Military Analysts Research Articles

Effects of task structure and confirmation bias in alternative hypotheses evaluation

We empirically examined the effectiveness of how the Analysis of Competing Hypotheses (ACH) technique structures task information to help reduce confirmation bias (Study 1) and the portrayal of intelligence analysts as suffering from such bias (Study 2). Study 1 (N = 161) showed that individuals presented with hypotheses in rows and evidence items in columns were significantly less likely to demonstrate confirmation bias, whereas those presented with the ACH-style matrix (with hypotheses in columns and evidence items in rows) or a paragraph of text (listing the evidence for each hypothesis) were not less likely to demonstrate bias. The ACH-style matrix also did not confer any benefits regarding increasing sensitivity to evidence credibility. Study 2 showed that the majority of 62 Dutch military analysts did not suffer from confirmation bias and were sensitive to evidence credibility. Finally, neither judgmental coherence nor cognitive reflection differentiated between better or worse performers in the hypotheses evaluation tasks.

Western Estimates of Russian Military Capabilities and the Invasion of Ukraine

ABSTRACT The poor performance of the Russian military during the invasion of Ukraine came as a surprise to many in the West. This prompted a debate about why Russian capabilities had been overestimated. Fingers were pointed at the work of Western military analysts who, in the eyes of some critics, had based their estimates almost entirely on numbers and technology, resulting in mistaken predictions of a quick and decisive Russian victory. It has since been suggested that changes to the practices of Western military analysis are required if similar future failures are to be avoided. This article takes stock of this debate, proposing that the reasons for Western overestimates of Russian military capabilities and the lessons to be learned from this are far more complex than suggested by the critics. Discussing the political nature of military assessments and defense debates, the problems inherent in military analysis, and the difficulties associated with predicting outcomes in war, it concludes that laying blame for overestimates of Russian military power on Western experts is a fallacy. Expectations of achieving accurate future military assessments by refining the analytical base need to be tempered.

Lessons to be learned from the Nagorno-Karabah conflict

The new threats of modern warfare compel the thinking and development of a credible air defense capability based on early warning systems, surface-to-air missiles, fighter aircraft and associated command and control systems. Ground-based air defence, largely neglected in the air campaigns that dominated the last years of military conflicts, where the air threat was quite low, is once again examined by military analysts. The combatants involved in the 2020Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are responsible for this.

Lessons Learned by Yugoslav Military Experts from the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan 1979-1981

The article analyzes the attitude of Yugoslav military analysts to the deployment of the Soviet troops in Afghanistan in 1979–1981. Afghanistan was not among diplomatic, or military priorities for Yugoslavia. After the coup in Afghanistan on April 27, 1978, relations between the two countries, previously rather formal, deteriorated, as Kabul started to move away from the non-alignment movement taking a pro-Soviet orientation. Yugoslavia saw Afghanistan as a non-aligned country and was extremely concerned about the Soviet interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state. This political assessment heavily influenced the views of Yugoslav military expert, resulting into some distorted conclusions and numerous overlooked lessons. This testifies to the primacy of everyday political (and even propaganda) needs over military science in Yugoslavia. They believed that Afghanistan would turn into a permanent problem for the USSR. Despite the rich empirical material, Yugoslav analysts did not see any novelty in tactics and the use of new weapons in mountainous areas. They neglected to analyze the tactics of anti-partisan actions in the highlands; their predictions were not original; they ignored the presence of militant fundamentalism as a factor in the conduct of hostilities.

Considerations Regarding Doctrinal Evolution of Conflicts in Eastern Europe in Accordance with Current Risks and Threats

Abstract Starting from the complexity of a military conflict of the future, in this article I set out a realistic analysis of how to apply and correlate military doctrine during the post and during a conflict and its application to influence the adopted security strategy. I will try to present interpretations of how the security situation will evolve strategically and militarily in line with new and old risks and threats and return to the notion of conventionality and classicism in the symmetry or asymmetry of future conflicts. The complexity of this issue is a real challenge for military analysts, the unpredictable evolution of the security environment and the constant emergence of new challenges, create major impediments in terms of identifying future risks and threats and interpreting a likely security situation. This approach will be finalized with the conclusions that will emerge from the analysis of the current security environment and the type of armed conflict that will probably be in the near or distant future.

