CSA recognizes top articles of the year at the 2024 AUSA Annual Meeting and Exhibition
WASHINGTON — Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Randy George has recommended more than 30 articles to the force over the last year.
Three of those were recognized at the 2024 AUSA Annual Meeting and Exposition Oct. 14, 2024, as exemplary pieces in support of the Harding Project.
The authors then shared their experience with professional writing, co-authoring, and motivating Soldiers to write.
George thanked each of the authors and representatives of the writers helping strengthen the profession with their articles, reemphasizing the need to continue sharing lessons learned to inspire transformational change.
“Sharing the lessons learned with your peers and subordinates, of the many amazing things we have going on around our Army,” he said. “I also think about how tough it is for things to stay up to date especially with how fast the world is evolving. I know we can do that when we’re sharing lessons back and forth among professionals. That’s a really important thing.”
Techcraft on Display in Ukraine by Command Sgt. Maj. Dennis A. Doyle, Command Sgt. Maj. Brian Hester, and Cpt. Ronan A. Sefton was originally published in War on the Rocks.
The article demonstrates how Soldiers are adapting to technology for battlefield advantage, which, according to George, is a key lesson as the Army continues to transform in contact
Lessons learned from the Ukraine-Russian conflict, and Ukraine’s ability to use resources and technology at their disposal to find battlefield success sparked the idea for the article Doyle explained.
“There is innovation happening across the force and we want to generate conversation around that,” he said. “We talk about leading change across the Army. This is about actually breaking through that barrier and making change happen in an organization.”
Laying out guidelines for creating organization change, the article generates the “fight now” mentality and how to use technology to win the next and near battle.
Enabling Maneuver in Large Scale Combat Operations by Sgt. Maj. Shane Short in Army Communicator
CPT Vincent Kirk, Harding Fellow at the Army Communicator, assisted Short in the publishing process of this CSA’s top article of the year.
It underscores the importance of communications in warfare and need for signal Soldiers to think beyond technology and integrate maneuver elements.
“He [Short] wanted to emphasize that Signal leaders are not prepared by doctrine and training to step into tactical world and actually influence commanders and their movements,” Kirk said.
He explained how a more intensive use of lessons learned and practical understanding of Signals’ role in combat can make Signal leaders more effective.
Getting back to the basics at the core of Signal is also emphasized throughout Short’s piece.
Drink, Think, Link: Guiding Online Mentorship Fraizer by U.S. Army Lt. Col. Erik Davis and U.S. Army Lt. Col. Nicholas Frazier.
Mentorship in the Army has changed with a dampening of alcohol use, lower desire to spend time even in the vicinity of the office after hours and increased use of technology.
The article highlights how informal online membership can enhance professional development especially in today’s interconnected world.
“Good units have formal professional development programs but great units have informal ones,” Frazier explained.
Classic mess calls have all but disappeared, however, the desire for mentorship has not.
Mentorship and development doesn’t have to be formal, Frazier explained.
Using conversations over a map in the field or on an airplane is all that’s needed to build connection.
Moderated by Joe Byerly, retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, and founder of From the Green Notebook panelists shared how to destroy common barriers to writing specifically among the enlisted, importance of patience and time for writing, and overall how the Harding Project is moving the needle on improving the sharing of ideas and innovation to make purposeful change within the Army.
“It is awesome to be celebrating writers who want to make the profession better in a venue like AUSA,” he said.
Read the articles of the year here: Chief of Staff of the Army Recommended Articles
Rewatch the full panel discussion here: DVIDS – Video – AUSA 2024 – Strengthening the Profession through Writing: CSA’s Recognized Articles of the Year (dvidshub.net)