Partner Perspectives

Strengthening Doctrine Through Collaboration and Professional Writing

By Lieutenant Colonel Jiwon Kang, Korean Liaison officer to USAICoe, Republic of Korea Army

Article published on: July 1, 2025 in the July – December 2025 Semiannual Collection of Military Intelligence

Read Time: < 9 mins

Introduction

For the past two years, I have had the honor of serving as a liaison officer (LNO) from the Republic of Korea (ROK) Army Training and Doctrine Command at the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence (USAICoE), which provided me with deep professional introspection and reflection. When I first arrived, my office was filled with the latest doctrine and training publications. However, the most significant lesson from my tour did not come from those new manuals, but from a faded booklet written more than two decades ago, which apparently had been left by one of my predecessors from Korea, titled A Study on ROK Military Transformation. As I turned the pages out of curiosity, I was astonished. The ideas I had long discussed with colleagues about our army’s future, such as the nature of future warfare, required technologies, and doctrine to be developed, had already been articulated with remarkable depth and systematic rigor two decades earlier.

Finding that booklet left me with three powerful, competing feelings. First, a sharp sense of regret for not having sought out this kind of institutional wisdom sooner. Then, a deep gratitude for the unknown officer who invested the effort to leave behind this intellectual legacy. But most of all, I felt a growing concern that such valuable insights could remain on a shelf, ignored, for two decades. Above all, the experience crystallized a conviction I have long held: military publications, especially doctrine, are forged in the fires of lived experience, but they only endure when we commit to the disciplined work of not just recording what we learn but sharing it widely. Without this deliberate culture of preservation, we as an Army risk repeating old arguments, thereby missing our best opportunities for growth.

I share this story as both a reflection and a challenge, not only to highlight the enduring value of professional writing in bridging the gap between doctrine and reality, but to advocate for a culture in which experiences and insights are systematically recorded, widely shared, and critically debated. This ongoing discourse becomes the engine for doctrinal renewal, professional development, and, ultimately, the advancement of the military as a learning organization. I invite fellow intelligence professionals to recognize and cultivate the hidden assets within their own ranks and experiences, ensuring these lessons contribute to our collective growth.

The Gap Between Doctrine and Practice: Overcoming Institutional Inertia

Of course, modern armies, including the ROK and U.S. Armies, possess excellent formal mechanisms for institutional learning, such as the after action review (AAR). However, these reviews are often conducted as informal discussions primarily capturing broad outcomes at the unit level without standardized formats or thorough documentation. This verbal, facilitator-dependent structure means that tactical

breakthroughs and failures from individual Soldiers or small teams frequently remain implicit, unrecorded, and inaccessible to others. Even when meaningful lessons are identified, the inconsistencies in AAR practices make it difficult to aggregate and share specifics across organizations. Powerful insights tend to stay siloed within the original unit or event, never reaching the wider force where they could drive improvement. In these gaps, tactical wisdom from the front lines is easily lost, diminishing the Army’s ability to learn and adapt from its own experience. To fully realize the promise of AARs and harness frontline innovation, it is essential to overcome the limitations of verbal, unit-bound knowledge by making deliberate efforts to standardize, document, and share experiential learning beyond its point of origin.¹

Despite sustained efforts to align doctrine with operational realities, from doctrinal surveys to unit feedback, a persistent gap remains between official doctrine and the reality of daily practice. This divide is rarely due to lack of will; rather, it arises from institutional inertia and deep-seated psychological barriers that affect Soldiers everywhere. The relentless pace of operations enforces a tyranny of the present—urgent tasks take priority, and timely reflection or documentation is neglected. By the time feedback is solicited, the sharpest lessons are often forgotten.

Further, junior leaders and Soldiers—i.e., those closest to ground-level innovation—frequently hesitate to share their perspectives, believing their contributions are too minor for doctrinal consideration. This expertise gap prevents the most practical adaptive tactics from being institutionalized, limiting organizational learning.

Bridging this gap demands an intentional culture of professional writing. Informal, bottom-up knowledge sharing platforms, such as branch journals and writing campaigns, allow individual field innovation to circulate widely, inform debate, and influence evolving doctrine. Only by dismantling cultural and psychological barriers to professional writing will armies truly overcome inertia and sustain operational innovation.

The Harding Project: A Solution to Bridge the Gap

Efforts to narrow the persistent divide between doctrine and operational reality have long recognized the need for a more dynamic and inclusive approach to professional discourse within the military. To address this need, the U.S. Army launched the Harding Project, an initiative designed not only to encourage more professional military writing, but also to drive a broad transformation in the collection, sharing, and use of military experience. It began with a proposal from a field officer who saw the untapped value of diverse experience and sought to build a knowledge culture reaching all ranks and specialties.²

The project is named for Major General Edwin Forrest Harding, whose tenure as editor of the Army’s Infantry journal sparked a revolution in Army writing, and it draws inspiration from the pivotal impact of peer-shared lessons.³ Current senior Army leaders, including the Chief of Staff, recall how reading branch journals early in their careers enabled them to absorb practical insights from across the force. The importance of revitalizing these publications was underscored by General Randy George at the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting, where he highlighted professional discourse as essential to future success.⁴

