6 ms·

Patton's sword and the future of work

123 points by awinter-py 10y ago

Animats 10y ago
The US military's approach to officer development is totally different from the civilian world. Someone who's been an officer should describe it here. It's normal for officers to go from combat units to full-time schooling and back again. Biographies of generals often show several cycles of that. The military maintains schools of its own, and will ship promising officers off to civilian universities. Gen. Daniel Bolger got a PhD in history from the University of Chicago during his career, between his two tours in Iraq and another in Afghanistan. That's normal at the higher levels of the military. At the lower levels, everybody gets run through task-oriented schools, which are usually better equipped with equipment and simulators than civilian operations. In the military, after being lectured on something, you usually practice doing it. Military education is set up to produce results in minimum time, not at minimum cost. Here's a US Navy simulator.[1] That's not a real ship; it's a full-sized mockup indoors, near Chicago. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0eGmEcACBM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0eGmEcACBM
- omnimus 10y ago
  Well US is putting like 54% of US yearly budget into military. That money must go somewhere. It makes sense it might produce best education. Compare it to 6% US is putting into education. I wonder what would happen if those two numbers were switched.
  - cdaringe 10y ago
    Last I checked that figure was down a few points, but regardless, how I have strongly desired the same!
  - tomcam 9y ago
    Nonsense. The US spends about 20% on military spending. That includes the Veterans Administration: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/aug/17/facebook-posts/pie-chart-federal-spending-circulating-internet-mi/ http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/aug/...
  - Mvandenbergh 9y ago
    The US spends 15% of total government spending on education. 6.4% of GDP is spent directly on education which is about 1% more than the OECD average. 12% is spent on defense including veterans. [numbers different than previous poster because I've used %s of total gov't spending rather than just Federal] So if we swapped then we would increase the US defence budget at the cost of education. Donald, is that you? http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/year_spending_2017UStn_18ts2n_2030#usgs302 http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/year_spending_2017UStn_1... https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cmd.asp https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cmd.asp
    - aleksei 9y ago
      I'd imagine the education spending per capita to be higher in the military though? So if that was swapped the point might hold.
tempodox 9y ago
If there is a point to all this, I must have missed it.
- lubonay 9y ago
  I think the main point is that one must not lose their ability to adapt when faced with rapid environmental changes. The 21st century can be defined so far as rapid changes all around, so this is pretty relevant.
dvanwag 9y ago
Some of the comments on here are the very reason military leaders don't share experience with those that have never lived the life.
ameister14 10y ago
A small point - Teddy Roosevelt was not FDR; Twain thought that Teddy was crazy, not that Franklin Delano was.
- awinter-py 10y ago
  crap, sorry -- muscle memory. fixed.
roymurdock 10y ago
Really enjoyed the author's style of switching back and forth between deep historical dive and musings on current situation. Flows really well. Went back to re-read for main prescriptive points around current trends in education, and got this: We need to offer more kinds of education to adults who have started their careers as well as to companies that need their staff to get better at something...If we get this wrong it could be disastrous...the risk of population collapse may be reduced by promoting individual learning and innovation Wish the author could have offered more guidance here to his opinion on leading educational programs, especially WRT the modern day corollary to the cavalry sword/tank metaphor in a few important industries. The finance take is interesting, but outdated, mainly discussing floor to electronic trading (70s, 80s). Otherwise great article, thanks for the share.
taylorbuley 10y ago
My wife's great-grandfather was in that low speed car crash that killed Patton in the German country side. He was Patton's chief of staff. I was always amazed how a warrior so great could die so unremarkably.
- golergka 9y ago
  > I was always amazed how a warrior so great could die so unremarkably. Great enough to avoid death in combat? After all, not dying in combat is supposed to be one of the main tasks of a warrior.
  - sgt101 9y ago
    Valhalla called, it was hard to work out what was going on on the other side of the line, but I think that they said that you're wrong.
  - valuearb 9y ago
    Being willing to die is always required of a great warrior.
- erikpukinskis 9y ago
  In 50 years the idea anyone could die in a car crash (not a joyride) will be inconceivable.
- pm90 10y ago
  We're all human beings, after all.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- Apocryphon 10y ago
  Lawrence of Arabia also died in an auto accident.
  - bronson 10y ago
linkregister 10y ago
I was offered a job where a selling point was its continuing education at an in-house "university". The starting salary was lower than comparable jobs. I'm not sure if they were ahead of their time or if it was a bad deal disguised as a good one. Maybe the in-house training was only on proprietary, non-portable information. The author is right, the military is unmatched in its opportunities for education and managed career progression. It has its downsides, of course.
eli_gottlieb 10y ago
Thanks for writing this. I've been trying to figure out where I'm going with my career lately, and even if I've got one at all right now. This article really affirmed that the couple of directions I've been thinking of (finally break down and learn webdev, pursue ML/cogsci research) were in the right ballpark. I couldn't have predicted ten years ago, when starting university, where things would be today. Yes, everything that's a Big Deal today existed in infancy then, but it existed in infancy among many competitors. I thought a lot of it was a passing fad, and I've been wrong multiple times over on that. Lessons learned: stop expecting fads to pass, build fundamental skills far stronger and broader than you ever thought you'd need, and overall, stop letting history happen to you. Get out in front and choose which path gets taken for yourself.
- jgamman 10y ago
  Watch out for selection bias. The question is what are the odds you are going to pick the right fad?
  - zdkl 10y ago
    It's not about picking the right fad, it's about not getting sucked into those with no future. That's the hard part.
  - eli_gottlieb 9y ago
    I very much agree, hence the two latter items in the list. Fundamentals need to be much stronger to deal with decades worth of passing fads than I thought they needed to be when one set of fads seemed permanent (ie: when I was young and starting out). The best way to not get caught up in fads is to be the one out in front propagating real, effective new technologies or methods and letting other people turn some into fads and some not. "The best way to predict the future is to create it."

