Small Wars Journal

A Professional Development Opportunity

Wed, 06/11/2014 - 8:47am

A Professional Development Opportunity: A Summer With Grant - From the Green Notebook

In the introduction to the Army Chief of Staff’s 2014 Reading List, General Odierno encourages leaders to “discuss, debate, and think critically” about the ideas expressed in the books on his reading list.  This summer, our goal is to give military practitioners that opportunity by launching a grassroots summer professional development program titled, “A Summer with Grant.” Few works have been so succinctly crafted to cover the aspects of leadership and military campaigning than Grant’s Memoirs – from his early education to the siege of Vicksburg to his victorious Overland Campaign exactly 150 years ago.

Beginning on June 23rd, a weekly themed discussion based on selected readings from the Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant will begin(here’s a link to a free digital copy). These discussions will be peer-facilitated, with various injections from instructors from professional military education programs.  The discussions will occur over the course of eight weeks on Glassboard, a free downloadable app that allows participants to share their ideas in a small group setting via a private message board. Here is the general reading load at From the Green Notebook.