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2020 General William E. DePuy Special Topics Writing Competition
Contest opens 1 January 2020 and closes 20 July 2020.
Suggested Themes and Topics for Future Editions
Preparing for the Unexpected: Enhancing Army Readiness in the Arctic
Lt. Col. Kirby R. “Bo” Dennis, U.S. Army
The Army must take steps to enhance its Arctic posture through a training-and-equipping effort commensurate with the theater’s increasing strategic importance.
Lethal Weapon: Combatives and Mental Skills Training to Ensure Overmatch in the Close-Combat Fight
Lt. Col. Peter R. Jensen, U.S. Army, Retired
Lt. Col. Andy Riise, U.S. Army
Combatives training provides one of the few environments that generates stress responses in soldiers similar to those engendered by combat. The collaboration between the Modern Army Combatives Program and Ready and Resilient performance centers provides opportunities to mitigate the performance risk from the stress response and provides the tools for soldiers to perform optimally.
Larger War, Smaller Hospitals?
Sanders Marble, PhD
The author discusses the conundrum of battlefield challenges that will likely result in the event of large-scale combat operations (LSCO) that make rapid evacuation of casualties impossible at certain times and places, including observing that the currently envisioned size of the deployed medical capabilities to support LSCO may be too small.
A Russian Military Framework for Understanding Influence in the Competition Period
Tom Wilhelm
The director of the Foreign Military Studies Office suggests developments of the Russian military’s General Staff reveal a useful model for examining all levels of influence in the competition period, when conditions in the operational environment are below the threshold of armed conflict.
Operationalizing Artificial Intelligence for Algorithmic Warfare
Courtney Crosby, PhD
The Department of Defense’s ability to operationalize artificial intelligence (AI) is relatively new. The author discusses how operationalizing AI is one way of gaining a military advantage and provides a framework to achieve this goal and avoid adversarial overmatch.
Ensuring the Political Loyalty of the Russian Soldier
Maj. Ray C. Finch, U.S. Army, Retired
Russian leadership has worked to ensure the loyalty and devotion of those charged with defending the Russian state. To this end, Kremlin efforts include the reintroduction of the Main Military-Political Directorate into the Russian armed forces with the goal of ensuring “the traditional spiritual and moral values of Russian Society.”
The People’s Bank of China’s: Monetary Armament Capabilities and Limitations of Evolving Institutional Power
Lt. Johnathan D. Falcone, U.S. Navy
The battlespace in modern warfare has expanded to the economic domain. According to the author, it is strategically necessary for the United States and the Federal Reserve to maintain influence over and leadership of the international financial system.
The National Liberation Army (ELN), Early 2020
Lt. Col. Geoffrey Demarest, JD, PhD, U.S. Army, Retired
An expert on Latin America provides an analysis of National Liberation Army activities, goals, and relationships with other regional guerrilla forces and criminal elements.
The Strategic Relevance of Tic-Tac-Toe
Maj. Amos C. Fox, U.S. Army
The author uses the game of tic-tac-toe as a useful metaphor to discuss several key concepts in his discourse on U.S. military strategy.
Punching Above Our Weight: The New Infantry Tactics of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment
Lt. Col. Timothy Wright, U.S. Army
Capt. Victoria Hulm, U.S. Army
Command Sgt. Maj. Daniel Rose, U.S. Army
Three members of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment describe how their unit’s unique task organization allows it to fight as no other infantry formation in the U.S. Army.
Tactical Data Science
Col. Harry D. Tunnell IV, PhD, U.S. Army, Retired
The author opines that soldiers are not trained to use today’s digital tools to exploit the modern data-rich tactical environment. He proposes a set of skills and competencies for digital transformation at the tactical level of war that can easily be taught by the institutional Army and be sustained with small-unit training.
The Battlefield Development Plan: A Holistic Campaign Assessment to Inform the Army Modernization Enterprise
Lt. Col. Wilson Blythe Jr., U.S. Army
David Farrell
Tim Jacobsen
James Owens
The U.S. Army has developed a new operational concept, The United States Army in Multi-Domain Operations 2028, primarily to meet the challenges presented by its peer and near-peer adversaries. The Battlefield Development Plan drives continuous experimentation and analysis to refine and integrate the forces, concepts, and capabilities required to execute multi-domain operations.
Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities
Robert D. Spessert, JD
The author critiques a book by Bettany Hughes that describes the history and impact of what is today called Istanbul.
Letter to the Editor
Master Sgt. Karlen P. Morris, U.S. Army, Retired
A reader comments on a previous article.
Death of Democracy in Hong Kong: Harbinger of the Future in East Asia
In a special feature, China betrays international commitments to the "One-country, two-systems" principle for governing Hong Kong by squashing its democracy, arresting its elected leaders, and imposing totalitarian rule. Taiwan takes note of Chinese treachery and failure to keep commitments.
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