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02.05.2023. SEASON 1 / EPISODE 4.

Whither the intellectual renaissance in education and training?

After their experience in Vietnam, the US military actively pursued thinking about warfare in different ways – and reorientated training and education along those lines. It is surprising that, 50 years later, militaries seem unwilling to examine – let alone acknowledge the utility of – approaches outside manoeuvre warfare, mission command, innovation, multi-domain operations, dispersal, and the philosophy of ‘our’ rules-based order. Peter talks to Professor Heather Venable about why this is, whether the West can escape from the intellectual prison of its own making, and the need for Allies who are willing to think differently, and challenge the orthodoxy. Right now, to feels like the Australian Defence Force stands alone in the former category: something that US forces might need more than ever.

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