The American Way of War

By Ronnel Daniels and Joshua Turman
Norwich Guidon Staff Writers

With the sound of the band playing in the background, the Norwich University Corps of Cadets, guests, alumni, veterans, and faculty were ushered into Plumley Armory on the Northfield campus.

NU President Richard Schneider led the authors in one by one, and the band played the National Anthem.

Plumley Armory was thus transformed into the 6th Annual 2001 William E. Colby Military Writers' Symposium.

In 1996, the symposium was founded at Norwich University, and the next year it was renamed in memory of the late William E. Colby, who, along with Carlo D'Este and W.E.B. Griffin, was a co-founder of the symposium.

Since the founding of the symposium, Norwich has hosted over 30 widely-known authors, historians and filmmakers.

The main attraction of the symposium was the panel discussion, which began with an award presented to James Bradley for his New York Times bestseller book, Flags of our Fathers. Bradley was the 2001 Colby Award Winner at the symposium.

The Colby Military Writers' Symposium included a distinguished group of international authors.

The panel of participating authors included W.E.B. Griffin, Carlo D'Este, Colonel Douglas Macgregor, Nigel Hamilton, James Bradley, and Dr. Russell F. Weigley. Dr. Lewis Sorley, author of A Better War was the moderator for the panel.

One of the co-founders of the symposium, Carlo D'Este, is a 1958 graduate of Norwich University.

The topic of the symposium was "The America Way of War: A History of United States Military Strategy and Policy." The topic was based on the book of Dr. Russell F. Weigley.

"Dr. Weigley is an internationally renowned historian," D'Este said. "I was hoping to get him to Norwich for this symposium."

Weigley is the head of the Center for the Study of Force & Diplomacy, Department of History at Temple University. This was his first visit to Norwich.

"I'm impressed by the quality of the writers brought together by the energy that Norwich has put into the symposium. It's an impressive thing," Weigley said.

The panel session was presented at no charge to the public and students at Norwich University and was broadcast on local cable television stations.

English Professor and Head of the Division of Humanities Andrew Knauf said, "There are opportunities for students, facility, and administrators to get to know better people who think, write and really affect the strategy and tactics in the military."

The authors spoke about U.S. turning points and conflicts ranging from the Revolutionary War to Desert Storm.

They discussed and argued about the different subjects that were given to them by Sorley. The main topic was the tactics and the use America made of its force in past wars.

Other topics included in the panel's discussion were: social change in the military, problems with retention of junior officers in the military, and problems with technology in the military system.

One of the panelists, Colonel Douglas Macgregor, author of Breaking the Phalanx, said, "Since we are in this technology age and now computers fight wars, what would happen if American computers were to catch a virus or hackers got into the mainframe; what would happen to our defense?"

The topics discussed at the panel were sometimes calm and tranquil. Authors jumped on the issues that were brought up.

The discussion went rather smoothly until the question and answer period, during which the audience and students of the Corps of Cadets inquired about topics related to the authors' discussions on the panel.

Cadet D'Amato asked, "If women were in the infantry, would it affect men in the military?"

Hamilton, author of JFK: Reckless Youth said, " If a woman wants to be in the Army, Navy, or Marines, she shouldn't be treated any differently from her male counterpart."

The audience applauded, and Macgregor said, "if anyone chooses to join the military, male or female, they are there to fight for the country, and we should get away from the gender issue in the military."

"The symposium was a complete success, and I think that the students, guests, and faculty got a lot out of it," said Ed Tracy, executive director of the symposium. "This was one of the best symposiums we have ever had at Norwich."

D'Este, reflecting on what he hoped audience members got from the symposium, said that they should be stimulated intellectually.

"I think they got it just from the nature of the questions, stimulation, stimulate thinking, stimulate you not to accept the status quo, and to ask questions. I was also impressed with the authors we were able to recruit for this event," D'Este said.

Most of the authors were surprised with the outcome of the symposium.

"The thing that overwhelmed me was that we had a panel of heavy-hitters, and we were able to work together to give good answers to the questions that the students asked," Griffin said, adding that he wanted to leave this message with the students who attended Norwich.

"This is a very special place and that students should be grateful that they attend such a university and that events like this one can have affect on an individuals for life," Griffin said.

"I think this is one of the best panels we've had in six years, and there is great diversity in the panelists and their points of view," Schneider said, adding that "this is exactly what a symposium is about, which is having people of different points of view arguing points of great importance."

Macgregor said that Ed Tracy brought together a very diverse group of people, and diversity is very important in terms of thinking. He said the impact of the diversity of thought by the Corps of Cadets has been very positive.

Macgregor, emphasizing the benefits of the symposium, said, "the first and most important thing is to understand the importance of their future in the armed forces, and the criticality of understanding the need for change, not once or twice, but the readiness to change to do whatever works on a routine basis and to continually open their minds and incorporate new ideas into their thinking."

Outgoing Cadet Col. David Cedarleaf, 21, a Peace, War, and Diplomacy major from Fairport, N.Y., said that, "it went over really well, because, as they mentioned on the panel, it gives the cadets an opportunity to listen to people who have had real world experiences and have written things on them, write legitimately on it, and know what they are talking about.

"I'd like to see the cadets take advantage of the interaction that they get with the authors here," Cedarleaf said. "We talk about where the country is going to be in the 21st century, and these [authors] are the ones who have a good knowledge of where it might go."

"I was impressed with the students, the mindset of the students, very well spoken and thought up questions," said Steve Wooster, an audience member. "They provided a very in-depth [discussion] that showed the education that the school provided by the type of questions that the students were asking."

"I think the symposium is excellent, and Norwich is an outstanding university, and you people are lucky to be here," said David Delwiche, another audience member of the symposium.

Following the panel discussion, the authors and guests had dinner in Milano Ballroom.

The dinner was $50 per person, with the proceeds supporting the symposium.

James Bradley, speaking on Flags of our Fathers, his bestseller, was the guest speaker.

Bradley and writer Ron Powers of Middlebury, Vt., were presented the Colby Award at the symposium. The award was established in 1999 and recognizes a first work of fiction or non-fiction which has made a major contribution to the public's understanding of intelligence operations, military history or international affairs.

The authors also visited classes on campus to lecture and discuss with students the various topics of their books.

"It is a wonderful way for students to get to know us face to face," Weigley said. "Students were pleasant and sleepy. I wasn't surprised, what you'd expect in a college classroom first thing in the morning."

Hamilton said that the most exciting thing for him was coming here and working with students.

"I found the interaction with students very inspiring," Hamilton said. "One of the great things of teaching and working with students is, you have people asking you real questions and helps you to know what is of interest of people today, what is controversial and what is boring.

"I think the advantage of a symposium is, this is an opportunity for people who have spent their lifetimes investigating specific areas of history and specific lives in history," Hamilton said. "The opportunity for students to learn directly from those authors, to meet them, to be able to judge them, to be able to confront them with questions."

Hamilton said that society should address some of the social issues, such as gays in the military, and that we shouldn't exclude controversial matters from discussion.

There was also a book-signing period where authors met in Harmon Hall.

"The Books they write are a lot more readable than your standard history book," said Col. Leonard Doscinski, commandant of cadets. "They have much greater detail and background stories."

Doscinski said that the students get a chance to talk to widely-known authors face to face. He said, "How often does that happen?"

"This is exactly what Partridge would want us to do, talk about military issues in an educational environment to protect the nation," Schneider said. "That's why he established the school, and we are fulfilling that mission."