Army Announces Contest to Name Book on Future

By Zachary Gildin
Army News Service
March 15, 2005

WASHINGTON - The Army is holding a competition to see who can come up with the best title for a book about the future Army that will be published in June.

The book, which will consist of six vignettes, is aimed at informing and educating both military and non-military audiences about the future of the Army during the period 2015 and beyond.

The book will look at the continued evolution and transformation of the Army from the perspectives of Soldiers serving in what are now projected to be called Units of Action, Units of Employment – all equipped with the Future Combat System and other new types of equipment.

Each vignette will focus on a different scenario: Arrival, Skirmish, Hostage Rescue, Battle, Stability Operations and Home Front, and Transition and Redeployment.

"Each of these scenarios will be depicted in a novel-like format that will allow the reader to gain a broad cross-section of perspectives from Soldiers, noncommissioned officers and officers," said Lt. Col. (Ret.) Robert Leonhard, the principal author and a senior staff member at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

"The reader will be able to visualize the Soldiers in their surroundings and gain an understanding of their roles as well as the enhanced operational capabilities the advanced equipment available at that time will give them. It will allow the reader to feel like they are part of the action."

Not only will this style of writing be more interesting for the readers and make them feel like they are in the story, but it will also help to aid the readers' comprehension of what the Army of the future will look like.

This book will help civilians, military personnel in and out of the Army, government officials, and others understand more about the Army's transformation, officials said. They said it is intended to promote a new perspective and understanding of the future of the Army that traditional summaries do not allow.

The novel-like format, they said, will help to facilitate understanding of future plans by showing rather then telling.

Along with facilitating the understanding of new and emerging information, the vignettes may indirectly help shape what the future composition of the Army will look like.

"The book will potentially have a positive influence on retention within the Army because junior-ranking soldiers, NCOs and officers will have a better appreciation of where the Army is going and hopefully can see themselves having an important role in that future force," said Col. Mike Galloucis, project coordinator within the Office of the Chief of Staff. "The book may also indirectly help our recruiting efforts for the same reason because potential recruits will see how exciting the Army's future vision is and realize they can be a part of it."

The book-naming contest is open to everyone, civilian or military, including family members and retirees. Participants are encouraged to be creative in coming up with a title for the book.

"The name for the book should not only help highlight the content of the book, but should also be something that captures the reader's interest and helps to draw in potential readers," said Maj. Doug Zadow, who in addition to working on this project on a daily basis, is heading up the competition to choose a name. The New Centurions, a book by Joe Wambaugh, was cited by Zadow as an example of a title meeting his criteria.

The person whose proposed title is chosen as the winner of the competition will be recognized by a senior Army leader and provided with a copy of the final publication.

Title proposals, which must be submitted by April 8, should be sent by email to Maj. Doug Zadow at Douglas.zadow@hqda.army.mil The e-mail submissions should include at least one title suggestion, full name, rank or civilian title, e-mail address, mailing address and phone number.