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Category: Blog

Grounded Curiosity provides a space for military members to share ideas and to learn from each other. We are particularly focused on helping junior leaders publish their thoughts.

February 25, 2018March 17, 2024Blog, Tactics, Top Post

Army Air Defence: Forget the Missiles

Reading Time: 12 minutes Following decades of relative relegation resulting from uncontested airspace, growing trends have invigorated a renewed emphasis on Air Defence as an essential […]

February 6, 2018September 9, 2021Blog

War Thunder and Open Source Experiments?

Reading Time: 2 minutes Not everyone thinks that online games are the realm of the military professional. In my case I don’t feel bad about it […]

January 16, 2018January 16, 2018Blog, DEFAUS

150 Years On – What’s Left to Learn from the ‘Letterman Plan’?

Reading Time: 4 minutes The story of MAJ Jonathan Letterman and the ‘Letterman Plan’ should exist forever in Combat Health lore as one of the professions […]

January 12, 2018March 17, 2024Blog, Tactics, Top Post

Commander Combat Training Centre’s ‘Fast Five’

Reading Time: 3 minutes The following is based upon my experience over the last five years as a Commanding Officer and Commander of the Combat Training […]

January 5, 2018August 8, 2020Blog, Tactics

Return to the Jungle: a Renaissance of Close Country Warfare

Reading Time: 5 minutes The Indo‐Pacific region is in a period of unprecedented transformation, accelerated by the shifting distribution of economic and political power[i]. The importance […]

January 5, 2018August 8, 2020Blog, Leadership

Trusting Imperfection: Getting Mission Command to Succeed

Reading Time: 4 minutes The commander also strikes and accepts compromises in his [or her] command: not all his men and officers will be perfect, and […]

January 5, 2018August 8, 2020Blog, Tactics

OPFOR TEWTS – Understanding the Enemy’s Mind

Reading Time: 4 minutes Defeating the enemy’s will. That is the essence of manoeuvre warfare, that you defeat the enemy’s will to fight rather than his ability […]

January 5, 2018August 8, 2020Blog, Tactics

Contemporary Strategic Effects of Army Attack Aviation

Reading Time: 4 minutes Army attack aviation is a niche capability possessed by a minority of global militaries. As a capability which had its genesis in […]

January 5, 2018March 17, 2024Blog, Tactics, Top Post

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 […]

January 5, 2018August 8, 2020Blog, Tactics

An Eye on the Sky – UAS as an Enduring Presence in Conflict and Training

Reading Time: 4 minutes The Australian Army’s use of drone footage in its recent video of 7 Brigade’s Combined Arms Training Activity (Ex Diamond Run) reinforces […]

January 5, 2018August 1, 2020Blog, Bookshelf, Opportunities

The Busy Platoon Commander’s Reading List

Reading Time: 3 minutes There are many reading lists available to the military professional and an increasing focus on Professional Military Education within Army. These reading […]

January 5, 2018September 24, 2021Blog, Leadership, Tactics

Less is More: The Enabled Combat Brigade Headquarters

Reading Time: 11 minutes Editor’s Note: This is Grounded Curiosity’s 3rd most read article of all time. INTRODUCTION The Army must be a force capable of exerting ‘land […]

January 5, 2018August 8, 2020Blog, Tactics

A Shared Responsibility – Growing our Understanding of Air Defence

Reading Time: 3 minutes Air Defence continues to grow as a capability and concept against the increasingly complex array of airborne threats. In Australia, this can […]

January 5, 2018August 8, 2020Blog, Leadership, Tactics

Aide Memoire – Advising and Mentoring Foreign Militaries

Reading Time: 11 minutes 60 tips to become a more effective advisor Advising and mentoring foreign militaries has been carried out by the Australian Defence Force […]

January 5, 2018August 8, 2020Blog, Tactics

Death From Above – Armoured Mortar System

Reading Time: 4 minutes Death from above or a crude weapon for a crude war? The utility of the armoured mortar system in future warfare The future operating environment […]

January 4, 2018August 8, 2020Blog, Tactics

A Joint Force – An Overview of Army’s Land Combat System

Reading Time: 19 minutes Keynote Address delivered on 26 October 2017 by Major General Fergus McLachlan AM, Forces Commander – Australian Army, to the Northern Australian Defence Summit, […]

