Raising the Bar: Creating and Nurturing Adaptability to Deal with the Changing Face of War

Raising the Bar outlines the core concepts and practices developed by Major Don Vandergriff (United States Army, Retired) and now being applied across a wide spectrum of military leadership training. The text has become required reading for ROTC faculty and students. Don Vandergriff's experiences, research and interaction with fellow military professionals suggest that a cultural revolution within the U.S. military is essential if the nation is to successfully adapt and prevail in the emerging 4th Generation Warfare (4GW) or asymmetric warfare threat environment. An Army cultural revolution has three parts: 1. Strategic leaders must change a counterproductive array of long-established beliefs including many laws, regulations and policies, which are based on out-of-date assumptions. 2. Military leaders must drive and sustain a military cultural evolution through effective education and training of the next generation(s) of leaders in a system that is flexible enough to evolve alongside emerging changes in, and lessons from, war, society and technology. 3. Finally, senior leaders must continue to nurture and protect these younger leaders as they go out and put to practice what they have learned, and allow them to evolve. When the Army begins and sustains an evolutionary process of cultural change based on these or similar principles, it will be on the road to effective reform. This study aims to provide ways to plot and follow the transformational road map for the Army and nation to deal with the complexities of 4th generation warfare.

Maj. Donald E. Vandergriff, U.S. Army, retired on Aug. 30, 2005, following 24 years of active duty as an enlisted Marine and Army officer. He has served in numerous troop, staff and education assignments in the United States and overseas.

Vandergriff was named ROTC instructor of the year 2002-2003 and the 3rd ROTC Brigade instructor of the year for 2003-2004. Vandergriff is a recognized authority on the U.S. Army personnel system, Army culture, leadership development, soldier training and, in the early 21st century, the emergence of asymmetric warfare, also known as 4th generation warfare (4GW). He has authored over 50 articles, numerous briefings and two books.

The U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command s Future Center renamed in December 2005 as Army Capabilities Integration Center (ARCIC) located at Fort Monroe, Va., hired Vandergriff to contribute toward the evolution of Army leader development programs and to recommend changes that will prepare the Army s leaders and soldiers for the future.

Vandergriff wrote this monograph in his free time during the final days of his assignment at Georgetown University Army ROTC. He has already shared its contents with the Army chain of command and other service agencies that deal with leader development.

Vandergriff and his wife, Lorraine, currently reside in Woodbridge, Va., with their numerous dogs and a cat.