A Brutal Examination: Russian Military Capability in Light of the Ukraine War

Russian armed forces’ lacklustre performance in Ukraine has surprised military analysts. Shortcomings have included breakdowns in logistics, poor equipment and morale, abysmal communications, and muddled command and control, as well as a weak showing by the Russian Aerospace Forces, air defence, and cruise and ballistic missiles. Chief among the contributing factors are wishful political thinking, overreliance on esoteric doctrine and endemic corruption. War, however, brutally exposes peacetime cheating. Consequently, estimates of Russian military capabilities – in particular, for large-formation combined-arms operations, logistics, air defence and intangibles such as morale – need to be carefully reassessed. Earlier analyses of a Russia–NATO conflict appear to have overstated the challenge of defending Europe. Looking ahead, the conventional threat from Russia seems less daunting than previously thought, and the country faces a formidable task in repairing depleted capabilities. That said, President Vladimir Putin’s appetite for risk is greater than anticipated.

Reconstructing the Uncertain Past: Cracked Docudramas That Question Their Own Authority

Reconstructing the Uncertain Past: Cracked Docudramas That Question Their Own Authority

Babukić the Vagabond and His Time by Miljenko Jergović

Reviewed by: Babukić the Vagabond and His Time by Miljenko Jergović Nada Petković Miljenko Jergović Vetrogonja Babukić i njegovo doba [ Babukić the Vagabond and His Time] Zagreb, Croatia: Fraktura, 2021. 377 Pp. ISBN 978-953-358-307-5 Thirty-something years into his literary career, Miljenko Jergovic surprised his readers with something quite outside the box—a picaresque novel Babukić the Vagabond and His Time. The author himself has acknowledged that he aspired to write a book that would be different from everything he had written before, certainly more frivolous and cheerful, something that would emerge from, as he said, "the semi-darkness from which he had written thus far." The book was published in 2021, although, according to Jergović, it had been in the making since 2010. Owing to circumstances in his personal life, in which, as he pointed out, "there was no place for hilarity, the manuscript was put aside." But then, several years of political crisis, including four turbulent years of Trump and the global pandemic that hit the world in 2020—all of which appeared surreal to the writer—inspired him to create something even more surreal: Babukić's world of apocalyptic cheerfulness. Over 380 pages divided into 10 chapters, with suggestive illustrations by Ivan Stanišić—quite appropriate for the genre—we are presented with a collection of diverse short narrative forms, unified by a solid framework of novelistic structure. The second structural level of the novel, i.e., its inner ring, consists of digressions, astonishing anecdotes, and meditations, which are either individual stories or introductions to more extensive narratives. Some critics compare the main character's adventures to those of idealistic wanderers such as Schweik or Don Quixote, while [End Page 175] others see closer resemblance to the heroes of fiction films, such as Victor Navorski in Spielberg's Terminal. The main character, Babukić, is a haunted traveler, constantly on the move, randomly buzzing about without getting anywhere. He is stuck among various starting points and destinations, in a transit zone between here and there, trapped in limbo. He left his native Zagreb at the beginning of the war in the former Yugoslavia (1991) and since then, he has literally and metaphorically lived on the road. His universe consists of airports and aircraft, in-between places where people spend great amounts of time waiting and observing others, as they move frantically in all directions. Babukić remains trapped not only spatially, behind the glass of airport buildings, but also temporally, stuck in the late 1980s and early 1990s—the time when he broke away from his real life and began a new existence in a different mode. This fake cosmopolitan and polyglot, as we discover throughout the novel, is contrasted to Jergović's description of socialist elites, military aristocracy, and general decadence before the collapse of the social order. Before the war, Babukić worked as a military analyst for the Yugoslav National Army (JNA), where he built his identity, reputation, and wealth. Having made his mistress (a young married woman) pregnant, and unable to face the consequences and responsibilities, he hastily fled his city, then the country, which would soon disappear along with the JNA, an institution of which he was a member. Portrayed as a man without qualities, devoid of affinity and ambition, scruples, and empathy, at the same time a clown and a demon, Babukić is infantile and conflicted, preoccupied with rituals and averse to emotional attachments. He is a man who, though possessing little knowledge, has an opinion about everything and needs to express it, however arrogantly. He is everywhere, constantly passing by others with whom he often collides, intensively communicating in all conceivable languages, not thinking about anyone, not remembering anyone. To compensate for having given up his personal history, Babukić is an intrusive collector of other people's stories. In proleptic flashes from his new, faux-nomadic life, we read about colorful encounters with diverse people, including an airport encounter with the supposedly melancholic Mohamed Atta; about a collision with Larisa Blum, a child musical prodigy; about the surreal scene in which he finds an undocumented Bosnian guest worker talking and hiding in a sandwich; about a clinch with the...

