Category Archives: Why We Write

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Writing For Personal Clarity

Why We Write #5

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Everyone has their own way of portraying their feelings, ideas, and problems. For some it’s art, for others music, or acting; for me it has become writing. In this profession especially, writing is the one of the best ways to convey information. It helps to communicate goals and expectations, whether it just be for us to read, or a broader audience.

NCO Writing

Sgt. Nicholas Johnson, 8th U.S. Army Soldier of the Year, writes down answers to the 20 essay questions of the written exam during the Department of the Army Soldier/NCO of the Year competition at Fort Lee, Va. Oct. 3. (Photo Credit: Spc. Fay Conroy, 8th U.S. Army Public Affairs)
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A Corporal’s Perspective

Why We Write #4

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Why do we write? As humans, we write to communicate information and ideas across time and space, when we cannot do so through oral means with physical presence. As Non-Commissioned Officers in the United States Military, we do so because we can no longer afford to do otherwise. Writing is now a part of all professional military education, starting at the Basic Leaders Course that all enlisted soldiers must go through to become NCOs.

Promotion to Corporal

Four soldiers assigned to 444th Engineer Company, Oswego, N.Y., receive lateral transfer from specialist to corporal rank, during the company’s annual training event July 14 at Ft Drum. Pictured here are Barry J. Bullis, of Baldwinsville, Christopher Zajac of North Syracuse, John M. Anderson of Henderson, and Charles J. Delaney of Brewerton, N.Y., receiving promotion from Sgt. 1st Class Charles Haws, unit training non-commissioned officer. (Photo Credit: Spc. Karen Sampson, 362nd MPAD)
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An Exercise In Communication

Why We Write Series #3

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Loud and colorful video imagery covered the screen in the Production Control office of our Kiowa Squadron. It was 2012 and we were conducting an after-action review of a downed aircraft recovery training event. In the middle of our exercise, in a simulated crashed aircraft, we had no way of talking to our TOC. Our QRF forces weren’t coming in over the radio. And the pilots providing overhead cover…nothing from them either. We couldn’t talk. Our recovery mission was a complete failure. In this moment – standing in our AAR – I realized it was because no one conducted pre-missions checks and services on our radios. As our Production Control Officer would say, “without comms, you are dead. End of story.”

Paratroopers assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, secure a helicopter landing zone for a CH-47 Chinook Helicopter, July 20, 2019, in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. The Paratroopers provided protection to a nearby meeting between U.S. and Afghan officials discussing peace and security within the region. (U.S. Army photo by Maj. Thomas Cieslak)