Elizabeth Woodworth’s Post

Below is a discussion on the value of talking to peers and mentors in the industry. Is there anything you would add? US Navy US Army United States Air Force United States Marine Corps U.S. Coast Guard United States Space Force #veterans #veteransupport #veteranshelpingveterans

I resisted reading this book for sometime. I am not really sure why. Having read a great deal on naval history and operations, I did not think it had much to offer (“the acclaimed bestseller” tag be darned). Boy, do I regret it. This book not only describes one of the US Navy‘s most exceptional victories it does so with great power from the perspective of the most senior admiral to the humblest of sailors. If the US Army is to prosecute multi-domain operations, it will help to appreciate each of the five domains and their interplay in each dimension. This book helps do that for land-lubbers like me. My TOP take-aways: (1) The training base and the industrial base matter and potentially have a decisive role to play in any protracted war. Japanese pilots flew until they died or were “de-planed”. American pilots had a regular system of supply and training that rotated and shared experience. (2) Deception works until it doesn’t and you cannot count on ALL of it working. (3) Yes - all 5 domains (air, land, sea, space and cyber) and 3 dimensions (human, information and physical) all played a role in the outcome. My TOP quote: “A fighting force cannot be reduced to its order of battle any more than a ship’s value can be reduced to the number of guns she carries or the shaft horsepower her turbines generate. A vessel draws life from the spirit of her crew, which derives in large part from the leadership qualities of her chiefs and officers. Morale defies quantification and yet it ways significantly on the ultimate lethality of the tools of war.” U.S. Army School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS) | The Army University | Army University Press | U.S. Army Combined Arms Center | U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command | US Army TRADOC | U.S. Army Materiel Command | U.S. Naval War College | Marshall Scholars at the US Army School of Advanced Military Studies

What is the difference between thinking tactically and thinking strategically? Everett Dolman defines thinking tactically as seeking culmination while thinking strategically seeks continuation. Thinking tactically seeks a conclusion and forces an adversary into limited options. It could also be organizing your group's means only towards a given "end." Thinking strategically seeks continuation. It seeks a position that provides a continuing advantage and keeping multiple options available. For me, the visualization of a tournament bracket to demonstrate tactical thinking and its reversal to understand strategic thinking was helpful. Business Strategy

Society of American Military Engineers! Check out today’s webinar on #sustainability and #resiliency with useful tips and tools to achieve both. ⬇️

This helps visualize next steps.

This book fills a gap in the study of command in battle. The Corps echelon is seldom studied. Understanding and visualizing Corps operations is essential to U.S. Army School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS) graduates. At least 20 a year go directly to Corps staffs. In Dr. Winton's words: "The requirement for organic unity between high level strategy and the most minor of tactics contains an imperative for the mid-level direction of war to keep the two poles in consonance." Corps are a slice of this "mid-level" that provide "tactical direction to the flexible combination of forces required." One last gem - "Strategic muscle hangs on a logistical skeleton." This is an important book for practioners of operational art. The Army University U.S. Army Combined Arms Center US Army TRADOC #readwithSAMS

On April 23, 1908, Congress created the Medial Reserve Corps, the official predecessor of the Army Reserve. Following World War I, under the National Defense Act of 1920, Congress reorganized the United States land forces by authorizing a Regular Army, a National Guard, and an Organized Reserve (Officer Reserve Corps and Enlisted Reserve Corps) of thirty-five divisions, which later became the Army Reserve. This provided a peacetime pool of trained Reserve officers and enlisted men for use in war. The Army Reserve Corps of Medical Officers was created with 160 physicians; 116 years later, there are more than 200,000 Reservists in more than 148 fields that may be called to action when their country requires their service. #Happybirthday #armyreserves #NICoE #DefenseIntrepidNetwork #DIN

".... The current system prioritizes broad experience over deep expertise, leading to strategic missteps. It calls for reforms to ensure that military leaders are better prepared for the complexities of modern warfare .... [and] strategy in today's rapidly evolving defense landscape. "Shock and Awe" is no longer an effective strategy - if it ever was a strategy, especially given the efficacy of insurgency and asymmetric warfare; and this is where the United States really lacks as China's proficiency with respect to asymmetric approaches and solutions has been in practice for several thousand years. Look at the amount of ordnance dumped on the Gaza Strip over the past 8+ months in the typical, Western, hyper-conventional fashion. And Hamas fights on to this day. The US desperately needs to employ more MOOTW and Unconventional Warfare (UW) strategies. We live in an extremely dynamic, asymmetric and irregular world with respect to the #battlespace and that asymmetricity and irregularity should be the foundation for extreme fluidity within an operational theater. During the war in Afghanistan Major Jim Gant (US Army Special Forces) embedded with the Pashtun - and like a modern day Lawrence of Arabia adopted elements of their strategy and tactics to conduct very successful operations against the enemy - in their own domain. The US is going to be at a loss if it has to face off with China at this point as the Chinese will employ a hybridization of IW and conventional warfare simultaneously. We saw in Iraq and Afghanistan (and now in Gaza Strip) that conventional warfare is being rendered more and more irrelevant by rapidly advancing asymmetric options - and technology.

This is an easy-to-understand video discussing the evolution of the People's Liberation Army - Navy (PLA-N) from the end of the Chinese Civil War through the Cold War to the present day.

November 1 and 2, I presented at the "Warfighting at the Army Corps and Division Level conference" organized by the Norwegian Military Academy. I would like to thank Lieutenant Colonel Trygve J. Smidt, Project Leader, Land Operations, NDUC Norwegian Military Academy, for inviting me. My talk was within the area of cyber security, emphasizing the need for coordination and collaboration, including between civil and military, during cyberspace operations. I also pointed out the need for local situational awareness when managing cyberspace operations. #fhs #forsvaret #cyberoperations