Unraveling Japan’s aircraft carrier puzzle: Leveraging carriers’ symbolic value

ABSTRACT Japan’s decision to convert two helicopter-carrying ships into fixed-wing aircraft carriers has generated criticism on two fronts. Military analysts question the military sense of carriers in the age of long-range precision missiles, while other domestic critics decry the move as a flagrant breach of Japan’s constitutional constraints on possessing senryoku (war potential) and one likely to provoke Japan’s neighbors, most notably China. Against this backdrop of criticism, why did the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe take Japan back into the difficult business of carriers? This article argues that contrary to stated criticism, the carrier conversion program does provide Tokyo with tangible military benefits but these on their own are insufficient to explain the decision. Instead, we show the move is motivated in part by the desire to leverage carriers’ symbolic value for political ends.

CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING THE PERFORMANCE OF THE LOGISTIC SUPPORT OF THE SOVIET ARMY IN THE AFGHAN WAR

Abstract: The reasons why Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan in the 1980s became the subject of disputes, articles, or even inspiration for the books of military analysts. The interest shown around this subject extended to the Soviet military doctrine, tactics, equipment, forces design (architecture), the number of military employees, the pursued purpose, etc. In this regard, in order to identify "lessons learned" possibly useful in the field of current logistical support, this article aims to analyze, from a logistical perspective, the Soviet effort during the 9 years of military actions taken in Afghanistan.

Towards Intelligent Narrative-Based Interfaces for Sensemaking

Professionals such as military analysts, medical providers, and business administrators have a significant need to understand and make sense of an increasing quantity of data. We propose intelligent narrative-based interfaces as a means of organizing, presenting, and interacting with this data to im-prove user comprehension. This paper identifies critical questions and potential research paths in intelligent narrative-based interfaces for sensemaking. We propose a general architecture of intelligent narrative-based interfaces and identify central research questions in this area. We believe this new area of research has significant potential to use narrative technologies to impact a wide range of real world problems.

2013 Political Discussions in Foreign Affairs Committee of British Parliament on Iranian Nuclear Issue

The debate on Iran’s nuclear program in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the British Parliament, held in February 2013, in anticipation of the resumption of negotiations between Iran and the “six” of international mediators, is considered. Particular attention is paid to the position of experts invited to the meeting: representatives of academia, public organizations, military analysts. The high expert and analytical level of the meeting, which made it possible to develop effective political initiatives is noted. The most pressing issues raised during the parliamentary debates are considered. It was proved that both the deputies and the invited experts considered the further development of Tehran’s nuclear program dangerous. The authors dwell in detail on theways to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem, recommended by experts at a committee meeting: from increasing sanctions pressure to finding ways of a diplomatic settlement. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that the Iranian nuclear problem continues to be a toxic factor in the Middle East region. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that the attempt is made to reveal the position of the British Parliament members and leading experts on Iranian foreign policy. It is concluded that the political position expressed by the deputies and experts in the parliament testified to the readiness of the parties to negotiate and develop a consensus on the Iranian nuclear program.

