Thucydides is often credited with stating, “The nation that will insist on drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its thinking by cowards.” However, the quote is most likely and accurately attributable to British author Lt. Gen. Sir William Francis Butler in his 1901 biography of Maj. Gen. Charles George Gordon, a controversial British war hero.
Regardless, the message is clear—nations must expect and demand that military leaders are both warriors and scholars. Therein lies the rub.
For as long as militaries have existed, there have been at least two iconic stereotypes—the muddy boots warrior and the sophisticated, political general. The Sam Damon and Courtney Massengale characters of Anton Myrer’s 1968 novel, Once an Eagle, are great examples from military literature. The challenge is that the Army needs tactical experts on the ground who know how to lead, train, deploy and fight from the platoon to the corps level.
There is no doubt that the U.S. Army trains, educates and develops the best tactical leaders in the world. Yet, at some point, the Army also expects leaders to begin thinking strategically, communicating effectively with elected officials and understanding the role of military power in the greater context of national security, the global economy and international relations. How is this achieved?
Leaders have multiple opportunities throughout their careers for training, education, professional development and the application of their learning, both in peace and in war. Professional military education, unlike any other federal institution, is required for selection, promotion and career advancement. It is my experience that military leaders may spend as much as 15%–20% of their careers in academic institutions, military schools, training environments and broadening opportunities. However, the best and brightest also will undertake individual development plans that compel them to read and write.
Professional Reading
In recent discussions at a premier training center with a large, diverse group of junior leaders ranging from staff sergeant to major, most were unfamiliar with, or had never heard of, the Army’s Field Manual 3-0: Operations. I was taken by surprise, as I remember receiving boxes of field manuals at the Basic Officer Leader Course and the Captains Career Course. I moved with these books around the Army, across the continental U.S., from unit to unit, over the past 27 years. To this day, I have dog-eared, highlighted copies of military doctrine on my desk and bookshelves. And I read them.
Admittedly, young leaders are often not mentored on how and where to begin their individual development plans. Busy, self-absorbed leaders are hard-pressed to find time for mentoring and developmental leadership. As mentoring and developmental leadership become less of a priority, a gap is created in the imperative one-to-one professional development junior leaders need and, many times, crave.
Eager, intellectually curious young leaders quickly default to the internet and find great outlets that publish articles that pique their interest, such as the Modern Warfare Institute; The War Room; The Green Notebook; Small Wars Journal; Institute for the Study of War; The Strategy Bridge; War on the Rocks; and a host of blogs and podcasts. These outlets offer quick shotgun blasts of popular news, opinion and commentary.
Meanwhile, recommended book reading lists and branch professional journals have suffered a long, slow, painful demise. Recommended reading lists were once a common component of a command’s professional development program. Books were distributed at the unit’s expense. Branch journals were sources of professional development and sharing of lessons learned, and getting published was considered prestigious.
Today, recommended reading lists recommend books selected with an emphasis that seemingly place priority more on who wrote the book than the quality of the content between the covers. Printed books have migrated to online or audio versions, and branch journal prestige has atrophied.
Leaders looking to create a more personalized reading list should consider their personal and professional needs, goals and objectives. Those focusing on the military profession and aspiring to develop and expand their strategic thinking and preparation for greater responsibility should consider the following advice: Senior military leaders should demonstrate a grasp of international relations, geography and history, as well as a sophisticated understanding and comprehension of military doctrine, alliance relationships, national politics, civil-military relations, bureaucratic politics, the interagency process, military-industrial relationships, leadership, culture and current events. Senior leaders also should understand the roles and responsibilities of the military services, service chiefs, combatant commands and the joint staff. Although the Army’s professional military education system may offer curriculum and electives that survey these topics, it is incumbent upon leaders to build personal depth through expanded professional reading.
Professional Writing
Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman once stated, “In war, as in science, art, and literature … we must look to books—the recorded knowledge of the past.” Military leaders need to “know how to read and write.” The best leader is one “who adds to knowledge,” he admonished.
