🪖 The Friday Formation
This week’s dispatch on Army writing & leadership
24 October 2025
🕯️ Editor’s Note
As the evenings grow longer and the fog thickens over our formations, this week’s readings remind us that not all ghosts haunt battlefields—some linger in our narratives, biases, and blind spots. From challenging Army myths to studying collapse and adaptation, these works invite us to stare into the unknown corners of leadership, strategy, and human nature. If I missed something stirring in the dark, send it my way.
- Chris
⚔️ Warfighting
· The Narrative Fallacy: Challenging Army Myths – George Fust (From the Green Notebook)
Warns against the comfortable myths and over-simplified narratives that can blind leaders to the real lessons of war.
· The Best Education – Joe Byerly (From the Green Notebook)
Reflects on how true education in the profession often comes from experience, mistakes, and honest reflection—not credentials.
· Ep. 162 – Wisdom Takes Work – Host: Joe Byerly; Guest: Ryan Holiday (FTGN Podcast)
A discussion on stoicism, stillness, and the slow work of earning wisdom—lessons for restless leaders.
· Command Through Collapse: A Division’s Fight on the Eastern Flank – James J. Torrence (MWI)
Examines leadership and cohesion under existential pressure—how divisions endure as systems fail.
· U.S. Army Drone Strategy for Future Warfare – Crispin Burke (IWI)
A look into how unmanned systems are reshaping the Army’s concept of maneuver and deterrence.
· Turning Back the Clock: Leveraging Game Theory Across the Conflict Continuum – Peyton E. Ugolini & Paul L. Knudsen (Small Wars Journal)
Explores how modeling and theory can illuminate the murky decision-making of modern warfare.
· The Grey Beard Brigade – L. Scott Lingamfelter (Small Wars Journal)
An ode to experience—why seasoned Soldiers still have vital lessons for today’s digital formations.
🔧 Delivering Ready Combat Power
· From Culture to System: Turning Ukraine’s Counter-Drone Innovation into Capability – Lopatin, Muravska & Opgenorth (MWI)
Shows how Ukraine’s counter-drone improvisation is being transformed into institutional readiness.
· Why U.S. Strikes Against Drug Boats Matter – Geoffrey Corn (War on the Rocks)
Explains how tactical actions on the high seas ripple through strategic competition.
· The Supply Chain Chokepoints in Quantum – Prineha Narang & Joshua Levine (War on the Rocks)
Warns of emerging vulnerabilities in quantum technology development and logistics.
· Perspectives: Realigning JCET within the ARSOF Readiness Model – CW2 Edward Tripp (Special Warfare Journal)
Calls for updating special operations exchange training to meet today’s irregular demands.
🔄 Continuous Transformation
· Policing the Pacific: How China Expands Influence Where the U.S. Looks for Allies – Imran Bayoumi (IWI)
Investigates China’s creeping influence in Pacific microstates and what the U.S. can do to respond.
· Interwar Adaptations: Leveraging Partner Experiences for Future Conflicts – Jacob McDonnell (IWI)
Looks at how partnerships forged in quieter times can shape the wars of tomorrow.
· Partner Perspectives – LTC Jiwon Kang (MIPB)
A Korean liaison officer’s insights on coalition interoperability and shared intelligence.
· Systems Thinking: Explaining Security Force Assistance in Complex Adaptive Systems – Robert Schafer (Small Wars Journal)
Applies systems theory to the persistent challenges of building partner capacity.
· Horizons: 1st Edition, Journal of the Army FAO Association – Various Authors (Army FAO Association)
Launches the FAO Association’s first academic journal, dedicated to global perspective and professional exchange.
· Poems About the Pentagon – Zachary Griffiths (MWI)
A hauntingly creative reflection on the humanity, irony, and absurdity within institutional life.
· MWI Podcast: Europe’s Airspace Violations and the Counter-Drone Challenge – Host: John Amble; Guest: Dr. Stacie Pettyjohn (MWI Podcast)
Discusses how Europe’s skies have become the new contested frontier.
📜 Strengthening the Profession of Arms
· Five Questions for a General (MG Malcolm Frost) – Host: Cadet Orion van Buskirk (MWI Podcast)
MG (Ret.) Frost discusses lessons on leadership, trust, and communication from a lifetime in command.
· On Character: Choices That Define a Life – Jan Gleiman (Small Wars Journal)
A reflection on integrity and decision-making—the moral compass that never flickers, even in the dark.
· International Military Education: Benefits of Global Engagement – Allison Abbe & Stephen Trynosky (Small Wars Journal)
Explores how international education builds empathy, understanding, and interoperability among allies.
· The 3x5 Leadership Podcast – Host: Josh Bowen (3x5 Leadership)
Discusses consistency, followership, and the power of routine in leadership—habits that keep us steady when fear creeps in.
📖 Resources & Calls
🧰 Weekend Loadout
Quick Read: The Narrative Fallacy – don’t believe every ghost story the Army tells itself.
Deep Dive: Command Through Collapse – leading when systems fall apart.
Must-Listen: Ep. 162 – Wisdom Takes Work – timeless truths from Ryan Holiday.
🧭 About the Harding Project
The Harding Project is Chief of Staff of the Army General Randy George’s 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 Friday at a time. Share this roll-up with your formation, and consider adding your own voice to the conversation.
Poems about the Pentagon @LtcG!!! Loved that!