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January 13, 2005: Military Education - We Are Stuck in the Past
"Evidence exists that it is time for drastic changes to the way we educate our cadets to become officers."

January 6, 2005: Military Education - Tools exist now, just use them
"If we are going to really 'Transform' the future force, we need to start now with the next generation."

December 20, 2004: The Specter of 'Taylorism'
"Believing that the Army is like a business or that good business practices will solve military problems are examples of misplaced analogies that take its leaders off the cliff."

September 21, 2004: Creating an Adaptive Officer Corps
"A true “perform or out” promotion system works with less reliance on an OER system that in the past has pitted officer against officer, particularly if the accession gateway into the profession is tougher."

September 13 , 2004: An Army Built on Trust
"We have intelligent, hard-working people in the Army who need the autonomy to fight tough and determined opponents today and in the future. "

January 5, 2004: A Year of Army Reform
"The Army’s transformation from the Cold War legacy of industrial war to 4th Generation warfare often seems maddeningly slow – but it is continuing. "

December 10, 2003: The New Officer Corps: '360-Degree Evaluations' (Part 3 of 3)
"A vital component of this new system will be what I term "360-degree evaluations" of all officer candidates and commissioned officers, the subject of this article. This is, simply put, formal ratings of an officer's performance by superiors, peers - and subordinates - the latter constituting a truly revolutionary innovation in the Army's "top-to-bottom" personnel system."

November 25, 2003: Tools for Transforming the Officer Corps (Part 2 of 3)
"Above all else, the process should not have a goal of “meeting missions” and filling quotas. Rather, it should only focus on having candidates meet standards – quality, not quantity."

November 3, 2003: Transforming the U.S. Army Officer Corps (First of Two Parts)
"One of the questions I frequently hear is how will unit manning impact the Army's officer culture. A better way to phrase this is, 'Will the Army officer culture destroy unit manning before it has a chance to succeed?'"

October 27, 2003: Army Crisis -- Form a Personnel Transformation Task Force (Part 2 of 2)
"The U.S. Army can build a force that can fight “come as you are wars” at present while preserving the force for a major conflict in the future."

October 15, 2003: Army Crisis -- Personnel System Is the Foe (First of 2 Parts)
"I keep watching bold and corrective proposals to improve the U.S. Army today getting cut to pieces on the chopping blocks of compromise."

September 29, 2003: 'People Transformation' the Key to Military Reform
"Why change the U.S. military personnel system? Because the current system is not producing quality combat and support units that can perform the complex missions of 21st century warfare."

September 15, 2003: Put Everyone on the Line, By God!
"Mounds of evidence support unit manning. The real resistance is to the true transformation of the Army that must take place to allow unit manning to work. The two main changes...originated in 1912 and 1916 respectively. Someone remind me that it is 2003."

September 12, 2003: A Failed System
"To understand today's readiness problem confronting the U.S. military, it is necessary to take a close look at how the services - in this case, the U.S. Army - has managed its personnel for the past century."

August 28, 2003: Effective Personnel
"With the United States committed to a global war against terrorism that will probably last for years, debate over the effectiveness of the armed forces has intensified in the Pentagon, Congress and the news media."

July 21, 2003: Learn from the Past Before It Is Too Late
"Now I am hearing we are beginning to use tried and failed methods to keep up personnel strength in units in Iraq? Tell me it is not so!"

Major Donald E. Vandergriff, USA, an armor officer, teaches military science at Georgetown University Army ROTC. Vandergriff began his military career with the United States Marine Corps, and has had extensive experience in the field with the Army. After he transferred from the Marine Corps to the Army National Guard, he initially served as a cavalry platoon leader in the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment (TNARNG). Upon entering active duty, he served in the Republic of Korea as a tank platoon, tank company executive officer and scout platoon leader for almost two years; at the National Training Center (serving both as an observer controller and in the OPFOR); and in the Middle East and Germany. He has his undergraduate degree in education from the University of Tennessee, a graduate degree in military history from American Military University, and began his PhD studies in military history at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Major Vandergriff has lectured extensively on military effectiveness and cultural impacts in the United States and Europe. He has also been the subject of several articles that deal with military effectiveness and military transformation, including features in the Washington Post, The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker Magazine, The National Journal, Government Executive Magazine, The Washington Monthly, Army Times, Stars and Stripes, Norfolk News-Gazette and Pittsburg Star. He currently lives in Woodbridge, Virginia with his wife Lorraine, and their three dogs and one cat. Vandergriff has always been athletically competitive, playing Rugby at the University of Tennessee 1982-1984, at Fort Irwin 1987-1990, in Germany 1993-4, and in Northern Virginia 1996-97. Vandergriff also participated in Iron Man competitions from 1987-1990, and was an avid snow skier. His current hobbies include Tennessee college football, military wargaming, mountain biking, hiking and his dogs. Donald Vandergriff: Archive Discussion Forum Have an opinion on this commentary? Sound off. Get Breaking Military News Alerts