Strategic choice is a core element of strategic practice. Making a strategic choice means making decisions about the employment of military power. While there are countless possible contexts in which military power might be used and, therefore, an infinite pool of potential questions facing a strategist, three questions are general…

War, more so than other social activities, is particularly fertile ground for emotional stimuli because it is inherently uncertain and significantly affects people’s well-being. Uncertainty is inherent to war mostly because of its interactive nature.55 The actors in a war actively try to pursue their objectives and to frustrate the…

Military strategy is the pursuit of victory through military power. There are multiple models for visualizing and analyzing strategy, but for the purpose of this paper, it is both necessary and sufficient to focus on the main functions that strategy is supposed to serve. Three such functions stand out as…

Drawing on the core precepts of classical strategic theory, it delineates three main areas that deserve further investigation. The first area concerns understanding the character of war through the exploration of emotional stimuli. The main purpose of strategy is to understand the character of war. That character is predominantly shaped…

Emotions are ubiquitous in the conduct of military strategy. Although strategic studies scholarship has increasingly emphasized the importance of emotions, their treatment in the field lacks a clear research focus. This paper offers a basis for thinking about the role of emotions in military strategy. More specifically, there are three…

Doing your homework. Asking for help. These two critical actions that will determine how rocky your first few years in retirement will be. First, gather your resources and study — some extremely helpful resources are listed below, but the U.S. Army Retirement Planning Guide is a good place to start. …

Step One: Pay Attention to the Good Things Nice things that happened every day. If someone passed me on the sidewalk and said something nice, even just a smile and a “Hello.”, I would purposely commit that to memory. Do the same for any pleasant experience. Make an effort to commit them to memory. When unpleasant events happen…

I fell in love with Johns Island, SC and whenever I cross over the Stono River Bridge and go through the canopy of large oak trees I get that feeling all over again. If you’re not familiar with Johns Island, it’s a beautiful barrier island located just 11 miles from…

Not all financial institutions have been open to upgrading their core banking systems. If you’re part of such an organization, it’s important to acknowledge that this delay places the company at a disadvantage. Adopting digital innovation at a much later date or at a slower pace can cause your bank…