Military-Political Threats in Connection with the Probable Military Escalation in the Central European Region

The article analyzes the military-political threats to Ukrainian statehood in regard to political events in the Russian Federation and a possible military escalation in the Central European region. It is noted that the Russian Federation authorities used the same strategy of regional destabilization with subsequent massive military intervention. The authoritarian Kremlin regime can protect itself exclusively with aggressive external policy and, finding itself on the rubicon of the loss of power, may resort to sharp destabilizing steps including the onset of a full-scale war in Central Europe. The geopolitical processes consisting of the latest events in the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation are analyzed. It is stated that as a result of the Kremlin’s aggressive policy, the entire Central European region can be at risk of military escalation. Analysis of the military-political situation indicates that in 2021 a bold plan of the Russian Federation, similar to the aggression against Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014, may be implemented in the Central European region, the process probably initiated by the armed confrontation in Belarus provoked by the Kremlin’s secret services. NATO military analysts have been considering the possibility of Russian military aggression against the Baltic states since 2014, with the most vulnerable point being the Polish-Lithuanian border between Belarus and Kaliningrad region of Russia, the so-called Suwalki Gap. The same vulnerable area of potential instability and hostilities is the border between Belarus and Ukraine. Under the conditions of the occupation of Crimea and the continuation of the undeclared war in Donbas, the hypothetical aggression of the Russian Federation in the North-Western regions of Ukraine threatens the Ukrainian statehood itself. Such a critical strategic threat requires urgent preventive action.

Rewriting Dusklands: the narrative of Marilyn Dawn

ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to redress the silence imposed on the character of Marilyn Dawn, wife of the protagonist in the first novella of J. M. Coetzee’s Dusklands (1974). Her husband Eugene is a military analyst who suffers a nervous breakdown while researching how to advance US involvement in the war in Vietnam. Marilyn is rendered voiceless through his intensive, first-person narration, which is condescending and often degrading to her. Rather than analyse Marilyn’s characterisation in the novel, which would present her through Eugene’s eyes, this article rewrites their story from Marilyn’s perspective – an act of creative criticism that calls into question how we approach an artwork. Although Coetzee’s novel will always remain intact, we can at least imagine a way for Marilyn to break away from the confines of a patriarchal, abusive narrative, if only for a few pages.

Сучасні процеси трансформації викликів та загроз національній безпеці країн-членів ЄС

It is substantiated that, today, civil and military analysts are interested in acquiring up-to-date knowledge on the transformation of challenges and threats to the national security of EU Member States, with not only military and national security issues but also virtually all spheres of human life. It is determined that the European Union, unlike the North Atlantic Alliance, is not a military and political organization and never intended to become one, but from the very beginning of its existence, the Member States of the European Union were aware of how important a component of socio-economic and political relations is. security for the prosperity and freedom of a democratic society, economic internationalization, the development of science, medicine, industry. There is a particular danger of hybrid wars, which is that the enemy behaves extremely cunningly and cunningly, often making himself a friend. Therefore, in today's world, the devastating effects of hybrid warfare cannot be overstated, which in itself is also a challenge to modern democracy, the preservation of state sovereignty and the development of civil society. It is proved that special attention in the European Union is also paid to the development of rapid response to environmental and energy problems, cybercrime, intensification of interethnic, interfaith and other conflicts by eliminating procedural, financial and political factors that hamper the deployment of fighting, reduce the effectiveness of military operations under a common security and defense policy. Conflict prevention is proposed to be implemented through the development of a mechanism for early detection of threats to the European security system in order to respond to modern realities. As the experience of Russian aggression against Ukraine has shown, the European Union, for a long time, did not receive proper signals from Kiev about the threat to European security coming from the East. The emergence of such a mechanism should be preceded by the formation of a common center for the collection, analysis and coordination of information to ensure national priorities for the development of the security of states. A similar mechanism already exists in the FRONTEX Agency, but only at the level of public order and the state border.

