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DePuy Writing Competition

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2023 General William E. DePuy

Special Topics Writing Competition

This year’s theme is “Implementing FM 3-0, Operations”

 

The updated Field Manual (FM) 3-0, Operations, was introduced and disseminated throughout the Army in October 2022. The intent of this year’s DePuy competition is to encourage close examination of the impact implementing FM 3-0 will have on the Army. A list of suggested topics for examination is provided below. However, the list is not exclusive and treatment of other relevant topics is encouraged. Manuscripts identifying and analyzing other salient topics that offer insight and productive critique of issues related to implementation of FM 3-0 are encouraged.

 

Competition opens 1 January 2023 and closes 20 July 2023

 
1st Place $1,000 and publication in Military Review
2nd Place $750 and consideration for publication in Military Review
3rd Place $500 and consideration for publication in Military Review

 

For information on how to submit an entry, please visit https://www.armyupress.army.mil/DePuy-Writing-Competition/.

 

Articles will be comparatively judged by a panel of senior Army leaders on how well authors have clearly identified issues surrounding implementation of FM 3-0 within the Army in general and/or to a significant portion of the Army; how effectively detailed and feasible solutions to the issues identified are presented; and the level of expository skill the author demonstrates in developing a well-organized article using professional standards of grammar, usage, critical thinking, original insights, and evidence of thorough research in the sources provided.

 

Some Suggested Writing Topics Salient to FM 3-0

 

  • What are the chief obstacles to the implementation of the new doctrinal concepts in FM 3-0?
  • What did the new FM 3-0 get right? What did it overlook or get wrong? How does it need to be revised?
  • Surviving on the future battlefield. How does a modernized army equipped with the latest technology, to include cyberspace and space capabilities, remain concealed and protected on the battlefield when our adversaries can “see” and track its units from social media and other media posts from home stations (CONUS or other) to the forward line of own troops?
  • Given the concepts introduced in FM 3-0, the antiaccess/area denial capabilities possessed by our potential enemies, and what we are observing in Ukraine with regard to the technical sophistication available for defeating air assets, is it time for the U.S. Army to divest itself of its large-scale airborne forcible entry capabilities?
  • Has the tank gone the way of the battleship? With the concepts introduced in FM 3-0, the exponential increase of long-range precision fires and unmanned aircraft systems capabilities, and the U.S. Marine Corps’ recent divesture of heavy armor capabilities (tanks and self-propelled howitzers), should the Army divest of its armor formations?
  • The concept of convergence is one of the key concepts undergirding multidomain operations. Explain this concept and how it will be achieved. What are the implications of enemy electronic warfare on the ability for Army forces to achieve convergence?
  • Does the new FM 3-0 adequately address the introduction of new adversarial technologies such as hypersonic weapons? Exotic weapons such as biological warfare agents?
  • Army forces have been multidomain forces in many ways for years, so what are the implications of what is new about the multidomain operations concept as described in the new FM 3-0?
  • What are the implications of multidomain operations for echelons below brigade?
  • Are multidomain operations described in FM 3-0 a continuation of (or departure from) the evolution of operational art? If so, how are they different? In any contrast and compare analysis, consider the works of Soviet military theorist G. S. Isserson, former commanding general of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, Gen. Donn A. Starry, and other military theoreticians who have been involved in the evolution of the concept.
  • How well does FM 3-0’s operational concept address how Army forces need to operate given what we have observed in Nagorno-Karabakh and Ukraine?
  • Does FM 3-0 reveal anything about the readiness of our Army to fight a Russia or China?
  • Compare and contrast the development of AirLand Battle with the development of multidomain operations. Consider the influence of the Vietnam and 1973 Yom Kippur War and that of the Global War on Terrorism and the conflicts in Ukraine and Nagorno-Karabakh. What lessons can be drawn from this analysis?
  • Using FM 3-0’s maritime chapter (chapter 7) as a point of departure, provide insight into the unique challenges of operating in maritime environments.
  • What command and control challenges can we anticipate when employing multidomain operations?
  • An assessment of the feasibility of doctrine implementation given the projected logistical/material or other constraints?

 

 

New from Army Doctrine

 

Book Cover

Among other important changes, the most recently updated Field Manual (FM) 3-0, Operations, published in October 2022, focuses on upgrading Army capabilities to employ speed, range, and convergence of cutting-edge technologies to achieve land dominance against future enemies. It stresses the role the Army plays in holding critical terrain, providing assurances to allies and partners, defeating all enemies in close combat, and consolidating gains to achieve enduring strategic outcomes. FM 3-0 is rooted in the principles of war and reinforces an offensive mindset but also provides a simple definition of multidomain operations intended to help leaders at all echelons visualize and understand the interrelationship among the physical, information, and human dimensions. It also provides an operational framework that helps echelons better organize forces in terms of time, space, and purpose. Notably, it addresses the unique challenges of applying landpower in maritime environments and the unique requirements for combat leadership in complex modern warfare.

The new FM 3-0 can be downloaded from the Army Publishing Directorate at https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/ARN36290-FM_3-0-000-WEB-2.pdf.

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March-April 2023