January 4, 2018March 17, 2024Blog, Leadership, Tactics, Top Post

Australian Tactical Design: Development and Use of Decisive Events

Reading Time: 21 minutes War is a science covered with shadows in whose obscurity one cannot move with an assured step. Routine and prejudice, the natural […]

January 4, 2018October 6, 2021Blog, Leadership

Mentoring, Mission Command, and the Value of the Officers’ Mess – Increasing the ‘Speed of Trust’

Reading Time: 3 minutes This blog reflects on the important role of the Army Officers’ Mess in the author’s early regimental service. Traditions of the Army […]

January 3, 2018August 8, 2020Blog, Leadership

What is Modern Military Leadership? A Primer

Reading Time: 4 minutes The Australian Army senior leadership team has been articulating the need for our Army leadership style to evolve to take on a […]

January 3, 2018August 8, 2020Blog, Tactics

Training The Way We Fight – Aide Memoire for RSOI&E

Reading Time: 7 minutes The Benefits of Incorporating Reception, Staging, Onward Movement, Integration and Extraction into the Training Environment INTRODUCTION Whether it is deploying on global […]

January 2, 2018January 6, 2018Blog, DEFAUS

Driving Innovation Forward: Why Tempo Is Everything

Reading Time: 4 minutes A commander must accustom his staff to a high tempo from the outset and continually keep them to it. If he once […]

January 2, 2018January 6, 2018Blog

ReUnions and the Returned & Services League of Australia

Reading Time: 9 minutes Opportunities for decentralised & informal care to our Veterans & our Wounded, Injured and Ill ‘The day soldiers stop bringing you their […]

November 2, 2017March 11, 2020Blog, Opportunities

Case Study – Chief of Army’s History Conference

Reading Time: 5 minutes Reflections from the Chief of Army History Conference – and why you should attend. The Chief of Army History Conference is held every two […]

November 1, 2017August 8, 2020Blog, Tactics

Enabling C2 Survivability – Deception, Technology and Redundancy

Reading Time: 3 minutes Survivability of communication systems has been called into sharp focus given technology advances and their use in contested theatres. It is here […]

September 10, 2017August 8, 2020Blog, Tactics

Second Battle of El Alamein – The Lost Manoeuvrist Battle?

Reading Time: 13 minutes   The Second Battle of El Alamein was the decisive battle of the North African campaign fought between the Allied 8th Army […]

September 3, 2017October 8, 2017Blog, DEFAUS

Partners In Innovation: Observations From ‘Across The Ditch’

Reading Time: 3 minutes This year I was fortunate enough to attend the New Zealand Defence Force’s (NZDF) second annual Army Innovation Competition at Linton Military […]

August 29, 2017Blog

Conversation Starter – Goodbye To All That

Reading Time: 3 minutes Goodbye to all that [1] There comes a time in every career when we will ‘soldier no more’. When one or both […]

July 30, 2017August 8, 2020Blog, Leadership, Tactics

Command and Leadership – Fit to Fight

Reading Time: 12 minutes “Australian Soldiers identify with their Battalion. It’s indeed their family: it leads, feeds, clothes, directs and exhausts them. Its veins are its […]

July 26, 2017August 8, 2020Blog, Tactics

Transformation of War – Mortal Violence for Rational Ends

Reading Time: 5 minutes War is simply a continuation of political intercourse, with the addition of other means Carl von Clausewitz And the nature of the case […]

July 13, 2017August 8, 2020Blog, DEFAUS, Tactics

Letters from Talisman Sabre: The Four Currencies of War

Reading Time: 8 minutes Introduction: Ex TALISMAN SABRE and the Beast The Australian military is about to conduct its largest multi-national amphibious operation since the landing […]

July 6, 2017July 4, 2017Blog

Developing Blended Learning: A Digital Learning Platform for Army

Reading Time: 4 minutes A career officer [or soldier] is going to school as long as he [or she] lives. General Matthew Ridgway & Harold H. […]

July 5, 2017October 22, 2020Blog, Bookshelf, Opportunities

Learning from the Marine Corps Commandant’s Professional Reading List

Reading Time: 3 minutes Access the 2020 Commandant of the Marine Corps Professional Reading Program here. This article refers to the 2017 reading list.  Introduction The Marine Corps Commandant’s […]

