DCLM Publications

How The Army Runs 2011-2012
Strategic Leadership Primer

Miscellaneous Articles

Other military Publications
Military professionalism

Study Articles

Dr. Richard Meinhart
Dr. Steve Gerras
Dr. Andrew Hill
Prof Charles D. Allen

DCLM Publications

How the Army Runs: A Senior Leader Reference Handbook, 2011-2012
(Note: 650 pages) This text was prepared under the direction of the Department of Command, Leadership, and Management. Its goal is to improve the understanding of the development and sustainment of the land power component of the national military strategy. This text closely examines the concepts, systems, and processes leaders use to resource the requirements of the national military strategy and provide trained and ready forces to the Combatant Commanders.

Strategic Leadership Primer
Strategic Leadership is the "coin of the realm" at the Army's highest level, and its practice is significantly different in scope, effect, and execution than leadership at lower levels of the organization. The environment at this level is characterized by the highest degrees of ...

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Articles by Dr. Richard Meinhart

Chapter 7: "National Military Strategies 1990 to 2009" in U.S. Army War College Guide to National Security Issues, Vol II:
National Security Policy and Strategy, 4th Edition. By Richard M. Meinhart
This chapter focuses on the Chairmen's leadership challenges and how they developed and used four different national military strategies in 1992, 1995, 1997, and 2004 to respond to those challenges. It describes in broad terms the strategic environment facing each Chairman, as it formed the basis for his subsequent military strategy. Then each of the strategies key components, which were organized around an ends, ways and means construct, are examined. Full publication link HERE

Vice Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Leadership of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council By Richard M. Meinhart
Military leaders at many levels have used the advice and processes associated with strategic planning councils in various ways to position their organizations to respond to the demands of current situations while simultaneously transforming to meet future challenges. This article broadly identifies how the last seven Vice Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff led the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC), the Nation's most senior joint military advice council, to provide recommendations to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) to help enable him to meet his resource-focused responsibilities.

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Articles by Dr. Steve Gerras

Effective Team Leadership: A Competitive Advantage By Steve Gerras and Col Murf Clark
Leading and team leadership are related, but distinct. In today's environment, senior leaders must master both competencies. In what follows, we argue Army leaders need to develop - in more rigorous and deliberate ways - team leadership skills that go beyond the basic leadership competencies. Leaders of highly successful teams embody the leadership traits already familiar to us, but in even greater measures and at more sophisticated levels. Given the need for 21st century Army leaders versed in full spectrum operations, we assert that specific team leadership skills can provide competitive advantage for senior field grade officers. The team leadership model we offer addresses some concepts not currently discussed in professional military education.

The Army as a Learning Organization By Steve Gerras
Joint Vision 2020 asserts that the United States military's ability to achieve full spectrum dominance in the year 2020 will be strongly influenced by our capacity for intellectual and technical innovation. JV 2020 goes on to mandate a military force that focuses on continuous learning as a means to cope with uncertainty in a rapidly changing environment. 1 Similarly, the results of the Army Training and Leader Development (ATLDP) Officer Study concluded that in order to train leaders who will thrive in a complex, ambiguous environment the Army "must commit to being a learning organization that institutionalizes the organization's learning philosophy.

Thinking Critically About Critical Thinking: A Fundamental Guide For Strategic Leaders
In the post Cold War security environment many senior leaders in the Army and throughout the Department of Defense have asserted a need to develop better critical thinking skills. The requirement for better critical thinkers stems from a realization that the complexity, uncertainty, and ambiguity characteristic of the current environment mandates a need to refrain from Cold-War thinking methodologies and assumptions. As the epigraphs (above) suggest, there is a large gap between the Army's desire to develop critical thinking skills and what actually happens. This gap is due not only to a general lack of understanding of what critical thinking is, but also a lack of education by both faculty and Army leadership on how to develop critical thinkers.

