First Female Commanders at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst & West Point

British Army Officer Training The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS), the British Army’s centre of excellence for the training of the British Army’s future generation of officers, has appointed its first female commander. Lieutenant Colonel Lucy Giles, of the Royal Logistics Corps (RLC), will take charge of New College. Lucy commissioned into the RLC from the… Read More

Learning: What is the Role of Gesture in Mental Model Construction & Inference Making?

Research Paper Title Gesture as Model Enactment: The Role of Gesture in Mental Model Construction and Inference making when Learning from Text. Abstract The question of the relationship between gesture production and mental models was explored in three experiments focusing on inference making when learning from reading a scientific text. Participants engaged in one-on-one interviews after reading an… Read More

Glory & Consequence…

“Glory is a consequence.” “If you build the guts to do something, anything, then you better save enough to face the consequences.” Anonymous “Glory ought to be the consequence, not the motive of our actions.” Pliny the Younger (Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo, better known as Pliny the Younger,… Read More

The Five (US) Special Operations Forces Truths

The Five (US) Special Operations Forces Truths: Humans are more important than hardware. Quality is better than quantity. Special Operations Forces cannot be mass produced. Competent Special Operations Forces cannot be created after emergencies occur. Most special operations require non-SOF assistance (forgotten since 1989(ish), but resurrected in 2009). Adapted from the SOF Imperatives noted in… Read More

Truth & Survival…

[What] has no survival value. “…since ‘pure’ truth not only does not exist, it has no survival value whatsoever.” (Wilden, 1972 & 1980, p.303). Although often credited to Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman talking about violent encounters (Buckeye Firearms Association, 2015): “Denial kills you physical, mentally, and financially. It has no survival value. Chew it up, spit… Read More

Leadership & Learning…

“…leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. [and] …leadership must be guided by the lights of learning and reason or else those who confuse rhetoric with reality and the plausible with the possible will gain the popular ascendancy with their seemingly swift and simple solutions to every world problem.” [sound familiar?] John F. Kennedy… Read More