June 4, 2017August 8, 2020Blog, Future

Imagining the Future – Global Security in the Age of Autonomous Machines

Reading Time: 16 minutes FOREWORD Clare O’Neill 2017 It can be a difficult and daunting activity to visualise the future operating environment when there are a myriad of different […]

May 25, 2017August 8, 2020Blog, DEFAUS, Future

The Perils of Centralising Defence Innovation (and how to overcome them)

Reading Time: 4 minutes As innovation gains momentum throughout defense forces, a common theme seems to be emerging. Militaries, in particular Western ones, are increasingly seeking […]

May 12, 2017July 4, 2017Blog, DEFAUS

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 […]

May 4, 2017August 8, 2020Blog, Tactics

Rethinking Force Structures: Delivering Tailored Forces

Reading Time: 4 minutes If our forces in action are to have utility, we need to organise our standing forces to reflect the change in paradigm […]

May 2, 2017Blog

Strategy is Dead, Long Live Strategy

Reading Time: 3 minutes In case your head was firmly stuck in the sand looking for the lost city of Ubar in the Empty Quarter, the […]

April 27, 2017August 8, 2020Blog, Leadership, Opportunities

Learning How to Learn – The switch from training to education and the life-long learner?

Reading Time: 6 minutes The Army builds its intellectual capital in peace and spends it in war Colonel William L. Hauser [1] Introduction I don’t know […]

April 23, 2017August 8, 2020Blog, Leadership, Tactics

Leadership in Focus – Vehicle Craft – Blending Technology and Tactical Acumen

Reading Time: 3 minutes There is much discussion and idea exchange about the ASLAV replacement (CRV) and future Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFV). These capabilities are a […]

April 7, 2017August 8, 2020Blog, DEFAUS, Opportunities

Enhancing Junior Leader Education Through Distributed Short Courses

Reading Time: 4 minutes BLUF. The Australian Army’s education of junior leaders is heavily focused on general outcomes, rarely fostering an environment that compels us to […]

March 19, 2017August 8, 2020Blog, Leadership

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 […]

March 18, 2017August 8, 2020Blog, Future, Tactics

Data Driven Decision Making – Embracing Technology to Clear the Fog 

Reading Time: 3 minutes Imagine being able to predict enemy patrol and aerial surveillance routes with a high degree of certainty, or an increasing vehicle availability […]

March 9, 2017August 8, 2020Blog, Leadership

Leadership in Focus – Listen, Learn and Lead

Reading Time: 4 minutes Last week the Chief of Army came and spoke to the Royal Australian Armoured Corps’ Senior Leadership Group. His opening remarks immediately […]

February 12, 2017August 8, 2020Blog, Leadership

Enough Talk – How Do We Professionally Develop Our People?

Reading Time: 3 minutes Quick thoughts on practically applying professional development How do we practically implement professional development instead of just talking about it? Having observed and contributed […]

January 24, 2017August 8, 2020Blog, Tactics

Debating Doctrine – Reciprocity as an Enduring Feature of War

Reading Time: 3 minutes Debating doctrine Two years ago, Army began an intellectual pivot designed to review the lessons of the past 15 years, better understand the […]

January 17, 2017October 6, 2021Blog, Bookshelf

Why Army Officers Should Read About Lord Horatio Nelson

Reading Time: 3 minutes Reposted from The Armchair Colonel with permission of the author. Why should an Army Officer read 853 pages devoted to maritime operations […]

December 8, 2016August 8, 2020Blog, Future

Future Thinking – Crowdsourcing for Defence

Reading Time: 4 minutes Innovation has always been a factor of military thinking to one degree or another, however in recent years it has been gathering […]

November 19, 2016August 8, 2020Blog, Leadership

Mindfulness for Military: Improving Human Performance, Cognitive Mastery, Emotional Intelligence and Resilience

Reading Time: 6 minutes As the Australian Army seeks methods to improve human performance, cognitive mastery, emotional intelligence, leadership, resilience and innovation it should consider the […]

November 6, 2016August 8, 2020Blog, Future

Exploring Social Media’s Influence During Conflict and Crisis

Reading Time: 17 minutes “I hold it to be of great prudence for men to abstain from threats and insulting words towards any one, for neither […]

