Good morning, Hardos!
Please enjoy this installment of our newest weekly segment, Throwback Thursday, where we highlight our Harding Fellows and some of their historical work. Enjoy!
As always, drop us a note at submissions@hardingproject.com with your thoughts—have a great weekend!
I take pride in providing you with the most cutting edge and up-to-date sustainment information as the first Harding Fellow for the Sustainment Center of Excellence at Ft. Lee, VA. When I was selected for this position, I was not sure what I was getting myself into. I knew very little at the beginning as we built this fellowship from the ground up, but this has truly been the most unique opportunity and rewarding position I have ever served in. The work we do as fellows directly impacts the entire force. Serving as the military Editor-in-Chief for the Army Sustainment Professional Bulletin has enabled me to network and build relationships with leaders of all ranks which is an opportunity I would not have had outside of the fellowship.
Photo courtesy of CPT Pyle.
At the journal, the Army Logistician has published 322 editions since its inception in 1969, though it was retitled the Army Sustainment Professional Bulletin in 2009. It began publishing fully digital, quarterly issues in summer 2023, found here. Each quarterly issue is assigned a theme from the Sustainment Center of Excellence Board of Directors. Adding a Harding Fellow to the team has allowed the journal to take on new initiatives including multiple new sections such as “Did You Know?,” “Captains Career Corner,” “Logistics Scenario Exercise,” and “Blast from the Past,” to name a few. Additionally, I launched The LOGSTAT podcast to directly communicate with the professional sustainment community on topics that mean the most to them. The journal has social media accounts on Facebook, X, and LinkedIn under the Army Sustainment handle.
Tying this all into the Harding Project’s Throwback Thursday, this corpus of articles published over the past 56 years provides a treasure chest of knowledge for current sustainment leaders. One has had a particularly strong impact on me personally: “How to Succeed in Logistics” published by then-Lieutenant General Richard H. Thompson in the SEP-OCT 1981 issue of the Army Logistician. Thompson is one of the most impressive Army Officers of his generation. He enlisted in the Army in November 1944 and served in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. He was a former Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Department of the Army from 1981-1984. In his 42 years of service, he achieved the rank of general (GEN) becoming the first Quartermaster officer in the Corps’ history to hold the rank of full GEN while still on active duty and is the only Soldier in the Quartermaster Corps history to rise from private to four-star general. He was inducted into the Quartermaster Hall of Fame in 1991 for his lifetime of contributions to the Quartermaster Corps. While this article focused on logisticians, it provides valuable leadership principles for any leader to follow in plotting their career to maximize their contributions and achieve their potential.
The original text is below with the full online issue available here:
GEN Thompson clearly outlines in a simple bullet list key principles by which every leader should abide. Different mentors throughout my career have shared similar principles with me and I have applied them throughout my life. It shows how the guidance that he provides transcends the test of time and remains highly relevant. Leaders today have lots of resources for advice and mentorship on their profession – the historical branch journals should be included within any Army leader’s toolbox, particularly as the branch journals include leadership and technical lessons-learned relevant to one’s specific MOS. It has been said that “the seeds of our future are sowed in our past.” GEN Thompson is one such leader who worked tirelessly through the seeds he planted throughout his career and life to ensure that the next generation of leaders were well prepared to handle any challenge that was thrown at them.
As the Sustainment Harding Fellow, I am excited to work with anyone interested in contributing to the Army Sustainment Professional Bulletin. You can find the submission instructions here: https://asu.army.mil/alog/submissions.html
CPT Garett Pyle is an Army logistician currently serving as our Harding Fellow and Military EIC for the Sustainment Center of Excellence.
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