To fulfill its mission, the Harding Project pursues systemic advancements in several areas:

• Platform Modernization. All branch journals have adopted web-first, mobile-optimized designs through the Line of Departure portal. This modernization makes articles instantly accessible to Soldiers both at home and deployed, and recent analytics show readership, engagement, and article distribution rose markedly after the transition.⁵
• Archive Accessibility. Journals now feature improved metadata and search tools, allowing users to locate and cite legacy writings and lessons efficiently. This prevents invaluable field knowledge from languishing in obscurity and ensures that lessons learned inform current decision-making.⁶
• Expanding Participation and Diversity. Recognizing that many Soldiers were unaware of their branch journals or didn’t see them as accessible, the Army now incentivizes submissions and provides professional development for contributors. Furthermore, educational outreach is underway to encourage article submissions from Soldiers of all ranks.⁷ This provides an interesting point of comparison with the Republic of Korea Army, for example, which considers authorship in military-related publications as part of its promotion review process.
• Professional Editors. Echoing the Harding tradition, reinstating the practice of using uniformed personnel as editors closes the gap between field realities and official publications. Harding Fellows are selected competitively, receive graduate-level journalism training, and serve as editors-in-chief for Army journals before returning to operational assignments.⁸

Through these reforms, the Harding Project aims to foster a culture in which front-line experiences can shape doctrine and shared knowledge, overcoming institutional inertia and enabling continual adaptation.

An Ecosystem of Support: From a Commander’s Reading List to a Writing Team’s Hand

For most U.S. Army personnel, the regular publication and distribution of professional reading and podcast lists by commanding generals and command sergeant majors is so ubiquitous that it is perhaps taken for granted, seldom recognized as the strategic advantage such lists truly provide. As an allied officer, however, I found this simple tradition to be profoundly impactful. Having immediate access to curated recommendations from the Army’s most experienced leaders not only saved time and effort but also provided unique and direct insight into the organization’s values, priorities, and decision-making logic. This guided learning structure enabled me to understand what truly matters to the Army and to orient myself more rapidly and meaningfully within the institution.

This top-down encouragement is complemented by robust bottom-up academic and writing support to individual Soldiers. The official mission statement of the USAICoE Writing Program (UWP) makes this clear: “The UWP aims to help USAICoE Soldiers enhance their written communication skills. While your coursework will help you think like an intelligence professional, the mission of the UWP is to help you write like one.” Describing themselves as the “grammar and writing nerds of Ft. Huachuca,” the team assists with all aspects of professional military writing. Aside from providing course-specific feedback on Professional Military Education assignments, the program also conducts in-person and virtual workshops, offers 1:1 tutoring, assists instructors with rubric design, and even provides over 30 writing-related courses via Blackboard.

As English is my second language, the UWP was a treasure. On one occasion, I was invited to give remarks on behalf of the ROK Army at a ceremony in Los Angeles commemorating the 72nd anniversary of the Korean War. I wanted to convey my deepest gratitude to the veterans, and the UWP meticulously proofread my speech, helping me to ensure that my heartfelt message was delivered clearly and effectively. My message is this: regardless of your experience with military writing, or if English is not your first language, as it isn’t mine, the U.S. Army offers a wealth of resources to help. What matters most is the courage to knock on the door.

The intellectual stimulus offered by leadership and the practical support from the writing team combine to form a comprehensive ecosystem of support. Importantly, this support is not limited to the Army’s institutional domain; operational units also benefit from knowledge-sharing programs, peer writing initiatives, and mentoring at the small-unit level.

Increasingly, battalions and line units are building their own writing cultures through hands-on feedback, leader-driven essay assignments, and collaborative workshops, so professional discourse and improvement are woven directly into operational practice.⁹ Within this ecosystem, Soldiers can refine the raw ore of their experience into knowledge. And when this knowledge is collected and passed to doctrine writers, it is finally forged into the enduring jewel of doctrine.

Conclusion

As I complete my two-year assignment in the United States, I have both personal and professional reasons for submitting this article on military writing. The inspiration I received from the Harding Project, combined with the invaluable support of the USAICoE Writing Team, compelled me to share my experience, not out of obligation, but from a genuine sense of gratitude and responsibility. Writing this piece has become an internal pledge to ensure that as I return home to lead Republic of Korea Army Soldiers , I will foster a culture where recording and sharing operational experience is valued as much as operational performance itself.

Yet, my message extends beyond a simple expression of thanks. From the vantage point of an allied officer, I am convinced that the U.S. Army’s ongoing commitment to professional discourse, from journal revitalization to grassroots writing initiatives, is a strategic advantage that can easily be overlooked. Too often, we miss the treasures closest to us. My hope is that this article encourages fellow intelligence professionals to rediscover hidden assets from their lived experience such as stories, lessons, and creative ideas, and to participate fully in shaping the profession’s collective knowledge.

In the end, the sharpest weapon any military possesses is not innovative technologies but the ability to think critically, to learn from experience, and to share those insights with one another. This is the enduring strength that will prepare our forces for the challenges ahead.

Endnotes