Organizational Culture: A Hybrid Model By Steve Gerras, Leonard Wong, Charles D. Allen
Explanations for the success of militaries both in war and peace have traditionally focused on key factors such as technology, leadership, personnel, training, or a combination of all of the above. A more recent addition to the list of possible variables contributing to the effectiveness of military organizations is the concept of culture. As expected, most applications of the concept of culture in a military context do so with the term military culture. While military culture is often used effectively as an overarching label for the military's personality, way of thinking, or values, there is little literature that defines the term military culture, categorizes or delineates the values that military culture claims to capture, or more importantly, provides methods or techniques to change the military culture.

Army Football and Full Spectrum Operations
Can the Army learn anything from decision regarding the Army football program as it develops its future force?
Published November 2009, Authored by Dr. Stephen Gerras

The Effects of Multiple Deployments on Army Adolescents
Frequent U.S. Army deployments increase the burden on children who must face the stress and strain of separation and anxiety. The authors take a much-needed, detailed look at the effects of multiple deployments on Army adolescents....
Published January 2010, Authored by Dr. Leonard Wong,Dr. Stephen Gerras

CU @ The FOB: How the Forward Operating Base is Changing the Life of Combat Soldiers
The situation in post-war Iraq is producing combat veterans accustomed to a perspective of combat that differs greatly from past wars. The authors explore the facets of fighting from the FOB....
Published March 2006, Authored by Dr. Leonard Wong,Dr. Stephen Gerras

Strategic Leadership Competencies
The strategic leadership literature is replete with long lists of the knowledge, skills, and abilities. Looking across the literature on strategic leadership, current Army strategic leader competencies, and the future environment, six meta-competencies can be derived: identity, mental agility, cross-cultural savvy, interpersonal maturity, world-class warrior, and professional astuteness....
Published September 2003, Authored by Dr. Leonard Wong,Dr. Stephen Gerras,COL William Kidd,COL Robert Pricone,COL Richard Swengros

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Articles by Dr. Andrew Hill

'Self-Interest Well Understood': The Origins and Lessons of Public Confidence in the Military by Dr. Andrew Hill, Dr. Leonard Wong, and Dr. Stephen Gerras
Despite a significant decline in the public's regard for American institutions, the US military continues to be held in high esteem. Indeed, many in American society see the military as the exemplary national institution, from which the nation should derive lessons for application to myriad aspects of public and private life, including developing citizenship and civic engagement among America's youth.

Articles by Prof Charles D. Allen

Back to Basics, The Army must reinforce standards of discipline
Allen, AFJ, Nov 2012
Nearly two years into the Army Profession campaign, this systematic effort to identify and promote key principles has assessed the service's strengths and weaknesses, identified things it needs to embrace - and made clear that discipline in the ranks has become a casualty of war. Now, as service leaders prepare to set the standards for the Army of 2020, they can default to the prewar "tried and true" or they can seize the opportunity to embed and apply innumerable lessons from a decade of conflict.

Book Review: A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness
Allen, Parameters, 2012
The title of the book bends the quip about an iconic American leader, President Theodore Roosevelt, who was described as "having a second-rate mind, but a first-rate temperament." Teddy Roosevelt, even with his quirkiness, seemed to have the right presence of mind to lead the nation into the changing environment and uncertainties of the dawning twentieth century. The author, Dr. Ghaemi, offers a provocative premise-individuals who experience mental illness are better suited to lead organizations, societies, and nations more so than "normal" people. He presents a counter proposition that individuals who are mentally healthy can be successful leaders in times of stability and certainty but fail during times of crisis.

Creative Thinking for Senior Leaders
Allen, May, 2012
Leadership at all levels is involved with tackling existing problems and anticipating threats and opportunities that may emerge for the organization and the attainment of its goals. Rarely are those problems identical; many important issues facing strategic leaders require novel approaches. Consequently, solutions to tough problems require creativity and innovation from members of an organization if it is to adapt and thrive in a competitive landscape. The greater challenge for senior leaders that extends beyond individual problem solving is the development of organizations that have the capacity to adapt to accelerated change and the unpredictability of the future.