October 27, 2016August 8, 2020Blog, Future

Taking A Step Forward On Drones

Reading Time: 4 minutes Last week two French soldiers were wounded and two Kurdish fighters were killed in Iraq by a weaponised Commercial off the Shelf […]

October 10, 2016August 8, 2020Blog, Leadership

Leadership in Focus – Emotional Intelligence, Leadership and Resilience

Reading Time: 6 minutes It was a popular belief in the past that to build a soldier, we must first break the individual down and re-build […]

October 8, 2016August 8, 2020Blog, Future

Future Thinking – Adaptive Tanking

Reading Time: 6 minutes The evolution of Russian armoured combat power since 1991                           […]

October 5, 2016October 4, 2021Blog, Leadership

Leadership in Focus – The Timeless Leadership Question

Reading Time: 3 minutes The frequently asked leadership question, ‘Are great leaders born or created?’ consistently creates vigorous, robust discussion. So what is the answer? Warren […]

September 30, 2016August 8, 2020Blog, Future

Future Thinking – Cyberspace: A Contested Domain

Reading Time: 4 minutes Australia and Australians are targets for malicious actors—including serious and organised criminal syndicates and foreign adversaries—who are all using cyberspace to further […]

September 22, 2016August 8, 2020Blog, Leadership

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 […]

September 14, 2016August 8, 2020Blog, Future, Tactics

Future Thinking – Attrition and the Next Air Defence Battle

Reading Time: 7 minutes The forces that we prepare today will be the forces that we take into the battle tomorrow. For the Air Defence capability, […]

September 9, 2016August 8, 2020Blog, Leadership, Tactics

Risky Business: Equipping Junior Leaders to Exploit Risk on the Battlefield

Reading Time: 7 minutes ‘In the art of war, lesser men are schemers, who avoid risk with mediocre results.’[i]  Napoleon Bonaparte Introduction To an extent unmatched […]

September 5, 2016August 8, 2020Blog, Future

Future Thinking – Space Culture: What do we need for the Future Fight?

Reading Time: 4 minutes Space is a domain that is increasingly contested, congested and competitive. As the cost and technical barriers to space diminish, the range […]

August 29, 2016August 8, 2020Blog, DEFAUS, Future

Innovation Toolbox – Innovation: Why do we need it in the military? (Part 1 of 3)

Reading Time: 4 minutes The idea was fantastically, wildly improbable. But like most fantastically, wildly improbable ideas it was at least as worthy of consideration as […]

August 21, 2016March 17, 2024Blog, Leadership, Opportunities, Top Post

Social Media in the Military: Opportunities, Perils and a Safe Middle Path

Reading Time: 11 minutes Editor’s Note: This is Grounded Curiosity’s most read article of all time. Knowledge is generated anew from connections that weren’t there before.  […]

August 11, 2016August 8, 2020Blog, Interviews

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.

August 6, 2016Blog

How Electronic Learning Environments Can Support Professional Military Education

Reading Time: 4 minutes Social media is commonly being used by the future leaders of Army for Professional Military Education (PME). Blogs have been accepted as […]

July 31, 2016August 8, 2020Blog, DEFAUS

Professional Military Education and Innovation – An Historical Perspective

Reading Time: 3 minutes After recently embarking on a new phase of professional study I have developed a renewed appreciation of the importance that historical lessons […]

July 27, 2016August 8, 2020Blog, Future

Cauldron of Complexity – Are germs the next #FutureFight?

Reading Time: 3 minutes As I cough and sniffle, suffering the effects of a Canberra winter, I remember that germs have two effects on us. First, […]

July 12, 2016August 8, 2020Blog, DEFAUS, Tactics

Letters from HAMEL Part 3: The Operational Level of War. What is it Good For?

