CADET COMMAND operational realities . As with any process of change , the friction associated with moving in a different direction is also present .
Much of the resistance comes from the perspective that this change presents a major departure from a winning formula . However , the Army cannot afford to let tradition stand in the way of progress . Gen . John W . Vessey , in the forward to the 1997 edition of Once an Eagle ( the classic allegorical tale of U . S . Army officership ), cautioned that tradition , while important to the Army , cannot be taken to extremes where it stunts growth and development . Vessey warned we cannot “ worship the ashes ” of tradition when former ways have become irrelevant . 21 Sam Damon , the hero of the novel , declared , “ The essence of leadership was an unerring ability to winnow the essential from the trivial or extraneous .” 22 In preparing our Army for the future , we must stayed focused on the essential .
Notes
Epigraph . Robert B . Brown in U . S . Army Combined Arms Center ( CAC ), Human Dimension White Paper : A Framework for Optimizing Human Performance ( Fort Leavenworth , KS : U . S . Army CAC , 2014 ), iii , accessed 12 October 2016 , http :// usacac . army . mil / sites / default / files / documents / cact / HumanDimensionWhitePaper . pdf .
1 . Training and Doctrine Command ( TRADOC ) Pamphlet ( TP ) 525-3-1 , The U . S . Army Operating Concept : Win in a Complex World ( Fort Eustis , VA : TRADOC , 31 October 2014 ).
2 . “ History ,” U . S . Army Cadet Command website , accessed 11 October 2016 , http :// www . cadetcommand . army . mil / history . aspx .
3 . “ Colleges and Universities with Army ROTC Programs ,” Army . com website , accessed 11 October 2016 , http :// army . com / info / rotc / schools . This website provides a complete list of schools supporting ROTC programs . 4 . TP 525-3-1 , U . S . Army Operating Concept , 12 . 5 . Ibid ., 20 . 6 . U . S . Army CAC , Human Dimension White Paper , 14 . 7 . Joseph H . Albrecht , “ Understanding and Developing Adaptive Leadership during Pre-Commissioning ” ( monograph , School of Advanced Military Studies , 2010 ), 8 . 8 . Ibid ., 13 . 9 . Ibid ., 26 . 10 . Reserve Officers ’ Training Corps Vitalization Act of 1964 ,
Pub . L . No . 88-647 , 78 Stat . 1063 ( 1964 ).
11 . Michael S . Neiberg , “ The Education and Training of ROTC Officers , 1950 – 1980 : Military Services and the Universities ,” in Forging the Sword : Selecting , Educating , and Training Cadets and Junior Officers in the Modern World , ed . Elliot V . Converse III ( Chicago : Imprint , 1998 ), 265 . 12 . Ibid ., 269 . 13 . E . C . Kiesling , “ Educated but Not Trained : Junior Officers in
Interwar France ,” in Converse III , Forging the Sword , 54 .
14 . Vance O . Mitchell , “ U . S . Air Force Non-Academy Officer Commissioning Programs , 1946 – 1974 ,” in Converse III , Forging the Sword , 250 . 15 . Ibid . 16 . “ Bloom ’ s Taxonomy ,” Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching website , accessed 12 October 2016 , https :// cft . vanderbilt . edu / guides-sub-pages / blooms-taxonomy /.
17 . Donald E . Vandergriff , “ When Do We Teach the Basics ?”
Joint Force Quarterly 58 ( 3rd Quarter , 2010 ): 71 . 18 . Ibid . 19 . Mark Moyer , A Question of Command ( New Haven , CT : Yale
University Press , 2009 ), 8 – 11 .
20 . U . S . Army Asymmetric Warfare Group , Using the ASLTE Approach to Implement ALM ( Washington , DC : U . S . Government Publishing Office , 2013 ), 17 .
21 . John W . Vessey , “ Foreword ,” in Once an Eagle ( New York : HarperCollins , 1997 ), xv .
22 . Ibid ., 669 .
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