5-minute read
How I got started.
Early in my civil affairs career, I spent two separate tours as a CA doctrine development officer at the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School (USAJFKSWCS). During my first tour, from 1993 to 1995, I did not author any new CA doctrinal publications, but I reviewed many doctrinal publications from across the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) and provided recommended edits to integrate CA operations and activities where appropriate. I also completed the training requirements to be awarded skill identifier 5Y, Civil Defense Officer.
A few years later, from January to March 2000, I attended the Sustaining Base Leadership and Management Program at the Army Management Staff College (AMSC) at Fort Belvoir, VA. Like all good Army professional development courses, there was a writing requirement on a topic of our choice. I decided to combine two subjects I was interested in – emergency management and civil affairs. To my surprise, my paper, titled “Is There a Role for Civil Affairs in Domestic Support Operations?,” won a writing award. (Domestic Support Operations, or DSO, is a predecessor term for Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA).)
I was motivated to write a second, unsolicited paper when instructors began discussing that the Army was adding a C, for civil considerations, to the long-used mnemonic METT-T, for mission, enemy, terrain and weather, troops available, and time. When I asked how we would analyze civil considerations, the instructors had no answer, and it wasn’t yet available in doctrine. From my time at USAJFKSWCS, I had a little insight into why the C was added in the first place (which is a story for another time). I also had operational experience from my time in Somalia during Operation Restore Hope to draw on, so I submitted a second paper, titled “Analyzing the C in METT-TC,” on a whim. This second paper led to my second assignment as a doctrine writer at USAJFKSWCS (which is another story for another time).
While writing the first-ever CA tactics, techniques, and procedures manual, I submitted my DSO article to the editor of Special Warfare Magazine. It is the first of my works to be published and can be found here. Since then, whenever I have had information or an idea that I felt was worth sharing within my assigned headquarters or publicly with the CA community of interest, I’d write it up and seek the appropriate venue to promote or publish it. Most of my published works are listed in my LinkedIn profile.
I strongly recommend professional military writing.
Not only would I recommend writing about civil affairs to others, but I have and continue to do so. In fact, in recent weeks, several young company and field grade officers have approached me seeking professional writing advice. The first person I encouraged to get published was a young CA sergeant E-5 who had just been named Soldier of the Year for USACAPOC(A) over 20 years ago. Like me, he had something on his mind that he wanted to share with the world through published media. His first article, published in Special Warfare Magazine in 2005, was followed by others published in Military Review and the Council for Emerging National Security Affairs over the years. Not necessarily related, but he retired from the Army as a command sergeant major.
I’ve been told that writing for publication signifies professionalism. Researching, analyzing, and articulating a position on a topic of interest to a target audience enhances a writer’s professional expertise. The Civil Affairs Association (CAA) provides an opportunity for CA professionals through the Eunomia Journal, available at Eunomia Journal Overview | Civil Affairs Association, as well as the annual call for papers, the top five of which are published at CA Issue Papers & Reports | Civil Affairs Association (and, truth in lending, I serve on the Association’s Publications Committee and am the copy editor of the CA Issue Papers & Reports); however, there are many other opportunities.
Chief of Staff of the Army, General Randy George, recently instituted the Army’s Harding Project to revitalize scholarship and writing throughout the force. The Special Warfare Journal is part of this project and, like the CAA, actively seeks articles from the CA community of practice to promote professional discourse about our branch. In fact, just two days before this blog post was published, MG Jason Slider, commanding general of USAJFKSWCS, announced a writing competition to gather insights and recommendations “to inform the ongoing Army Transformation Initiative (ATI), prepare our force for the next fight, and ensure we maintain the advantage over our adversaries. Our Chief of Staff of the Army, General George, will select the best of your articles for his reading list and distribution across the Army. Many others will be published in Special Warfare Magazine, your branch journal…Suspense for articles is 15 September 2025. Articles should be 800 to 2,000 words and Book Reviews should be 500 to 1,000 words.” For information about how to contact Special Warfare and submit articles, go here.
A word about writing and artificial intelligence (AI).
I once heard that American author James Michener said, “I’m not a very good writer, but I’m an excellent rewriter.” I can relate to that. I also believe I’m a pretty good copy editor. Last year, when everyone was discussing ChatGPT and how AI could replace writers and editors, I had to look into it. I found that large language models, like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot, which generate text and ideas, are only as good as the data they are trained on and the quality of the prompts used to shape their output.
An online discussion I found suggested thinking of programs like these as fellow team members who happen to know a lot about many things, and with whom you can bounce ideas. However, they warned that a “conversation” with these programs should inform, not replace, your writing. On the other hand, I also found that specialized programs like Grammarly, which provide real-time suggestions on grammar, spelling, punctuation, and style, help reduce my re-writing time by catching my occasional mistakes as I go.
I don’t always accept Grammarly’s suggestions because there’s often a reason for the wording and style I choose, but it’s helpful to see how a reader might interpret them. This makes me an AI-assisted writer. I recommend that any prospective or current writer consider using Grammarly or a similar program during their writing process before submitting their work to human editors.
Questions for our teammates: Have you ever written and published an article, paper, or book about civil affairs? What was that process like? Do you have any recommendations for fledgling CA writers?
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