The Friday Formation
08 May 2026
🪖 The Friday Formation
This week’s dispatch on Army writing, leadership, and learning
Friday, 08 May 2026
🗓️ Editor’s Note
I’m covering down on the Friday Formation for a couple weeks, enjoy!
Marcel
🏛️ Featured Leadership Essays
Army Transformation: One Weekend a Month
MAJ Kyle Bennett & MAJ Jeffrey Edgar - Infantry
National Guard IBCTs converting to MBCTs must squeeze maximum value from limited drill weekends — this piece delivers a practical playbook for part-time leaders to build full-time mechanized warfighting capability before the new equipment arrives.
Joint Readiness Is Not Optional: Closing the Army’s Preparation Gap
CW3 Emmanuel Tello - Warrant Officer Journal
A no-nonsense warrant officer assessment of the institutional and training shortfalls that leave units unprepared for high-intensity conflict — with direct recommendations every leader and commander can act on now.
⚔️ Warfighting
Missiles, Guns, Lasers… and Nets: The Case for Passive Drone Defenses
William Mayne - Modern War Institute
Drawing on Ukraine lessons, this piece makes the practical case for low-cost, non-kinetic passive measures (nets, decoys, obscurants) as a necessary complement to kinetic C-UAS systems in saturated drone environments.
Moving to Survive: Transforming Artillery Training for Modern Warfare
CPT Vincent Verdile - Field Artillery
Field artillery units can no longer afford static “shoot-and-stay” tactics; this article lays out the doctrine, TTPs, and training shifts required to master constant displacement and survive Russian-style counterfire cycles in large-scale combat.
🔧 Delivering Ready Combat Power
Autonomy, Robotics, and Predictive Analytics: Sustainment’s Technology Trifecta and the Future of War
MAJ Charlie Phelps - Modern War Institute
A scenario-driven argument showing how autonomous systems, robotics, and predictive AI can keep logistics alive and units moving when traditional sustainment is contested or denied.
Data-Enabled Assessments: What Factors Correlate with Gunnery Excellence in ABCTs?
LTC Brian Bifulco - Armor
Statistical deep-dive into real tank and Bradley crew qualification data reveals the decisive roles of cognitive aptitude, NCO density, experience, and unit culture — giving commanders hard metrics to drive lethality instead of guesswork.
When Ground Movement Stops and the Mission Doesn’t: Project Hermes and Drone-Delivered Medical Resupply
LTC Yu-Sheng Chen - Modern War Institute
Real-world testing of drone medical resupply during exercises demonstrates how units can maintain life-saving logistics when ground lines are cut — a replicable model for contested battlefields.
🔄 Continuous Transformation
Acquisition Reform Needs Its Own Wargame
Stephen Bittner - War on the Rocks
Argues that acquisition policy itself must be wargamed like operations to understand real battlefield impact, using hard lessons from current munitions and Iran-conflict sustainment demands.
Purple Teaming with Offensive and Defensive Cyber
CW2 John Mosqueda - Gray Space
Offensive and defensive cyber teams working together in realistic purple-team exercises can expose vulnerabilities and build true resilience faster than siloed training — a practical framework every cyber formation needs.
🏛️ Strengthening the Profession
Dear Future Sergeants Major
CSM Tammy Everette – Muddy Boots
A retiring Command Sergeant Major shares a heartfelt, no-nonsense letter of hard-earned wisdom to the next generation of senior enlisted leaders — emphasizing humility, guarding reputation, remembering your roots, and the duty to build something better than what came before.
Making the Right Decision: A Proposed Army Decision-Making Model
Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Jared L. Vineyard - Military Review
The author presents a model that integrates ethics, values, and the Army Ethic into practical decision-making for leaders at all levels.
📖 Resources & Calls
· Monthly Recommended Articles – Army University Press
· Professional Writing Playlist (YouTube) – Talks and discussions on military writing.
· Professional Military Writing – Military Review – Why writing matters.
🧰 TL;DR
· Quick Read: Lessons from the Eastern Front
· Deep Dive: What Does Landpower Bring to an Air and Naval Fight?
🧭 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.