VISION
Charles D. Allen and Andrew A. Hill
Of the three strategic leader tasks presented in the US Army War College Strategic Leadership Primer—alignment, vision, and change—arguably the most important is for the leaders to develop and promulgate a vision for the organization.

STRATEGIC DECISION MAKING PARADIGMS: A PRIMER FOR SENIOR LEADERS
Charles D. Allen, Breena E. Coates, George J. Woods III
The goal for the year at the United States Army War College (USAWC) is to prepare our students to be strategic leaders or to serve as effective advisers to the senior leadership of our military and this Nation. Accordingly, we help students gain an appreciation of the context and processes of strategic decision making. In the summer of 2005, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, addressed the Distance Education

Applying Clausewitz and Systems Thinking to Design
Cunningham, Allen, USAWC Guide to Strategy, June, 2012
Strategic campaign planners and statesmen often begin their analyses by assuming a linear cause-and-effect relationship, similar to a move-countermove exchange in chess. Although such linear formulations may sometimes be a useful starting point, they can also be disastrously misleading. Systems thinking, however, provides an alternative that compensates for the limits of linear reasoning in military design. This chapter considers the implications of systems thinking as a theory and applies the implications of systems complexity specifically to military operational design. The perspectives of Carl von Clausewitz, the Prussian military theorist, inform current doctrine on design, and the Clausewitzian concept of center of gravity provides an essential tool for commanders to employ in designing campaigns.

Our Veterans Deserve Better, What is the responsibility of those still in uniform?
Allen, AFJ, April, 2012
In the summer of 1932, amid the Great Depression, several thousand veterans of World War I gathered in the nation's capital to express their discontent with the U.S. government. In particular, they came to protest the failure of Congress to pass legislation to provide veterans with emergency relief. This Bonus Army camped in Washington for 10 weeks, growing to 24,000 people before it was finally evicted by federal troops after two protesters died in clashes with Capitol Police.

Assessing the Army Profession
Allen, Parameters, Autumn, 2011
Following the methodology of former Army Chiefs of Staff when faced with times of change and turbulence, Secretary of the Army John M. McHugh and Chief of Staff of the Army General George W. Casey directed the initiation of the Profession of Arms campaign. The US Army, even while experiencing the many accomplishments that have extended over a decade of war, is still faced with a number of critical challenges that need to be addressed. By asking questions and sensing the responses of its members, the Army will be capable of examining and diagnosing its health as a profession.

The Engagement of Military Voice
Allen - Coates, Parameters, Winter, 2009
Distinctive operational competencies from the civilian and military sectors provide usable knowledge to both. When military voice (in the form of counsel, advice, guidance, and suggestions) is given appropriate credence, unique capabilities flow easily back to the civilian leaders of the armed forces. When voice and counsel are muted or constrained, the information flow will entropy and valuable knowledge will be lost. Using military experience as case studies, this article discusses the principal form of error occurring due to the principals' ineffective engagement of the military voice.

The Army Profession: Trust is First
Allen - Braun, ISME, January, 2012
In 1992, then-Major Mark Rocke's, "Trust, the Cornerstone of Leadership," was recognized as the MacArthur Military Leadership award-winning essay. That paper was written in aftermath of successful operations in Iraq (Desert Shield/Desert Storm) and in the midst of the of post-Cold War drawdown of the U.S. Army. Rocke's exploration of trust challenged the conventional wisdom that effective leadership enables trust by reversing the direction of causality and posited that building trust provides the foundation for effective leadership. His analysis was primarily at the unit level and focused on three dimensions of trust-integrity, competence, and predictability-by subordinates in their commanders. Rocke provided the simple statement that trust is the expectation "held by leaders and those led."

The More Things Change, Acquisition Reform Remains the Same
Eide - Allen, Defense Acquisition University, January, 2012
For over 60 years, the Department of Defense has attempted to fix its weapon systems procurement without success. While notable exceptions emerged during the Global War on Terrorism (i.e., rapid development/fielding of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles and Improvised Explosive Device defeat systems), "Acquisition Reform" efforts have not consistently yielded a process/system that delivers products faster, better, or cheaper.

