Writing effectively and clearly remains “a critical aspect of our Army profession,” the commanding general of Army Combined Arms Command said.

“When we’re at war, it’s when we must be at our most alert and aware status,” Lt. Gen. Jim Isenhower said Jan. 20 during a writing workshop hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army. “Our ability to then understand those problems and communicate clearly, whether it's in orders or it's verbally or it’s through journal articles and other professional writings, the importance is hard for me to overstate.”

Inspired by Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George’s emphasis on professional writing, AUSA’s second annual “Writing & Editing Workshop: Powerful Prose” brought together soldiers and stakeholders who are dedicated to revitalizing professional writing across the force.

George initiated the Harding Project, named for Maj. Gen. Edwin “Forrest” Harding, who revitalized Infantry Journal during the interwar years, to reinforce scholarship and writing across the force. As part of the Harding Project, the Army created the Harding Fellowship, a competitive three-year broadening opportunity that selects soldiers for a master’s program before serving as editors in chief of the Army’s branch journals.

In turn, AUSA launched the Harding Papers, which highlight the work and scholarship of fellows in the LTG (Ret.) James M. Dubik Writing Fellows Program. Dubik Fellows engage in a voluntary, non-resident writing fellowship as they contribute to vital military and national security discussions.

The Harding Project has been gaining recognition, Isenhower said. The Army’s made a “deliberate decision” to “institutionalize” the project and “bring it over” to the Combined Arms Command, he said. “You’ve gotten us back to an Army that is spending more time reading the writings of its own as it tries to figure out the right path forward in what is definitely a challenging time,” Isenhower said.

Isenhower praised the Harding Fellows during his keynote address. “Writing is a fundamentally human skill,” he said. “You represent the best our Army has to offer in terms of effective writing, and you’re only going to get better in your current billets as you address this.”

Army writers and leaders alike have to cut through the noise to effectively guide troops, Isenhower said, using the Army’s transforming in contact initiative as an example. The initiative puts new and emerging technology in soldiers’ hands for testing and experimentation.

“There’s a lot of noise” surrounding the initiative, “but what we can do in professional writing is separate the signal from the noise and bring clarity,” he said. That writing “is going to be tremendously useful to the field as you discern the right conclusions from [transforming in contact] and then convey those … across the force.”