Grounded Curiosity Blog - Articles Ideas Lessons

When technology fails

Reading Time: 3 minutes Technology has become ubiquitous within the modern world, in particular with communication systems. There are few people in Australia today who do

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Tiny Leadership Tales

Reading Time: 2 minutes “Be grounded by what we are good at – exceptional leadership and passing on these leadership skills to Army’s next generation.” –

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The Loadmaster

Reading Time: 6 minutes As a member of the Royal Australian Air Force, I am often asked what I do for a living and many people

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Tackling Gender Bias

Reading Time: 6 minutes Much has been written about women in leadership. There are countless books and articles on leadership written by women specifically for women.

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You Should Commission

Reading Time: 4 minutes “Realistically, simply saying ‘you should commission’, whilst humbling, is largely ignorant of the fact that many enlisted personnel actually love (or really

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Spotlight Her 2021

Reading Time: 12 minutes Spotlight Her 2021 Propel Her is shining a spotlight on silent achievers who contribute in inspirational ways to the Defence of Australia

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Dare Mighty Things

Reading Time: 3 minutes 19 April 2021 saw a world first. A helicopter took flight for 40 seconds. A short hover before turning and landing. It’s

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Failure at Fromelles

Reading Time: 20 minutes Failure at Fromelles, 19-20 July 1916: Examining failures against the nine tactical considerations for the attack  Fail: c. 1200, ‘be unsuccessful in

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Learning to Fight from Theory

Reading Time: 3 minutes The divide between officers and non-commissioned officers (NCO) is sometimes described as the difference between ‘book learning’ and practical experience. While many

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Strengthening Through Sport

Reading Time: 4 minutes This article is part of the Propel Her – Defence Women’s Leadership Series. Follow the series and join the conversation via #PropelHerAus. A

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Finding Maths in the Military

Reading Time: 5 minutes As a maths-teacher-turned-infantry-officer, there are some parts of military planning that I’ve particularly enjoyed. For example, I’ve always been able to quickly

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In-Conversation with WO-N

Reading Time: 4 minutes This article is part of the Propel Her – Defence Women’s Leadership Series. The main message that I took away from my phone

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In-Conversation with WOFF-AF

Reading Time: 4 minutes This article is part of the Propel Her – Defence Women’s Leadership Series. Airpowerment: Athletes of air and space power; mentally, physically and

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In-Conversation with RSM-A

Reading Time: 5 minutes This article is part of the Propel Her – Defence Women’s Leadership Series. The Authentic Leader: Know yourself, build your team and ask

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Combat Commander’s Reading List

Reading Time: 6 minutes Combined Arms Training Centre Combat Commander’s Reading List This series addresses battle command, decision making and combat culture, in order to distil

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The Benefits of Brevity

Reading Time: 2 minutes As a junior commander, I have made the mistake of stacking my presentations and back briefs with detail for my higher commanders.

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The Value of Mentoring

Reading Time: 5 minutes Most ADF members don’t realise the value of mentoring until late in their careers – with the common reflection being ‘Why didn’t I do this sooner!?’ Mentoring can change your career and life trajectory. It can open up networks and opportunities beyond your immediate reach, and can give you the tools and confidence to develop and promote yourself.

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The Health Domain of 2040

Reading Time: 4 minutes We (Paul and Nick) previously considered the Warfighting Health Effect in 2040 supported by Robotic and Autonomous Systems (RAS) in a deployed environment.

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Prepare for Day One

Reading Time: 5 minutes ‘Do not confuse Command with Leadership; command is a responsibility to the organisation and leadership is looking after your people so you

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Counterterrorism Diplomacy

Reading Time: 4 minutes Counterterrorism (CT) will increasingly be a vector for access and influence in our region. In May of 2017, ISIS aligned militants seized

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Two Wrongs

Reading Time: 3 minutes On March 30, 2020, the media pounced on a leaked, controversial letter of a U.S. Navy Captain commanding the USS Theodore Roosevelt,

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PME Prezi 2.0

Reading Time: < 1 minute BLUF: Click >here< or on the image above to access the PME Prezi. Grounded Curiosity is pleased to bring you the Professional

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Policy at the ‘Speed of Relevance’ requires Relevance

Reading Time: 12 minutes Policy at the ‘speed of relevance,’ considered broadly in the context of domestic and international politics, provides a sketch of the vast challenges we face. Time is of the essence. In a future epoch, historians will consider this period a transitional era. Will it be an era in which informational and technological advancements outpaced the intellectual capacity of politicians to understand and harness the revolution that has been wrought?

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Tempus Fugit: Using Time for Cognitive Advantage

Reading Time: 5 minutes The mystique surrounding the current buzzwords of information advantage and manoeuvre is unnecessary and counter-productive, it is simply the cognitive degradation of an opponent’s ability to act. Degrading the enemy’s cognitive ability is not the end, rather it is merely an enabler for military action – part of the plan, not the plan itself. Time flies, but it flies higher and faster for the confused and blindfolded.

