Chad Williamson
Before a warrior learns to lead, they must learn to think. Before they learn to command, they must learn to reflect. Writing, then, is not a secondary skill—it is a foundational act of warfighting. In an era of irregular conflict and cognitive competition, writing is how warriors refine judgment, process complexity, and preserve the clarity of their own purpose. It is the discipline of thinking out loud, in public, with purpose.
Warfighters are trained in the physical disciplines of combat, but too often the intellectual disciplines are left to chance. Among those, writing is perhaps the most underutilized—and most powerful—tool available for strengthening cohesion, credibility, and resilience.
Writing is warfighting. It is decision-making in motion. It is a form of intellectual readiness, personal reflection, and strategic adaptation.
The Harding Project, a grassroots initiative to renew professional military writing, reminds us that the profession of arms is also the profession of thought. Its namesake, Major General Edwin "Forrest" Harding, understood this in the interwar years of the 1930s. He doubled the circulation of the Infantry Journal not because writing was trendy, but because the Army needed to think harder before it fought again. Today, we are again in an interwar period. And once again, we must write our way through it.
A recent conversation at the Pentagon with Lieutenant Colonel Zach Griffiths, the outgoing Director of The Harding Project, reinforced this view. Griffiths, who came to writing through a deep love of reading, noted that curiosity and agency are two qualities The Harding Project cultivates. Writing, he explained, often begins with a question—a moment of inquiry that leads to reflection and then a commitment to share insight with others. It is an act of intellectual courage and professional ownership.
"Most of the writing I do is because I have a question in my mind that I’m trying to answer," Griffiths shared. "Once I think I know the answer, I write it down and send it out to the world."
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