Beyond leading boots on the ground
(Allen, Washington Post, November, 2011
Senior military leaders are sometimes asked, "What keeps you awake at night?" A simple answer is the prospect of failure of the U.S. military to execute successfully the tasks the nation requires of it..

Profession of Arms - Starfish Metaphor
(Allen, SSI, September, 2011
The Profession of Arms (PoA) Campaign began with much fanfare, but the Community of Practice (CoP) has since wrestled with many important issues during the planning and conduct of the campaign. While there are many implicit assumptions about the Army as a Profession, the PoA White Paper (December 8, 2010) provided the catalyst to explore what it means to be a PoA. In the initial planning sessions with the Commanding General, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (CG TRADOC), the endeavor to define the PoA led to the stalking horse of attributes and the challenge to define the membership within the profession. This short paper is meant to address the latter question of "who is in" and "who is out" of the PoA.

Book Review: "The Stress Effect: Why Smart Leaders Make Dumb Decisions - And What to Do About It" by Henry L. Thompson
(Allen, Parameters, Spring, 2011
There are several recent books and articles that explore leader failures, often attributing to them bad behavior, character flaw, or dysfunction. The Stress Effect offers a different approach and perspective that may be useful to leaders and managers across several domains.

How to Build a National Security Team
(Allen, Washington Post, Jun 6, 2011
We may never know the totality of factors that went into the recommendation of the Department of Defense senior leaders for the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and its acceptance by the commander in chief.

The Impact of a Decade at War
(Allen, Armed Forces Journal, May 1. 2011)
It would be easy to discount the conjecture that the Army is in trouble. After all, it is unmatched as a fighting force and successfully conducted military operations that achieved regime change in two countries in the space of 18 months. Total U.S. military spending averaged nearly $720 billion over the past four years and exceeded 46 percent of global defense spending in 2009. Moreover, the $6.73 trillion spent by the Defense Department in the 21st century dwarfed the annual gross national product of most other countries. Commensurate with the level of resourcing, the Army possesses the finest equipment incorporating the latest technology and the most extensive training program in the world.

The Legacy of Henry O. Flipper in the U.S. Army
(Allen, Washington Post, Jun 14, 2010)
This year on May 22, the President of the United States and Commander and Chief of the Armed Forces, Barack Obama, was the graduation speaker for the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. The birthday of the U.S. Army, June 14, marks the anniversary of another graduation of special note. In 1877, Henry Ossian Flipper became the first African American graduate of West Point. That the United States would elect a black man president 130 years after the first black graduate of West Point would have been beyond the pale for many Americans of that generation and culture.

MLK day: African Americans answering the call of military service
(Allen, Washington Post, Jan 14, 2010)
MLK day: African Americans answering the call of military service
Col. Allen delivered this speech on Jan. 14, 2010 at the US Army War College and Carlisle Barracks observation of Martin Luther King Day.

Army Strong - Really?
(Allen, "Of Interest", SSI, April 2011)
It would be easy to discount the conjecture that the U.S. Army is in trouble. After all, we are unmatched as a fighting force and were successful in conducting military opera-tions for regime change in two countries in the space of 18 months. Our budget in the 21st century dwarfs the gross national product of most other countries.

Profession of Arms Study Trust Review
(Allen, "Of Interest", SSI, March 2011)
As part of the Profession of Arms (PoA) study, the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) tasked the U.S. Army War College (USAWC) to examine the key attribute of trust at the institutional level. "The Profession of Arms" White Paper identifies trust as "clearly the most important attribute we seek for the Army."1 While TRADOC's guidance directed the USAWC to focus on specific external environments (e.g., civil-military, media-military), it is equally important to consider trust relationships in the context of interagency, intergovernmental, multi-national, and coalition activities in which the Army and its senior leaders engage.