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Why We Need Philosophy In PME

Reading Time: 3 minutes ‘If [people] cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them.’  – George Orwell Professional military education (PME) underpins the study

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Readiness Posture: “Move now, out”

Reading Time: 6 minutes A ‘notice to move’, or as it is known by its military acronym ‘NTM’, serves as a useful planning tool to manage expectations for both force elements and commanders. But in dynamic, unpredictable circumstances, a notice to move can sometimes be the source of confusion and friction between various levels of command. This needn’t be so.

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Avoiding Army Modernization Pitfalls

Reading Time: 5 minutes Why is the U.S. Army so bad at delivering new weapon systems? Is this merely a function of excessive ambition, budgetary friction, or changes to the operational environment? The likely culprit is a system designed to minimize risk to users, risk to mission, risk to budget, and risk to industry.

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Evergreen

Reading Time: 17 minutes 20 0145 APR 2030NATO Training CentreUndisclosed Location To: Jackson Randolf, Col. (Ret.)From: Everyn Randolf, 2nd Lt.Subject: Evergreen How the hell did you do

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Beyond The Multi-Domain Model

Reading Time: 6 minutes Western militaries are struggling to comprehend how to effectively manage the rapidly changing character of contemporary warfare because the multi-domain model used

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Virtual Command Part 3 – Hostages

Reading Time: 7 minutes What follows is Part 3 in the fictitious future warfare serial ‘Virtual Command’ from Australia’s newest professional military education platform The Strategic

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The Fallacy of Presentism

Reading Time: 4 minutes Sir Michael Howard, the British military historian, once said that although it was impossible to know the future character of war, the trick was not to be far from the mark when it came, misrepresenting changes in character as changes in nature and misunderstanding the available evidence will act to almost guarantee that the trick is missed.

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Dronekrieg

Reading Time: 6 minutes ‘This is only a foretaste of what is to come, and only the shadow of what is going to be.’ – Alan Turing

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My Curious Month

Reading Time: 3 minutes This is the first of a new monthly serial titled ‘My Curious Month’, where we will explore common themes that pop up across the PME network, summarise them and signpost resources if you’d like to explore the topic further.

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Ambiguity – A Timeless Weapon

Reading Time: 12 minutes Ambiguity—‘the quality of being open to more than one interpretation; inexactness’.[1] Numerous modern warfare journals refer to the ‘hybrid’ nature of various

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Closing the Short Learning Loop

Reading Time: 3 minutes Effective short learning loops support high readiness contingency forces, the development of new capabilities, the generation of forces for known operations and

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Inclusive Innovation

Reading Time: 6 minutes The sweeping effects of the fourth industrial revolution are readily evident in the exponential increase of emergent and disruptive technologies becoming commercially

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Caring for our Carers

Reading Time: 3 minutes ‘Most modern armed forces equip their personnel with the latest body armour, the best protected vehicles, and the most sophisticated counter explosive

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Holistic Agility

Reading Time: 4 minutes There is renewed interest in how Australia should navigate the coming decades of rapid technological change and increasing geopolitical multi-polarity coupled with

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Part II: Leading Innovation

Reading Time: 4 minutes There is a profound difference between being an ‘innovative leader’ and being a ‘leader of innovation’. Whereas an innovative leader will drive

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Close Infantry Assault

Reading Time: 4 minutes The key to Army’s success on our next battlefield will be ensuring we pay adequate attention now, and applying enough resources to

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Silos of Intellectual Excellence

Reading Time: 4 minutes Republished with permission from The Central Blue  In this post, Emily Chapman makes the case for increased ‘jointness’ in professional education, outlining a number of proposals to

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Captain and Coach

Reading Time: 4 minutes Has military thinking or practice seen a separation of two intrinsic command functions: the Commander and the Chief Instructor? This blog expands

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The Resilience Adventure

Reading Time: 5 minutes The first occasion a soldier faces real fear must not be on the battlefield. Just like any other skill, managing one’s fear

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Tune in, Listen up and Learn.

Reading Time: 3 minutes Like radio, the podcast creates a ‘theatre of the mind’. Imagination is a powerful tool when learning, creating new neural pathways that fuel understanding.

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How do you see the #FutureFight?

Reading Time: < 1 minute The next conflicts will be won by intelligent people with the courage to challenge our current thinking and outlooks. This foundation of innovative people

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Time Wasted and Lessons Learnt

Reading Time: 10 minutes It takes considerable knowledge just to recognise the extent of your own ignorance. Thomas Sowell[1] Introduction The leadership, readiness, resilience, mental toughness

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