The term "cohesion" features prominently in discussions of military effectiveness, especially at the small-unit level. We all know intuitively what it means, but understanding how to develop and nurture it in practice is a challenge. That's even more true as technological advances continue to make constant connectivity with the outside world easier, even from a battlefield. How do soldiers' stresses from home impact cohesion? What about when soldiers no longer process shared traumatic experiences together? John Spencer spent twenty-five years as an infantry soldier and officer, including leading troops in combat. His book Connected Soldiers is based on both his personal experience and deep research. He joins this episode to discuss how unit cohesion affects military performance and how leaders can foster its development.
MWI sits down with Dr. Benedetta Berti, researcher, author, and TED speaker to discuss the rise of violent non-state actors and how security professionals...
After twenty years of America’s post-9/11 wars and the US military’s struggle to build capable and effective security forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, there...
Both military practitioners and scholars believe that artificial intelligence will influence the character of war in the future. But it’s difficult to know how...