THE ILOVAISK TRAGEDY OF 2014 IN THE DISCOURSE OF UKRAINIAN PUBLIC OPINION

The perception of the Ilovaisk tragedy of 2014 in the discourse of Ukrainian public opinion is analyzed. The tragedy («Ilovaisk cattle») was in surrounding a group of Ukrainian troops about 1,200 soldiers by the regular units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (RF Armed Forces) and Russian terrorist groups near Ilovaisk, Donetsk region. While leaving the «cattle» through the humanitarian corridor, the Ukrainian soldiers came under shelling by the Russian side. Pro-government circles saw among the causes of such a tragic situation the treachery of the Russian leadership. Previously having agreed with Kyiv that it would release Ukrainian fighters from the encirclement, it eventually committed the shootings. Another reason was the betrayal of some Ukrainian soldiers who deserted from defensive positions, creating for the enemy favorable conditions to encircle. The participants of the events, experts, media partly accused the Ukrainian state and military leadership of inertia, passivity, and ignoring reports about the need for reinforcements. However, some military analysts acknowledged that the Ukrainian military command had done everything possible in the circumstances. Along with Russian intervention as the main part in the Ilovaisk tragedy, some experts saw a benefit for some Ukrainian politicians, as the constant threat factor could be used in the run-up canvassing to the October 2014 snap parliamentary elections. Finally, the criminal case concerning the Ilovaisk tragedy, which continues up today, has already been assessed by the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine (GPU). According to assessment, the deaths of Ukrainian soldiers and the loss of weapons and military equipment near Ilovaisk were directly connected with the actions of the RF Armed Forces, which on August 23-24, 2014, treacherously invaded the Donetsk region and murdered Ukrainian soldiers. It was concluded that the Ilovaisk tragedy had not only hard military but also political consequences for the country, in particular, due to the adoption of the Minsk agreements under the pressure of the tragedy, which showed itself in an imperfect «truce», which, was repeatedly violated by the enemy. Keywords: Ilovaisk tragedy, Ukrainian public opinion, politicum, mass media, expert circles, Ukraine, Russia.

Current Bibliography

Current Bibliography Kelli A. Larson [The current bibliography aspires to include all serious contributions to Hemingway scholarship. Given the substantial quantity of significant critical work appearing on Hemingway’s life and writings annually, inconsequential items from the popular press have been omitted to facilitate the distinction of important developments and trends in the field. Annotations for articles appearing in The Hemingway Review have been omitted due to the immediate availability of abstracts introducing each issue. Kelli Larson welcomes your assistance in keeping this feature current. Please send reprints, clippings, and photocopies of articles, as well as notices of new books, directly to Larson at the University of St. Thomas, 333 JRC, 2115 Summit Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105-1096. E-Mail: Kalarson1@stthomas.edu.] ________ BOOKS Corbacho, Henri-Pierre. A Short Biography of Ernest Hemingway. Carlisle, MA: Benna Books, 2018. [Not Seen. ISBN: 9781944038533] Feldman, Andrew. Ernesto: The Untold Story of Hemingway in Revolutionary Cuba. Brooklyn: Melville House, 2019. [Comprehensive biography of EH’s life in Cuba, covering his initial visit with second wife Pauline Pfeiffer in 1928, move to the fishing village of Cojimar with third wife Martha Gell-horn in 1940, and eventual adoption of the island as his second homeland in later years. Feldman discusses EH’s love for the Cuban people, literary debt to Cojimar’s villagers in the writing of OMS, longtime liaison with Leopoldina Rodriguez, friendships with Cuban writers, neighbors, and fishermen, relationship with Castro, and support of the revolution. Feldman’s examination deftly situates the author and his works (e.g. THHN, OMS, IIS) within the island’s complex and changing political, social, and cultural landscapes, drawing on archives from the Hemingway Museum and Library in Havana and John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, biographies, memoirs, histories, correspondence, and other resources. Features over twenty black-and-white photographs. Includes extensive notes and critical bibliography and helpful index. ] Pisasale, Gene. Hemingway, Cuba and the Great Blue River. La Vergne, TN: IngramSpark, 2018. [Not Seen. ISBN: 9781532333446] Pumfrey, Jamie. Hemingway. Lewis: Ammonite P, 2019. [Relies on visually engaging infographics to tell the story of EH’s life, work, and legacy.] Shams, Ishteyaque. The Novels of Ernest Hemingway: A Critical Study. New Delhi: Atlantic P, 2018. [Not Seen. ISBN: 8126901675] ESSAYS Abd Hussein, Ghufran. “Discovering Eden: Rain, Cats and Women in Hemingway’s Garden.” Gender Studies 17.1 (2018): 57–72. [Covers familiar ground on EH’s four turbulent marriages, sums up the inherent risks of interpreting his iceberg prose, and provides a close reading of “Cat in the Rain,” focusing on gender identity, cat and mirror symbolism, and the theme of repressed desire. Concludes with a brief assessment of the treatment of women and the role of androgyny in GOE.] Ali, Chaker Mohamed Ben. “Reading Hemingway in Algeria.” The Hemingway Review 39.1 (Fall 2019): 128–33. Bannigan, S.P., Michaela Brownell, Megan M. Miller, and Karena Schrempp. “Current Bibliography.” The Hemingway Review 39.1 (Fall 2019): 151–62. Beall, John. “The Dark Humor of Hemingway’s ‘A Way You’ll Never Be.’” Midwestern Miscellany 47 (Spring/Fall 2019): 96–111. [Manuscript study. Beall chronicles EH’s extensive drafting and revision process, contending that the author carefully constructs the opening battle scene with Nick as a rational and detached military analyst to underscore his later manic loss of control, as evidenced in his rambling interior monologues and comedic lecture to the adjutant connecting American troops with plagues of locusts. Contrasts Nick’s comical monologues on locusts in “Big Two-Hearted River” with the sharper and edgier humor of his exchange with the adjutant. Reads the latter story’s conclusion as evidence of Nick’s resilience and ability to move forward despite his wounding.] Betsworth, Leon. “A Café is a Very Different Thing: Hemingway’s Café as Church and Home.” The Hemingway Review 39.1 (Fall 2019): 62–80. Bloom, Harold. “Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961).” The American Canon: Literary Genius from Emerson to Pynchon. Ed. David Mikics. New York: Library of America, 2019. 266–74. [Characterizes EH as an elegiac poet influenced by Walt Whitman’s style and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s vision of self-reliance. Applauds EH’s contributions to the short story genre, identifying...

