The Death of Critical Thinking in the Military? Here’s How to Fix It.
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By Steve Ferenzi
January 14, 2021
Traditional American military culture diametrically opposes divergent thought. Despite assertions that the United States must compete in the “most complex and volatile†security environment in recent memory, the military largely handicaps its own mental approach to victory. Being able to actually compete and win requires the military to elevate critical thinking as a core competency of its profession – from top to bottom. This is especially important if we want to avoid the costs of war and instead, lead through influence and tools short of armed conflict.
The Army’s imminent closure of its University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies (UFMCS) – the home of “Red Teaming University,†represents the ultimate irony in the Army’s efforts to maximize return on investment in a resource-constrained environment. The decision to repurpose the $2.5 million UFMCS budget – the price of about one M1 Abrams tank or a dozen AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, shows why the military ultimately requires a tectonic cultural shift to harness the power of divergent thought. Indeed, this is just one of many examples of a troubling trend that biases hardware over human capital.
https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2021/01/14/the_death_of_critical_thinking_in_the_military_heres_how_to_fix_it_656486.html
