Watches, Words, and the Warfighter

The importance of punctuality and prose

I’ve always had a love for two things: watches on my wrist and words on my keyboard. Both are small and simple tools with an outsized impact. They’re functional yet beautiful, quiet yet powerful, and both have profoundly shaped our military history.

In the trenches of World War I, time became a weapon. Artillery barrages required synchronization down to the second, and pocket watches were too slow and unwieldy. So, alongside "The Emergence of Joint Fires in WWI", Soldiers began strapping time to their wrists. The transformation mattered. A "Task & Purpose" article, “How World War I Soldiers Gave America the Wristwatch” explains how the U.S. Army began embracing wristwatches even before Congress declared war in 1917, distributing them to corporals, sergeants, scouts, and other detachments critical to battlefield coordination.

Photo courtesy of SGM DeJesus.

Battlefield success often hinged on the clock. Synchronized timing delivered firepower, enabled movement, and kept units aligned. That’s why the wristwatch mattered; it gave leaders control over time when it counted most.

Writing isn’t much different. It looks simple, but it holds power. From dispatches to doctrine, journals to after-action reviews, writing shapes how we think, share, and lead. As shown in "Blowing Up Bridges in Vilnius", writing doesn’t just document the past; it helps us think critically about future conflict.

Well-crafted narratives allow us to test ideas, challenge assumptions, and prepare for complex operational environments long before the first shot is fired. That’s why writing matters; it shapes decisions before they’re tested in battle.

Watches and writing demand the same things: discipline, clarity, and intent. A clean field watch has no unnecessary parts. A sharp paragraph wastes no words. Both are elegant in their own right. Both are tools of readiness.

Today, I wear my watch as a reminder that time matters, and I write because ideas do too. One keeps me grounded in the moment, the other keeps me moving with purpose.

To every Soldier with a field watch and a keyboard, track the time well and don’t forget to capture the lessons learned.