With updates to every chapter, this new fourth edition serves as the premier guide to professional writing for the naval services. Authored by a naval officer who taught English at two service academies, the book is widely used by officers, enlisted men and women and civilians in both the Navy and Marine Corps. Shenk provides sound, practical advice on all common naval writing assignments across digital and print platforms. Fully revised, the book reflects the changing landscape of professional communication in general and changes in naval culture in the last decade across the fleet, making it an essential guide.

Throughout the history of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, leading officers and strategists have advocated for formal colleges and schools for naval officers but have also made the case that true naval professionalism requires a career-long dedication to learning and to self-improvement. This was the impetus behind the very founding of the U.S. Naval Institute by officers who believed that the Navy's lack of support for their education meant they needed to create their own organization for self-study and cooperative learning. Naval luminaries like admirals William Sims and Ernest King continued to campaign for self-study and the personal pursuit of professional knowledge during the twentieth century, distributing lists of suggested books for officers to read and promoting their ideas widely through speeches and published works. While recommending that officers read broadly in pursuit of individual knowledge is an important part of creating a truly educated and professional Fleet and Fleet Marine Force, it is also important for leaders in the sea services to offer mentorship and create opportunities for discourse that encourages group learning. Developing the Naval Mind serves as a how-to manual and syllabus for leaders to create and lead wardroom, ready room, and work center discussion groups across the fleet to create a more educated and professionally engaged Navy and Marine Corps.

Designed for busy junior officers in the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marine, this primer teaches the basics of leadership in five sequential steps. It begins with a useful overview of major leadership studies, followed by an informative summary of the wisdom of 380 senior sea-going officers regarding those leadership attributes required of the junior officer. One chapter includes sea stories from officers of varied backgrounds, each offering a leadership lesson that was learned the hard way. Along with this sage advice from experienced sea-service officers, the book offers a final chapter that helps readers build personalized plans to improve their own leadership skills. Such a practical guide is certain to turn young officers into successful leaders.

This work features the fresh thinking of twenty-eight leading authors from a variety of military and national security disciplines. Following an introduction by Lt. Gen. James Dubik, Commander I Corps, U.S. Army, the anthology first considers the general question of whether there is a distinctly American way of war. Dr. Colin Gray's opening essay "The American Way of War: Critique and Implications" provides a state of the question perspective. Sections on operational art, with writers addressing the issues in both conventional and small wars; stability and reconstruction; and intelligence complete the volume. Among the well-known contributors are Robert Scales, Mary Kaldor, Ralph Peters, Jon Sumida, Grant Hammond, Milan Vego, and T.X. Hammes. The anthology is part of a larger Rethinking the Principles project, sponsored by the Office of Force Transformation and the U.S. Navy to examine approaches to the future of warfare. Footnotes, index, and a bibliographic essay make the work a useful tool for students of war and general readers alike.

The recognized standard for Navy writing aids, this books collects and summarizes over 40 years of hard won experience and provides examples and details of Navy Eval writing not found anywhere else. Besides step-by-step instructions, it contains up-to-date examples of successful opening and closing statements and hundreds of examples of statements for common Eval categories such as Equal Opportunity, Leadership, Teamwork, Stratification, Military Bearing and Character, and more. In addition, the requirements for recommendations for the Navy Achievement and Commendation medals are covered. The book that will make sure you get the opportunities and promotions you've earned!