.
Professional Military Writing – Military Review – Why writing matters.
🧭 About the Harding Project
The Harding Project is the Army initiative to strengthen the profession through professional writing and public discourse.
The one-stop shop for all branch journal articles is the Line of Departure website – check it out to get your daily dose of Army professional development! If you have good ideas or lessons to share with the rest of the force, please pen them and send them our way at submissions@hardingproject.com.
We’re renewing professional writing across the force—one article at a time. Read. Reflect. Act. The profession doesn’t stand still, and neither should we.