Author Description

Second Place Winner of the MacArthur Military Leadership Writing Competition for the CGSC Class 2009-01. As U.S. Army forces are asked to accomplish increasingly diverse and complicated missions as part of full spectrum operations, leaders are challenged to provide forces that are trained and ready to execute those missions. Short deployment timelines, mission complexity and eroding institutional knowledge all exacerbate the problem. Leaders are growing up in a single-minded environment where counterinsurgency is the name of the game and core war fighting competencies are slowly eroding. Are we falling into the age old trap of fighting the last war at the expense of being ready for the next one, or in this case fighting the current war at the expense of the next one? The Army of tomorrow demands adaptive leaders that can balance all aspects of full spectrum operations while maintaining mastery of traditional combat core competencies. In other words, Army leaders must find a way to be the jack-of-all-trades and master of all, not the masters of none. By focusing on the following five key areas, leaders can achieve full spectrum operational success without sweeping changes in force structure, troop strength or doctrine. These five areas are: focusing on core competencies, outsourcing to coalition partners and NGOs, improving indoctrination of junior leaders, leveraging combined arms training to its full capacity, and maximizing existing policies and doctrine to achieve full spectrum operational balance.