Quote Originally Posted by Westhawk View Post
Finally, the wars of this decade have reacquainted everyone with the primacy of the human journey. Samet explained that the study of literature prepared her West Point cadets for "the journeys out and back" that both they and their soldiers would take.
I concur with the majority of the thrust of Dr. Samet's presentation. Indeed, the liberal arts portion of my USMA experience assisted in expanding my own ability to conduct problem-solving in time-constrained, complex environments.

Specialization in military occupations is necessary given the vast amount of technology and equipment in use today; however, specialization can also lead to tunnel vision, blind spots, or conceptual blocks. Creativity and innovation can be minimized by one's own perception of how one looks at the world. This paradox is not limited to the military profession. Doctors, lawyers, policy makers, and engineers face the same types of challenges in adjusting to creative thinking.

In the military, my observations are that different communities approach problems in different manners. When the problem at hand is outside of what expected, many people become stuck. For instance, the armor community would prefer to conduct all operations in tanks and bradleys, the airborne community tends to believe that all operations can be solved with an airborne operation (there is some truth to that), artillerymen want to see the guns go boom, etc... This training and indoctrination can actually hinder operations particularly in small wars.

Another challenge in small wars is our view of leadership. From day one, military leaders are taught to take charge of an area of operations and accomplish the mission given x amount of men and equipment. This form of leadership is often contradictory in small wars where one quickly finds that one may not be able to solve any given problems outside of security operations. Instead, we have to relearn the art of combat advising where one is assisting and not in charge.

Final thought- In trying to cope or breakout of these dillemas, I found that it was useful to study areas that I was unfamiliar or uncomfortable with (poetry, wicked problems, anthropology, sociology, etc). In some ways, sometimes one must give up control to regain control. Having had the opportunity to spend time in grad school and reflecting, I can now apply these tools into the Military Decision Making Process in a manner that will probably be much different than taught at Leavenworth.

v/r

Mike