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Spread and Fuel

Edwin Forrest Harding, namesake of the Harding Project I've headed for the past sixteen months, composed the foreword for a revamped Mailing List in 1930. As a teacher at the Infantry School, he launched a contemporary publication, distinct in form and content compared to those from previous...

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Spread and Ignite (or alternatively, Propagate and Instigate)
Spread and Ignite (or alternatively, Propagate and Instigate)

Spread and Fuel

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In 1930, a man named Edwin Forrest Harding, the pioneer behind the Harding Project that I've been fortunate enough to manage over the past year and a half, composed a foreword to a revamped Mailing List. As an instructor at the Infantry School, he recognized the need for a modernized update and made it happen. But he didn't act carelessly; he conducted thorough research first, discovering that a mere ten percent of the original mailing list subscribers actually read it. Recognizing his target audience as busy Army professionals who were willing to put aside occasional free hours for professional development, Harding transformed the Mailing List into a convenient, easy-to-read format that he believed most subscribers would want to peruse.

At the heart of it all, Harding understood that military publications aimed to foster and stimulate military ideas. He welcomed both positive and negative feedback to further improve the Mailing List and, true to his words, the response was overwhelmingly favorable. The introduction to the second volume praised the new format, while the third volume's introduction was equally smitten and reported a steady increase in subscribers.

Flash forward to now, we're carrying on Harding's tradition as we evaluate our progress over the past year and chart a course for the future.

Taking stock

Before the Harding Project, the Army's journals faced challenges similar to the Mailing List before Harding's makeover. They published comparatively less content, less frequently, and more sporadically than in previous decades. Engagement was low, with few readers, minimal social media buzz, and no citations. While online platforms like our website and War on the Rocks demonstrated how web-based, mobile-friendly platforms with continuous publishing could thrive, the Army's branch journals remained lodged in the past.

With a clear picture of these hurdles, the Harding Project set out to revamp the Army's journals just as Harding renewed the Mailing List and the Infantry Journal. Let's take a look at our progress toward the four goals we set out when we kicked off.

Boost leadership through staffing upgrades. Army University Press at the Combined Arms Center now oversees our system of journals. Every month, we convene with Army University Press, the Harding Project team, and the Harding Fellows at branch centers of excellence to refine the Line of Departure and discuss ways to enhance the Army's journals. Eleven journals have dedicated military and civilian editors to ensure the highest quality. This year, we'll send the first cohort of five editors to earn a master's degree in journalism and mass communication at the University of Kansas this summer, starting their editorship at their respective branch centers of excellence in 2026 as the next cohort begins their academic journey.

Still to do:- Update the tables of distribution and allowance to establish permanent billets for military and civilian journal staff at each center of excellence.- Recruit the next cohort of Harding Fellows for the 2026 academic year.

Create a modern platform for the Army. The Line of Departure - a web-friendly, mobile-friendly platform for all Army branch journals - launched in October. This site leveraged the republishing of DA Pamphlet, 25-40, which set modern procedures for professional bulletins. The Line of Departure now welcomes hundreds of unique users each day, a number that exceeded the journals' monthly traffic in 2022 and 2023.

Still to do:- Boost the Line of Departure's weekly readership to five thousand users.- Step up the promotion with targeted outreach and focused social media campaigns.

Streamline archive accessibility. We've had the most difficulties here. Fortunately, the vast majority of the Army's journal archives are digitized, and our partners at the Defense Technical Information Center have assigned digital object identifiers to new articles and started building a special, searchable collection for them. Challenges remain in consolidating, organizing, and indexing the approximately 150,000 articles published over the decades so that we can capitalize on their insights.

Still to do:- Explore automated systems for sorting through historical articles.- Collaborate with archive.org to host Army documents in a searchable format.

Refine military education. Our efforts under this category have primarily involved encouraging NCO participation in professional writing. The NCO Leadership Center of Excellence has integrated a citation requirement to subtly familiarize our sergeants with the Line of Departure at each level of their professional military education. The Sergeants Major Academy has also established the Ultima Scholars, a program similar to those at the Army War College and Command and General Staff College that invests in officers with the ability and enthusiasm to write. We've heard positive feedback on the integration of the Line of Departure into the Command and General Staff College's small groups and other educational courses.

Still to do:- Establish a standard system for enforcing the citation requirement across all non-commissioned officer academies.

Ahead

I'm proud of the close-knit community we've built around the Harding Project. In an effort to answer questions about how to get started, we sent fifteen thousand physical copies of our special issue of Military Review to every single Army unit, battalion, and above. The Harding Project community has also expanded, with more than thirty thousand individuals checking out the Substack that goes out to a mailing list of over five thousand subscribers in an average month.

The Harding Project has made significant strides in accomplishing its goals over the past year. Along the way, we've bid farewell to Sgt. 1st Class Leyton Summerlin and welcomed new members to our team, such as Sgt. 1st Class Marcel Blood, the project's deputy director, and Capt. Sarah Chamberlin, our Substack editor.

Moving forward, we'll focus on building on our success and addressing critical areas. Our main areas of focus for 2023 are the Line of Departure, outreach, force structure, and the Harding Fellowship.

  • The Line of Departure team aims to clear the article backlog and start publishing about an article a day by March. We're also working to deliver content directly to you, launching our social media presence on services like X, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, and releasing an app this spring with push notifications. Be sure to check out the winners of our promotion competition later this month as we continue to promote the content published on our platform.
  • Sgt. 1st Class Blood will travel to Army posts to increase awareness of the Line of Departure, standardize the implementation of the citation requirement, and lead writing workshops. If you're a division-level unit interested in hosting a one- or two-day workshop, drop him a note.
  • Consolidating gains means locking in the positions for military and civilian editors. We'll team up with our partners at the Combined Arms Center, at Training and Doctrine Command, and the Army Staff to make this happen.
  • As the Army's newest broadening opportunity, we'll ensure a top-notch developmental experience for our new fellows, working with our partners at Army University Press.

Finally, we'll strive to improve the archives, a personal mission of mine as I've greatly benefitted from the Army's archives and found valuable insights in Harding's works, such as his foreword and articles in the Mailing List and Infantry Journal.

That's a lot to tackle. We couldn't do it without your support, so we look forward to consolidating gains this year. But what else should we focus on? Just like Harding sought adverse and favorable comments on his changes, we welcome your thoughts and ideas. Share them on social media or send potential post ideas to [email protected].

Directed by Zachary Griffiths, an Army officer, who heads the Harding Project to rejuvenate professional military writing.

The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the United States Military Academy, Department of the Army, or Department of Defense.

Image credit: Sgt. Alyssa Blom, US Army Reserve

  1. The revamped Harding Project, modeled after Edwin Forrest Harding's update of the Mailing List, is aimed at promoting military ideas through improved military publications.
  2. In the sphere of leadership, the Harding Project has staffed up its journals with dedicated military and civilian editors, with the first cohort of five editors soon to earn master's degrees in journalism and mass communication.
  3. The Harding Project considers Army defense to be essential, as they are working on updating the tables of distribution and allowance to establish permanent billets for military and civilian journal staff at each center of excellence.
  4. The Harding Project is also focused on business aspects, seeking partnerships with Defense Technical Information Center for the consolidation, organization, and indexing of the Army's journal archives.

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