Coherence and Contrasts
(Allen, "Of Interest", SSI, January 2011)
On November 18, 2010, two late night television shows provided fanfare for two men from different ends of the leadership spectrum. One man's example epitomized tactical and direct-level leadership; the other was the definition of strategic leadership. To me, it came together while watching interviews that were less than 20 minutes apart. The Colbert Report featured Medal of Honor recipient Army Staff Sergeant (SSG) Salvatore Giunta, and The Tonight Show host Jay Leno spoke with former President George W. Bush. The reasons for the national spotlight could not have been more different but the two men are inextricably linked.

Leadership for Sustainable Installations
(Allen, Journal of Installation Management, Spring 2011)
The perpetual question for leaders is whether they or the organizations they lead matter. To answer such questions requires serious contemplation as to why their organization exists and how it remains relevant to its major clients and stakeholders. For garrison commanders, the first answer may be obvious based on the revised (in February 2011) mission of IMCOM to "provide Soldiers, Civilians and their Families with a quality of life commensurate with the quality of their service."

Systems Thinking in Campaign Design
(Allen & Cunningham, Strategos, Fall 2010)
Strategic campaign planners and statesmen often begin their analyses by assuming a linear cause and effect relationship similar to a move/countermove exchange in chess. Although such linear formulations may sometimes be a useful starting point for leaders, they can also be disastrously misleading. Systems thinking, however, provides an alternative that compensates for the limits of linear reasoning in military campaign design.

Lessons Not Learned: Civil-Military Disconnect in Afghanistan
(Allen, Armed Forces Journal, Sep 2010)
The relief of two four-star operational commanders in Afghanistan, America's "war of necessity," warrants an examination of not only civil-military relations but also leader-follower dynamics and the question of whether there was a disconnect between these senior leaders and their bosses.

Redress of Professional Military Education: A Clarion Call
(Allen, Joint Forces Quarterly, Oct 2010)
In 1908, the American short story writer O. Henry penned "The Clarion Call." This title has become synonymous with a powerful request for action or an irresistible mandate. As the Nation looks to the institution of the U.S. Army during an era of persistent conflict and after 9 years of war, it is time to recapture professional military education (PME) as part of our profession.

Culture & Cognition
(Coates & Allen, SBR, Summmer 2010)
Political scientist, Samuel Huntington (1993) posited that future global politics and conflicts would center on clashes between civilizations. Indeed, his prophetic words were realized in 2001 ...

Garrison Leadership Enlisting Others
(Allen, Journal of Installation Management, July 2010)
Some Commanders had not worked with a predominantly Civilian workforce ... add to that stakeholders - customers (family members, Host Nation politicians, US politicians, etc.). Suddenly you are forced to think (strategically) across several spectrums ... the kinds and depth of tasks are also challenging - the GC has to know a little bit about a lot of things.

The Danger of Deja vu , Why the Iraq surge is not a lesson for Afghanistan
(from Armed Forces Journal, December 2009)
During the past year, we have seen our U.S. national security establishment ponder the question of what to do next in Afghanistan. With the January inauguration, a new president became commander in chief and sought to fulfill his promise to refocus on the "necessary war."

Operational Design of Campaigns, A Hedge Against Operational Failures
This monograph will examine the Mesopotamia campaign up to the British surrender at Kut in April. 1916. The puppose of this monograph is to answer the following research question: What are the modern implications of the operational failures of the British forces in the Mesopotamia Campaign of 1914-1916.

Developing Creative and Critcal Thinkers
By Charles D. Allen and Steve Gerras
(From - MILITARY REVIEW - November-December 2009)
IN APRIL 2009, Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited each of the senior service colleges to present his rationale for budget recommendations to the president. We can infer that his purpose was to communicate the critical priorities for the Fiscal Year 2010 national defense budget directly to emerging armed services senior leaders. His FY 2010 recommendations challenged the existing advice and direction of the service leaders and would result in the cutting of major weapon systems.