Professional writing and contributing to the body of military knowledge is obligatory for anyone aspiring to call themselves a military professional. However, professional writing can be intimidating. Few people I know enjoy being critiqued on their writing abilities and having their shortfalls pointed out in the form of poor spelling, poor word choice, poor grammar, poor sentence structure, poor logic or poor argument design.
Unfortunately, there remains an ironic pretentiousness by some in the military ranks that professional reading and writing are anathema. This is often manifested in how leaders are counseled in preparation for attendance at command assessment programs, pre-command courses and academic fellowships.
In recent discussions with pre-command course students, battalion- and brigade-level Command Assessment Program candidates and those selected or serving in prestigious fellowships, it appears that senior leaders commonly advise ambitious candidates for promotion and command to diminish and downplay academic achievements, published writing or broadening opportunities that take time away from emphasizing tactical unit leadership and training experiences. These students, candidates and fellows—the Army’s future strategic leaders—share anecdotes that they are frequently admonished to maintain focus on the tactical, and those selected to prestigious fellowships are told that writing and publishing are not a priority.
This anti-intellectualism is exceptionally prevalent, often disguised by pointed humor or ridicule that diminishes civilian education, terminal degrees or Pentagon assignments. This sort of short-sighted, amateurish thinking should be crushed, particularly if the Army expects to train, educate and develop leaders to fight in the complex future operational environment leaders know they will encounter.
Professional writing sharpens one’s mind. It prepares an author to engage in dialogue and debate with peers, subordinates and superiors on topics of professional importance. Writing is a deliberate action for the author: They process what they want to say, how to say it, how to form it so it is accessible and easy to understand; they back up their claims with evidence and form their logic to influence, persuade and inspire their readers. Clarity and brevity help, too. Think about how influential the writings of Thucydides, Tacitus, Niccolo Machiavelli, Antoine-Henri Jomini and Carl von Clausewitz have been over the centuries. They were not born great writers. It takes time, repetition, trial and error, and training to be a good writer.
Getting Started
To avoid the trap of having our military thinking done by cowards and our fighting by fools, the Army needs to incentivize professional reading and writing. Rather than robbing the coffers of military publication outlets, the Army should provide additional resources in the form of funding and manpower. The service must encourage its professional community to read, write, learn and contribute to an exceptionally dynamic and imperative conversation.
With a revolution in military affairs being driven by convergence of technologies and artificial intelligence, who will be the military’s next Clausewitz? Who are the Army’s recognized and respected military scholars today?
For those who endeavor to take on the challenge, getting started is relatively simple, if intimidating. It begins with reading. Read books that contribute to your professional development. Select books that challenge or expand your perspective. Highlight important phrases and take notes in the margins. Capture and organize your thoughts on the book after you have read it. Write a book review and submit it to a military journal such as Military Review. This is a great way to help build a professional library.
Beyond book reviews, leaders should take the time to capture their thoughts related to recent training or leadership experiences. The Army does this frequently with after-action reviews. Take time to reflect and write down personal thoughts and the collective thoughts of your team. Share your written thoughts with your peers and ask for their impressions and feedback. Improve and expand upon your writing with their feedback. Augment your captured thoughts with notes from your professional reading or a review of current military doctrine. Look for real-world, current events that may provide context or examples of topics about which you are writing. Shape your thoughts; organize them into an essay. Then, submit it to a journal.
Whether you share a review of a book, lessons learned, poetry, leadership experience, training experience or commentary on important current trends and events, have the courage to share it with the professional community to which you belong. Start a conversation.
Read and write as if your life and the lives of your fellow soldiers depend on it, because they do.
Col. Todd Schmidt is director of Army University Press and editor in chief of Military Review, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He holds a doctorate in international relations/political science from the University of Kansas and is the author of Silent Coup of the Guardians: The Influence of U.S. Military Elites on National Security. He serves as secretary of the Greater Kansas City Chapter of the Association of the U.S. Army and is an AUSA leadership fellow.