The Edge

Hard Power is a Reality – NATO Commander's Observations on Ukraine

An article introducing comments made by GEN Chris Cavoli, SACEUR and COM USEUCOM, on NATO and the War in Ukraine as well as his personal observations on implications as a military professional.

Enter, the Contemporary Australian Warrant Officer

The specialist skills of Warrant Officers have traditionally made them indispensable across the Services, but is this rank and role in a state of emergence? Could there be even more value in this cohort as modern conflicts emerge in brand new domains?

Privatisation and the Pitfalls of ADF Expansion

If the ADF is to retain its best people as well as drive recruitment, it needs to match the attractions of private enterprise and not submit to an erosion of its core purpose.

Information – the Missing Member of the Military Power Quartet - Part Two

Part Two

This is part two of Information - the Missing Member of the Military Power Quartet. In this part the author examines each member of the Military Power Quartet and the effects the use, or misuse, that each element has had against the backdrop of the Ukranian conflict. 

Information – the Missing Member of the Military Power Quartet - Part One

In his forward to the new capstone doctrine, Australian Military Power^[1], CDF General Campbell highlights ‘to fight and win, the ADF must fight as a cohesive force and with a clear understanding of how military power supports national power’.^[2] The doctrine attempts to distil the complex system of systems that comprise the Defence enterprise.

Book Review: Flourishing: Why We Need Religion in a Globalized World, by Miroslav Volf

The influence of religion at its worst on violence, and its best on peacemaking, is relevant to military leaders today.

Book Review: Beyond Combat, edited by Tristan Moss and Tom Richardson

The Australian Defence Force’s (ADF) core business is foundation warfighting. However, it is often involved in other activities: welfare of soldiers and their families, uniform and nutrition provision, military training, military memorials and music bands. Beyond Combat seeks to explore military history- not just through the wars that are fought- but by “embrac[ing] the history of all that militaries ‘do’ away from the battlefield that is central to the lives of the soldiers who compose those forces” (p.1).

Book Review: Leadership Secrets of the Australian Army by Brigadier Nicholas Jans (Ret’d) OAM

One reason I joined the Army was that I saw it as an organisation that was committed to developing the leadership of its people. I wanted a piece of that – both to develop as a leader, and to contribute to the leadership development of others. Army is willing and eager to learn and adapt from the best leadership studies and practices in business and other spheres.

Book Review: Dare to Lead, by Brené Brown

Brené Brown has been researching vulnerability, shame and resilience for two decades. Her TED talk on “The power of vulnerability” has 37 million views and is one of the five most watched. Her latest book Dare to Lead draws on her consulting and personal experience, teaching and evaluating the “Brave Leaders” course and interviewing 150 global C-level leaders to unpack the ingredients of brave leadership and courageous organizations. 

Book Review: Military Virtues

oday’s soldiers navigate complex ethical dilemmas. They face new threats and often carry unprecedented potential for destructive power. An unfortunate series of ethical failures in recent conflicts, by members of Western military forces has raised the need for improved military ethics training. As military commanders scramble to correct such failings, so too is the need to identify what moral resources are required for soldiers to choose; right over wrong, justice over injustice, virtue over non-virtuous.

The Centre of Gravity in Context

Focusing upon the military idea of what a Centre of Gravity is, the article offers some background into Clausewitz's term to be able to better understand it today. The article finishes off by suggesting Clausewitz's idea of a Centre of Gravity remains relevant today and then discuses current doctrine and how military planners should be focusing upon the linking ideas of a CoG, not the idea itself.

Watch this space: a whole new war domain

‘Spacepower’, the US Space Force’s first published doctrine to define its purpose, declares space a distinctive new warfighting domain – one in which Australia should play its own role.