123 points by awinter-py 10y ago

The US military's approach to officer development is totally different from the civilian world. Someone who's been an officer should describe it here. It's normal for officers to go from combat units to full-time schooling and back again. Biographies of generals often show several cycles of that. The military maintains schools of its own, and will ship promising officers off to civilian universities. Gen. Daniel Bolger got a PhD in history from the University of Chicago during his career, between his two tours in Iraq and another in Afghanistan. That's normal at the higher levels of the military. At the lower levels, everybody gets run through task-oriented schools, which are usually better equipped with equipment and simulators than civilian operations. In the military, after being lectured on something, you usually practice doing it. Military education is set up to produce results in minimum time, not at minimum cost. Here's a US Navy simulator.[1] That's not a real ship; it's a full-sized mockup indoors, near Chicago. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0eGmEcACBM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0eGmEcACBM

omnimus 10y ago
Well US is putting like 54% of US yearly budget into military. That money must go somewhere. It makes sense it might produce best education. Compare it to 6% US is putting into education. I wonder what would happen if those two numbers were switched.
- cdaringe 10y ago
  Last I checked that figure was down a few points, but regardless, how I have strongly desired the same!
- tomcam 9y ago
  Nonsense. The US spends about 20% on military spending. That includes the Veterans Administration: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/aug/17/facebook-posts/pie-chart-federal-spending-circulating-internet-mi/ http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/aug/...
- Mvandenbergh 9y ago
  The US spends 15% of total government spending on education. 6.4% of GDP is spent directly on education which is about 1% more than the OECD average. 12% is spent on defense including veterans. [numbers different than previous poster because I've used %s of total gov't spending rather than just Federal] So if we swapped then we would increase the US defence budget at the cost of education. Donald, is that you? http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/year_spending_2017UStn_18ts2n_2030#usgs302 http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/year_spending_2017UStn_1... https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cmd.asp https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cmd.asp
  - aleksei 9y ago
    I'd imagine the education spending per capita to be higher in the military though? So if that was swapped the point might hold.