Determining nodal capacities for military distribution problems

Purpose This paper aims to introduce a new mixed integer programming formulation and associated heuristic algorithm to solve the Military Nodal Capacity Problem, which is a type of supply chain network design problem that involves determining the amount of capacity expansion required at theater nodes to ensure the on-time delivery of military cargo. Design/methodology/approach Supply chain network design, mixed integer programs, heuristics and regression are used in this paper. Findings This work helps analysts at the United States Transportation Command identify what levels of throughput capacities, such as daily processing rates of trucks and railcars, are needed at theater distribution nodes to meet warfighter cargo delivery requirements. Research limitations/implications This research assumes all problem data are deterministic, and so it does not capture the variations in cargo requirements, transit times or asset payloads. Practical implications This work gives military analysts and decision makers prescriptive details about nodal capacities needed to meet demands. Prior to this work, insights for this type of problem were generated using multiple time-consuming simulations often involving trial-and-error to explore the trade space. Originality/value This work merges research of supply chain network design with military theater distribution problems to prescribe the optimal, or near-optimal, throughput capacities at theater nodes. The capacity levels must meet delivery requirements while adhering to constraints on the proportion of cargo transported by mode and the expected payloads for assets.

Detection and Identification of Camouflaged Targets using Hyperspectral and LiDAR data

<p class="p1">Camouflaging is the process of merging the target with the background with the aim to reduce/delay its detection. It can be done using different materials/methods such as camouflaging nets, paints. Defence applications often require quick detection of camouflaged targets in a dynamic battlefield scenario. Though HSI data may facilitate detection of camouflaged targets but detection gets complicated due to issues (spectral variability, dimensionality). This paper presents a framework for detection of camouflaged target that allows military analysts to coordinate and utilise the expert knowledge for resolving camouflaged targets using remotely sensed data. Desired camouflaged target (set of three chairs as a target under a camouflaging net) has been resolved in three steps: First, hyperspectral data processing helps to detect the locations of potential camouflaged targets. It narrows down the location of the potential camouflaged targets by detecting camouflaging net using Independent component analysis and spectral matching algorithms. Second, detection and identification have been performed using LiDAR point cloud classification and morphological analysis. HSI processing helps to discard the redundant majority of LiDAR point clouds and support detailed analysis of only the minute portion of the point cloud data the system deems relevant. This facilitates extraction of salient features of the potential camouflaged target. Lastly, the decisions obtained have been fused to infer the identity of the desired targets. The experimental results indicate that the proposed approach may be used to successfully resolve camouflaged target assuming some <em>a priori </em>knowledge about the morphology of targets likely to be present.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>