Reading Time: 4 minutes The Op HAMEL intervention is ending.  With the Kamarian Armed Forces in retreat and the International Boundary restored, peace is steadily returning to East Cultania.  Grateful Cultanians line the streets, thanking […]

July 10, 2016August 8, 2020Blog, DEFAUS, Tactics

Letters from HAMEL Part 2: Just War and Tactical Ethics in a Brutal World 

Reading Time: 4 minutes Many of you who read this will be tacticians.  Congratulations, and good luck.  You’ve volunteered for one of the hardest, most illogical and […]

July 8, 2016October 6, 2021Blog, DEFAUS, Tactics

Letters from Hamel Part 1: The Duel, the Enemy and Psychological Mastery 

Reading Time: 5 minutes I’ve just watched a Rehearsal of Concept (ROC) Drill on Ex HAMEL, and I’m struck by a thought. I had the same thought […]

July 5, 2016August 8, 2020Blog, Tactics

How Large Land Force Exercises Hone a Small Army

Reading Time: 4 minutes This week the Australian Army commenced its annual Exercise Hamel in South Australia.  A large scale land, air, sea, info-war and cyber […]

June 19, 2016March 17, 2024Blog, Tactics, Top Post

Redefining ‘Mountains of Steel’: The Utility of Disaggregated CSS in Contemporary Warfare

Reading Time: 12 minutes Army’s logisticians have operated under an obsolescent doctrine for decades that is out of touch with a rapidly accelerating technological arms race between […]

June 16, 2016August 8, 2020Blog, DEFAUS, Future

How do you see the #FutureFight?

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

June 2, 2016December 10, 2016Blog

A Review of Army’s Education, Training and Doctrine – Needs for the Future

Reading Time: 5 minutes In 2014, the Australian Army commenced an intellectual pivot designed to review the lessons of the past 15 years, better understand the […]

May 29, 2016March 17, 2024Blog, DEFAUS, Leadership, Top Post

Junior Leadership in the Australian Army

Reading Time: 4 minutes Do we know why it works or are we doing what we’ve always done? The current Australian Army leadership model is an […]

May 22, 2016August 8, 2020Blog, DEFAUS, Future

Fiction vs History: Enduring Features of the Future Fight

Reading Time: 3 minutes A properly schooled officer never arrives on a battlefield for the first time, even if he has never actually trod the ground, if that […]

May 18, 2016December 10, 2016Blog, DEFAUS

Training to Innovate – Innovating to Win

Reading Time: 2 minutes How will you fight in the future? As a junior military commander you are responsible for training your team to meet the […]

May 3, 2016December 10, 2016Blog, DEFAUS

But I’m in the Military … How can I be an Entrepreneur?

Reading Time: 2 minutes Google ‘entrepreneur’ and what do you get? Besides the offers to study business at a university and the wiki definition, the common […]

April 12, 2016August 8, 2020Blog, Leadership, Tactics

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 […]

March 23, 2016August 8, 2020Blog, Opportunities

Why Reading Science Fiction is Good For Military Officers

Reading Time: 4 minutes The 1143 year long war had begun on false pretenses and only because the two races were unable to communicate. Once they […]

January 12, 2015October 6, 2021Blog, Leadership

For junior officers – who cares for your boss?

Reading Time: 4 minutes Junior officers know the ‘hurry up and wait’ phenomenon well. Common conversations during these delays range from the first thing you’ll eat […]

January 3, 2015August 8, 2020Blog, Leadership, Opportunities

Using Social Media as a Junior Leader

Reading Time: 7 minutes Beginning-of-year mandatory briefs are filled with reminders of ‘what not to do’ from alcohol to safety. The social media brief usually delivers […]

January 3, 2015October 6, 2021Blog, Leadership, Opportunities

Owning Your Professional Military Development – Junior Leaders

Reading Time: 5 minutes Doctrine Man recently penned the well-known military adage that “no one can manage your career better than yourself”. Deployments, top jobs and […]

April 25, 2014August 8, 2020Blog, Leadership

Defining the Contemporary Veteran

Reading Time: 6 minutes This post was written on Anzac Day in 2014. It flows from thoughts following an Anzac Day Dawn Service in Townsville.  Today […]

January 12, 2014October 7, 2021Blog, Tactics

Lesson Report – Tale of Two Tarin Kowts – Adaptive Action and Critical Thinking

Reading Time: 8 minutes This vignette is from my deployments as a military engineer in Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan. I was an engineer with Australia’s Reconstruction Task […]

January 12, 2014August 8, 2020Blog, Tactics

Lesson Report – Thinking on the Ground – Intellect, Strategic Perspective and Adaptability

Reading Time: 3 minutes This image was taken in Uruzgan Province during a patrol by Reconstruction Task Force personnel in 2008. The image depicts the thinking […]

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