Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the National World war i museum and memorial located here in kansas city, missouri. My name is james taub. Im the Public Program specialist here for the memorial. It is my great passion to welcome you here tonight for women and warfare with Lieutenant Colonel nikki dean. Now to introduce our speaker tonight, i will also say the views she will be stating are not reflective of the United States army, the department of defense, the command and general Staff College or the combined arm center of the United States rv. Lieutenant colonel, nikki dean has 21 years of active service including multiple tours to iraq and afghanistan. By trade, she is an Army Helicopter pilot. Currently, for her second time, army doctor and writer. Originally she is from buffalo, new york. Shes very emotionally conflicted every time the chiefs and bills play each other. She has been stationed around the United States, germany, as well as in korea. Which, in her own words was, super, super fun. She has multiple degrees and studies both history as well as museum studies. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming to the stage Lieutenant Colonel nikki dean. [applause] so, thank you all for the extremely warm welcome. I will say it is a bit daunting to be standing on the side of the podium as opposed to sitting out in the audience, which is where i usually am, for this incredible institution. As james said my name is nikki. Tonight i would like to talk to you about something that is incredibly important to both the life that i have had led for the past 20 years as a soldier, but more importantly to talk about an amazing insight into this constantly changing and evolving world where i work. Which is in u. S. Army doctrine. I have a fierce love and passion for what we produce out of the army. More importantly, because more than just writing books or putting words down on paper, it is an opportunity to share the body of knowledge with new readers. To reach a whole new audience, especially in these changing, sometimes socially difficult, times. It is an incredibly important work that we do. So, i am happy to share this incredible chance to talk to you tonight. Here, in this incredible museum. I promise you if you out in the audience are wondering if this will ever relate back to world war i or operation in the european theater, worldwide, i promise you we will get there by the end of the night. First and foremost, before we really get into the meat and potatoes of this discussion, i think it helps a little bit to establish a baseline. We are talking about doctrine tonight. I know sometimes can feel like, especially if you are a military member, a little bit of a dry topic. I promise, we will get to Something Interesting in the end. We are going to talk a little bit about the things that are include in our doctrine. Not just a concept itself but the archives. The items that we include. Quotes and vignettes. We will talk a little bit about who gets quoted, why they get quoted, and answer a really deep, personal question for both me and actually, for several Service Members who are out there. Female Service Members. Where are the women . We will talk a little bit about the women who have informally influence military doctrine. Surprise they did in fact influence a lot. I theater of warfare in the body of knowledge itself. We will also look at the future of women and warfare. Women who are making and roads in view how we view tactics and techniques, the arrangement of forces on the battlefield. It tends to be very technical and also a very niche kind of world to live in and write for. And i will bring it back to probably one of the most important books that i had a chance to contribute very small amount to and play a very small role on a very important team. I also need to state a caveat. If youre listening, someone might try to call me out on the use of the word caveat, by the way it is found in nato doctrine. Go to that resource first. When we discuss womens roles in military history, in the military doctrine, it opens up a can of worms. [inaudible] i understand this can feel like iterant topic. To recognize there have been women stories, for stories of other communities that have been lost. Words that have been lost that potentially contributed, or could contribute, to a deeper discussion about the theory of warfare. About tactics and techniques. There are historians, historians who are making amazing active effort to put that experience of why those words were missing into context. More importantly to try to find those lost and missing words. Those historians are doing incredible work right now as we speak. Also, to a certain extent, they have uncovered some truths that, on occasion, even women who participated in the development of geopolitical strategic use of military forces. Who talked about tactics and the order deployment of forces, sometimes those women were historically accepted because of certain reasons, they were amplified for certain reasons. To certain extent, sometimes they behaved and gatekeepers. Wrong or right, it is just the way that that historical experience is. So, what about doctrine . I would like to start off with this. About once a year, once a year will someone will send me this. As james pointed out i spent two tours in the military working on doctrine. Aviation doctrine and this always ends up usually on my social media in a direct message, typically from a junior officer who is either experiencing doctrine for the first time, or experiencing this mean for the first time. They think its hilarious personally, i love it. I love it. I love that some of my peers who are a little older in the military and have been around the block time or two, they also find funny. To a certain extent, a little bit poignant. At the same time i dont think there is a single officer, and co, warrant officer, civilian professional out there who would actually say they are going to work in doctrine. That is just not how we work as a military. So what is doctrine . To put it plainly, in order for us to have this discussion we have to establish, like i said, that common framework. The common frame of reference. It