American Security Council Foundation (ASCF)

More on Learning

By GEN. Frederick J. Kroesen February 1, 2012

Region: North America

Topics: Bipartisanship, Emerging Threats

Further thought on the importance of learning as one pursues professional competence occurred when a fellow member of the Institute of Land Warfare had occasion to search for historical records regarding the career of GEN William C. Westmoreland. His immediate sources were the files of ARMY Magazine. He found 20 references to Westmoreland’s thinking—his reports, assessments, concepts and proposals. They range from 1958, when he wrote “The How of STRAC,” to 1993, “Riding to Battle.” Most important perhaps are his contributions during the years of his tenure as Chief of Staff, 1968–1972, because they affected the Army’s path to the future.

 

The Westmoreland research led to the recognition that the back issues of ARMY contain a wealth of educational material that is important to our evolving bank of knowledge about fighting wars, preparing for wars and sustaining the quality of our forces. It then led to “for example” inquiries concerning other authors of note.

 

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GEN Frederick J. Kroesen, USA Ret., formerly served as Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army and commander in chief of U.S. Army Europe. He is the Vice-President of the American Security Council Foundation and a senior fellow of AUSA’s Institute of Land Warfare.

 

Reprinted with persimission from ARMY Magazine, Vol. 62 #2 © 2012, the Association of the United States Army.