tempodox 9y ago

If there is a point to all this, I must have missed it.

lubonay 9y ago
I think the main point is that one must not lose their ability to adapt when faced with rapid environmental changes. The 21st century can be defined so far as rapid changes all around, so this is pretty relevant.

dvanwag 9y ago

Some of the comments on here are the very reason military leaders don't share experience with those that have never lived the life.

ameister14 10y ago

A small point - Teddy Roosevelt was not FDR; Twain thought that Teddy was crazy, not that Franklin Delano was.

awinter-py 10y ago
crap, sorry -- muscle memory. fixed.

roymurdock 10y ago

Really enjoyed the author's style of switching back and forth between deep historical dive and musings on current situation. Flows really well. Went back to re-read for main prescriptive points around current trends in education, and got this: We need to offer more kinds of education to adults who have started their careers as well as to companies that need their staff to get better at something...If we get this wrong it could be disastrous...the risk of population collapse may be reduced by promoting individual learning and innovation Wish the author could have offered more guidance here to his opinion on leading educational programs, especially WRT the modern day corollary to the cavalry sword/tank metaphor in a few important industries. The finance take is interesting, but outdated, mainly discussing floor to electronic trading (70s, 80s). Otherwise great article, thanks for the share.

taylorbuley 10y ago

My wife's great-grandfather was in that low speed car crash that killed Patton in the German country side. He was Patton's chief of staff. I was always amazed how a warrior so great could die so unremarkably.

golergka 9y ago
> I was always amazed how a warrior so great could die so unremarkably. Great enough to avoid death in combat? After all, not dying in combat is supposed to be one of the main tasks of a warrior.
- sgt101 9y ago
  Valhalla called, it was hard to work out what was going on on the other side of the line, but I think that they said that you're wrong.
- valuearb 9y ago
  Being willing to die is always required of a great warrior.
erikpukinskis 9y ago
In 50 years the idea anyone could die in a car crash (not a joyride) will be inconceivable.
pm90 10y ago
We're all human beings, after all.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
Apocryphon 10y ago
Lawrence of Arabia also died in an auto accident.
- bronson 10y ago

linkregister 10y ago

I was offered a job where a selling point was its continuing education at an in-house "university". The starting salary was lower than comparable jobs. I'm not sure if they were ahead of their time or if it was a bad deal disguised as a good one. Maybe the in-house training was only on proprietary, non-portable information. The author is right, the military is unmatched in its opportunities for education and managed career progression. It has its downsides, of course.

eli_gottlieb 10y ago

Thanks for writing this. I've been trying to figure out where I'm going with my career lately, and even if I've got one at all right now. This article really affirmed that the couple of directions I've been thinking of (finally break down and learn webdev, pursue ML/cogsci research) were in the right ballpark. I couldn't have predicted ten years ago, when starting university, where things would be today. Yes, everything that's a Big Deal today existed in infancy then, but it existed in infancy among many competitors. I thought a lot of it was a passing fad, and I've been wrong multiple times over on that. Lessons learned: stop expecting fads to pass, build fundamental skills far stronger and broader than you ever thought you'd need, and overall, stop letting history happen to you. Get out in front and choose which path gets taken for yourself.

jgamman 10y ago
Watch out for selection bias. The question is what are the odds you are going to pick the right fad?
- zdkl 10y ago
  It's not about picking the right fad, it's about not getting sucked into those with no future. That's the hard part.
- eli_gottlieb 9y ago
  I very much agree, hence the two latter items in the list. Fundamentals need to be much stronger to deal with decades worth of passing fads than I thought they needed to be when one set of fads seemed permanent (ie: when I was young and starting out). The best way to not get caught up in fads is to be the one out in front propagating real, effective new technologies or methods and letting other people turn some into fads and some not. "The best way to predict the future is to create it."