will help us the current operating environment. One of the books that we write as the army exist. Doctrine is, as i said a couple of times now, the body of knowledge that guides us, guides military forces. Its not just that, its a common language that we all speak. Its even spoken by us that dont necessarily even wear the uniform. It is a codification principles tactics, techniques, even procedures to a certain extent. It is often viewed as a start point, never an end. It is a largely [inaudible]. Sometimes needing to be prescriptive but only when it is absolutely necessary. Usually in very close keeping to the way that we structured our body knowledge. The text that we use for the books that we write. Most importantly, this is absolutely important to know. It is always evolving. It is not a stagnant book that is written and then dumped on the shelf and hopefully lieutenant finds it someday. It is periodically updated. We periodically update books. It is important because the experiences that we learn are ones that are constantly feeding into the way that we update these principles, procedures, tactics and techniques. I have said on a number of occasions, to make it easier for myself to understand as both a writer and a user of doctrine, doctrine is the best idea i could have. [inaudible] for a written time, for a war in the future, hopefully for a war we never have to fight. I actually heard most recently from professor at that school of advanced military studies, and kind of stuck with me she said to me doctrine is an artifact. Wow, that hit hard. She is right. She is right. It exists and a moment in time in the army. It captures and demonstrates an evolution of ideas when we look at it holistically, across the entire time period that the manuals have existed and evolved. Like we said, they are constantly evolving. Most importantly, and this is when she said that, it provides a definitive insight into our values as an institution at a particular moment in time. So, where does that leave us . Well, if we are going to talk about doctrine as an artifact, perhaps it is time to reframe that idea a little bit. Look at Doctrine Manual as a museum [inaudible] the concepts that are discussed, even yet that survive historical context, the quotes that are manifestation, the materials that are covered are all of the artifacts. The things that we collect together. When we go to museums to find commonality throughout history using those bits of material that we see behind the behind glass, we understand ourself. It is buzzing away with Doctrine Manuals to a certain extent. We, the united forces, our allies, our joint sister services. To a certain extent, services. All of us go to doctrine to find the common lexicon that we can speak. I know, that you know, that we all know, that that thing we are talking about means the same thing. Also it helps us better understand how we all do the ordered arrangement of forces and activities to a common standard or common so, why put quotes in doctrine. Ive often asked myself that question. I know for a fact ive been cornered on several occasions, cornered, on social media and asked, why would we put that stuff in there . Well, we put quotes in doctrine because we want to show certain principles, certain techniques, certain tactics and show them in context. Show them that hey, this stuff has existed throughout the course of history. I think it was mark twain who said history doesnt repeat but it rhymes. Its fairly poignant to see that reflected and a historical quote that leads into material that will be introduced to a brandnew reader for the first time. It also to a certain extent shows the fundamentals of how we do offense, defense, instability, in context. One famous ones did those things. Therefore, im learning them now as i read the doctrine themselves. Also, i believes it breaks up the monotony of reading. Sometimes it can be a painfully dense book. And introduces historical moments which are distilled into a memorable turn of phrase. Its a nice. It is a nice aesthetic to put into a book. Selfishly, as a amateur military historian it encourages curiosity. It encourages us to learn more. Especially at a time in which we see individuals who are coming into their own as tacticians. It encourages us to look at ourselves and reflect and see if our institutions are defending the values that we ourselves hold dear. For me, in my work, and the place that i work it began as the draft of a book. Like i said, periodically we go through the process of redrafting doctrine. It is a common occurrence. [inaudible] the update, which is a cornerstone, it ultimately governs the development and refinement of tactics and techniques across the army van base, influences joint services, influences allied doctrine as well. Prior to official publication we send our drafts to an audience typically universal or wider army staff or audience, and we release them and as individuals we get some pretty good feedback on occasion. Its kind of important because we as authors kind of remove preconceived notions about what have doctrine writers. We all approach it with numerous branches. That blend of Service Members and civilians who contribute to it most of them prior military Serious Service and most of us. What we do is work the existing body of knowledge. We will look at experimentation and options that are going on and then we will look to see whether or not we need to evolve, based off the feedback. Also, because we are humans as writers we tend to fall prey to our own biases. I have to admit that straight off the bat as a normal person doing their job from day today. I myself am no different, and i contributed to this book, as you prepared, in a very small way. As i was studying and reading and gathering all of the things that i needed to write. Wound up. I went back two minutes i went to i went to to think about it. To some extent kennedy looking for things that would bring a certain manifestation of the material i was covering. I am a female Service Member and i didnt realize that gap. I didnt even when thinking of the principles of war to recognize ones own gap as any writer knows, well have to begin with the draft at some