The Harding Papers

The Center for Junior Officers, in partnership with Army University Press and the Harding Project, supports AUSA in publishing the Harding Papers.

The Harding Papers series exclusively features the work of the LTG (Ret.) James M. Dubik Writing Fellows.

Slick Sleeves
by Maj Ryan Crayne U.S. Army (Harding Paper 24-1 / September 2024)

Crayne asserts that potential future conflicts can benefit from previous combat experience, but also from novel ideas by soldiers who have never been to combat. Items on soldiers’ uniforms, such as combat patches worn on the right sleeve, can symbolize expertise earned through the crucible of war, but true expertise is not assessed through what’s worn on a uniform. Instead, it’s forged daily through rigorous training, diverse operational experiences, and continuous professional development.

Find, Fix, Commit: How Commanders Will Win the Next Conflict with Software
by CPT Matthew Mollering U.S. Army & CW3 Nicholas Vettore (Harding Paper 24-2 / September 2024)

Moellering and Vettore argue that the military that best integrates modern software practices into warfighting will gain a decisive advantage in contemporary conflict. While they acknowledge that skeptics may consider the fusion of software and combat to be unattainable, or even impractical, they nonetheless warn that this new battlefield reality is here to stay. In this new era, where algorithms and machines dictate the tempo of conflict, software has become the new arsenal.