Organizational Culture: A Hybrid Model
By Steve Gerras, Leonard Wong, Charles D. Allen
Explanations for the success of militaries both in war and peace have traditionally focused on key factors such as technology, leadership, personnel, training, or a combination of all of the above. A more recent addition to the list of possible variables contributing to the effectiveness of military organizations is the concept of culture. As expected, most applications of the concept of culture in a military context do so with the term military culture. While military culture is often used effectively as an overarching label for the military's personality, way of thinking, or values, there is little literature that defines the term military culture, categorizes or delineates the values that military culture claims to capture, or more importantly, provides methods or techniques to change the military culture.

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Book Review (Parameters, Spring 2010): Honor Bright: History and Origins of the West Point Honor Code and System - By Lewis Sorley. Reviewed by Colonel (Ret.) Charles D. Allen, Assistant Professor of Cultural Sciences, US Army War College.

Book Review: America's Army - Reviewed by Professor Charles D. Allen, Professor of Cultural Science, US Army War College.

Why Senior Military Leaders Fail
(from Armed Forces Journal, June 2009)
In the first decade of the 21st century, the U.S. military bserved the firings or resignations of the chief of staff of the Air Force, the secretaries of the Army and the Air Force, plus several general officers, including the commander of U.S. Central Command and most recently the senior American commander in Afghanistan.

Strategic Decision Making Paradigms: A Primer For Senior Leaders
The goal for the year at the United States Army War College (USAWC) is to prepare our students to be strategic leaders or to serve as effective advisers to the senior leadership of our military and this Nation. Nobel Laureate, Elihu Root, the Secretary of War in 1901, challenged our institution to study the three great problems of national defense, military science and responsible command.

Systems Thinking for Strategic Leaders
Strategic thinkers and statesmen often begin their analysis by assuming a linear cause and effect relationship similar to a move/countermove exchange in chess. Although such linear formulations are a useful starting point for strategic leaders, they can be misleading.

Selecting the Best for our Army's Future
(from 1775, Winter 2007/2008)
In the late spring of 2007, I was contacted by the Army via email to determine my availability to sit on a selection board for senior members of our Army Non-commissioned Offi cers (NCO) Corps. As with most queries for taskings, I was not eager to volunteer, but this was a unique opportunity to see the process firsthand.

Garrison Commanders: Leading at Several Levels
(from Journal of Installation Management, Summer 2007)
Our Army continues to face the challenges of the 21st century posed by the strategic environment and the missions it must perform to protect the national interests of the United States. To achieve its vision of providing relevant and ready forces to combatant commanders, the Army has to simultaneously meet operational requirements and execute functional or institutional support as outlined in the United States Code Title 10.

Garrison Command Skills for Success
(from Journal of Installation Management, Winter 2007-2008)
At the time of the publication of this article, the slate of garrison commanders that will assume leadership of installations in the summer of 2008 is well known. Incoming commanders are looking at calendars to coordinate attendance at pre-command courses, completing requirements of their current position, and preparing for the upcoming assumption of command.

Garrison Command: Key Leader Judgments
(from Journal of Installation Management, Summer 2008)
The lead articles in the last two editions of this publication presented my view that garrison command spans several levels of leadership (direct, organizational and strategic) and provided a perspective of skills (technical, conceptual, and interpersonal) that garrison commanders should have to be successful.

Creative Thinking for Individuals and Teams
Leadership at all levels is involved with tackling existing problems and anticipating threats and opportunities that may emerge for the organization and the attainment of its goals. Rarely are those problems identical; many important issues facing strategic leaders require novel approaches. Consequently, solutions to tough problems require creativity and innovation from members of an organization if it is to adapt and thrive in a competitive landscape.

Garrison Command: The First 90 Days
(from Journal of Installation Management, Summer 2009)
About this time of year, our U. S. Army War College (USAWC) students have mapped out the academic year in preparation for their assignments after graduation. The students naturally seek to take maximum advantage of the limited time for reflection that is available this year. Across the Army there are several Senior Service College students who will assume brigade-level command in the summer of 2009 and a handful of them will be garrison commanders (with a similar number of IMCOM civilians that are aspiring Deputies to Garrison Commanders (DGCs).

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Miscellaneous Articles

Military professionalism (1970's study) A 1970's study by the U.S. Army War College on Military professionalism

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