point, thats how writing works. Taking asking for feedback is absolutely crucial so when feedback came back it came from a tweet on social media, asking why, in a manual filled with artifacts, perfect outer vax where the distilling the material we were introducing, there were no women . Which prompted me to ask my own questions about how women influence and are influencing military operations in the studies today. So, i think i did what any borderline millennial will do, i took to twitter. I asked and formed a tweet on twitter and talk about a bunch of individuals, and twitter did not disappoint at all. What i got back was genuinely insightful and encouraging. This was something that was asking the team that was writing, would they be amenable . With they want to include or would they think it would be appropriate . So the question for me to ask because that team was leading the effort to bring begin a process of including women and include the ideas of women who had tactics in the book itself. [inaudible] we were making sure they were finding somebody that would best reflect the organization, but also reflect the manual that we were writing. A little bit about quotes in manuals, because obviously have limit influenced military operations. But to put a quote in the military book we have to lay down a foundation of what we thought would be good. We wanted to have a quote or many quotes or even yet, historical image. You have to decide who makes the cut, because you cant have all the artifacts in the museum. Its not going to be able to hold it. But most of all, there was an important reason to look at who manifest oh b. E. S. T. S reveals the material were covering. So the team that was leading this effort established a pretty interesting parameters. They sat down and said somebody, it had to be this new generation. We didnt necessarily want to have somebody who was mythical as well as our amazing and provide a wealth of inspirational words, we want to do have somebody, they wanted to have somebody who is realistic, somebody authentic and approachable, somebody who even i, if i were long again could aspire to be like. I could feel influenced to go out and research and learn more about. And prompted a question in me, as well, a deeper question, especially if they were beginning that heavy lifting. About whether or not women could ever influenced military operations. Primarily western idea of military theory and military theory of victory. Spoiler alert. Women do influence the body of knowledge. When i started, i was lucky enough to be able to start with a woman who was [inaudible] it is no secret that influenced the work of various translation to improve, the translation we use against the command Staff College currently it would not, we would not be able to give you a translation if it were not for her efforts in championing her husbands work and continuing on the effort to bring it to publication in 1831. The preface of most additions that you can get today in translation, she actually wrote. Those who knew of her happy marriage and we shared everything, not only joy and pain but also every occupation, every concern of daily life, well realize could not occupy my good husband brother the same time becoming thoroughly familiar to me. Following his death in 1851 marries choice to publish the manuscript on war provided western military world with one of the most influential theories of warfare that is still studied to this very day. One American Academic actually did the math and provided one of the most quoted individuals on Army Doctrine, on military doctrine, currently. And while murrays work and choice to publish on more largely kind of controversial after madisons death, what put just important she was and influencing the ideas on what he wrote, what he codified from his experiences on the battlefield. I say by that an incredible treasure trove of personal correspondence began to be included, in the academic body of knowledge, and, more importantly, they were discovered by the tireless work of a woman author, a woman military historian. Her published work, the woman behind the making of the warrant when the 16, she opened up her door to the relationship between a husband and wife as they mutually developed what i would personally consider one of the most influential books into how we think about a theory of victory today. In the end, as we breathe efforts to shape this manuscript as irrevocably shaped the fabric of western military theory and probably i am alone in that but not that alone. To a certain extent, she has continued to shape it throughout the 20th century today. Much like this woman. So into the 20th century, there were a few women who have influenced the idea so political theory quite the way gertrude bolivian bell has. She briefly worked alongside in the region two years ahead of him before he arrived. The man who is, lets face it, became one of the more influential works of that era. Challenging at his influence in the middle east given the outcome of what we now now, research now prevent where he out the British National archives recently begun comparing and contrasting lawrences work using records and personal correspondence and what he had found is pretty significant. One such a story and during this work is the head of modern overseas intelligence and security records in the National Archives in hugh gardens. She what she found and whether or not gertrude lowthian bells work influence theory is pretty calm telling. Its enough to say the geopolitically she influenced without question. Her ability to influence diplomacy, regional politics, regional alliances, all of it is unquestioned. What is definitely known and seen is that she poignantly shaped intelligence gathering doctrine. We also had an opportunity or numerous opportunities to participate in geographical surveys, the understanding of how we interrelate human terrain and physical train together to understand the deeper cultural context of people that we work with. This is for a lot of folks the foundation of the counterinsurgency, community forces, internal defense documents today. Human doctrine, primarily human intelligence doctrine in gertrude lowthian bell, a woma