Leaders Know Who They Are, Not Just What They Do, Says Hertling

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Professional NewsFull AccessLeaders Know Who They Are, Not Just What They Do, Says HertlingMark MoranMark MoranSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:25 May 2018https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2018.6a28AbstractTrue leaders have good character, presence,and intellect that serve to inspire others, according to retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling.“Purity and civility.”Those are the values that leaders of the future will need to embody in an era when the standards of civil discourse are falling, said retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling in an address at the Opening Session of APA’s 2018 Annual Meeting last month. “We are becoming a much more divisive society,” Hertling said. He said that the professionals in our society need to “uphold values of purity and civility” at a time when civil discourse seems to be a lost value.Retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling says that sometimes mentoring involves the mentoring of older people by younger people, not the other way around.David HathcoxAs commanding general of U.S. Army Europe, Hertling led over 50,000 soldiers, cared for over 100,000 family members, and partnered with the armies of 50 countries in the European theater. He was an assistant division commander in Baghdad in 2003-2004 and later commanded the Army’s 1st Armored Division in Germany and in northern Iraq during the surge. After his retirement, Hertling was appointed by President Barack Obama and served for four years as one of 25 members of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sport, and Nutrition. He is an adjunct scholar at West Point’s Modern War Institute and serves as a military analyst for CNN.After leaving the Army in 2013, Hertling was hired as a senior vice president by Florida Hospital in Orlando to observe the culture of medicine there and help develop strategies for global partnering and leadership development. In an address he gave last fall at APA’s IPS: The Mental Health Services Conference, Hertling drew on the disciplines taught in the military and codified in the U.S. Army Leadership Field Manual emphasizing the relational aspects of leadership.In his address at the Annual Meeting, Hertling said the skills of leadership—which are taught in the military as a discrete discipline—can be incorporated into medicine. “Leadership is the art of understanding motivations, influencing people, building teams, and communicating purpose in order to accomplish stated goals while improving the profession,” he said.Leadership, as defined in the Army Doctrinal Manual, consists of three attributes—character, presence, and intellect. These are codified in a phrase that is taught to young recruits: “Be. Know. Do.”“In essence, this means—Who are you? What kind of person are you? When you ask people about their career, they will go into their task accomplishments and skip over the most important part—what kind of person are you, and how do you carry yourself?”Hertling said the competencies of a leader—the ability to inspire people, develop talent, and achieve goals—derive from the kind of person that he or she exemplifies. “The competencies of leadership come from who you are, not what you do.”Following on the remarks of APA President-elect Altha Stewart, M.D., Hertling said leaders in medicine—as in other arenas—need to be culturally informed. “By the year 2030 we are going to have to be more culturally informed and understanding of people who don’t look and talk as we do,” he said. “If you look at our demographics, we are going to become more diverse as a society, not less.”Leaders are going to have to “listen more and talk less,” he continued. And they will need to cultivate the young people in the profession. “You need to get into the weeds with your young people,” he said. “It isn’t always the case that mentorship is about an older, mature person mentoring the young, immature person—sometimes it’s the other way around.”Finally, Hertling said the rising cost of health care is a problem that threatens the entire economy.“There’s a lot of talk about President Trump’s budget and the amount that is allocated to the military,” Hertling said. “The military constitutes 3.7 percent of gross domestic product. Health care accounts for 19.8 percent and is estimated to rise to 22 percent by 2020. Health care is contributing most to bankruptcies and foreclosures. If the military has to get it right with a small percentage of the budget, you in medicine will need to look for leaders to take you in a new direction.” ■ ISSUES NewArchived