Inspiring Doctrinal Innovation (IDI)
Essay Contest / $1,000
Submissions open 11 Sep. – 10 Dec. 2023
Sponsored by: The Curtis E. LeMay Center for Doctrine Development and Education &
Air University Innovation Accelerator (AUiX)
Prompt
How should AFDP 1-1, Mission Command, change the way the Air Force organizes, plans, or executes at the operational level of war?
Background
The IDI essay contest is a cooperative effort between The LeMay Center and AUiX to accelerate innovation in Air Force doctrine by encouraging Airmen of all ranks and AFSC’s to read, internalize, and debate Air Force doctrine in professional writing and discourse.
Last Year’s First
Place Winner
Major James Schmitt
No More Stovepipes: Unifying Air Operations Planning Doctrine to Enable Multirole Mission Success
Major James Schmitt is an MQ-9 weapons officer and currently serves on the Headquarters Air Force staff. He recently returned from a deployment as the AFCENT Chief of Weapons and Tactics.
Second Place 2022 Winner
The Future is Irregular. Our Doctrine Should be Too
Third Place 2022 Winner
Modernizing Information Operations Doctrine to Meet New National Security Needs
How To Participate
Open to all Department of Air Force personnel
Read the Contest/Submission Guidelines
Make sure you’re familiar with the contest rules.
Read the Contest Guidelines
Read the Submission Guidelines
Prepare Your Essay
Submission Process
Use the form below to upload your essay and provide the necessary details.
BEFORE DECEMBER 11TH, MIDNIGHT
Submit your essay
Contest Guidelines
Essay Content, Structure, and Audience:
- Essays must address the prompt “How should AFDP 1-1 Mission Command change the way the Air Force organizes, plans, or executes at the operational level of war?” Essays must reference AFDP 1-1 Mission Command and are highly encouraged to reference additional USAF or Joint Operational Doctrine Publications (doctrine.af.mil).
- Essays must be greater than 1500 words and less than 3000 words not including footnotes, headers, title, or author’s bio.
- Your essay should be clearly focused and establish that focus almost immediately, in part by providing a thesis in the first paragraph.
- Your essay should be well structured over the entire piece, where ideas are developed through the logical, orderly progression of paragraphs.
- Your essay should also be well organized at the paragraph level, with each paragraph centered on a single, main idea and, your article should provide evidence that logically and clearly supports the content and thesis of your article.
- A note on evidence: authors may refer to themselves in the first person (e.g., “I could not put down the book”), but personal and professional experience are no substitute for external evidence.
- Finally, prose is important. Clarity, concision, and directness at the sentence level ensure even the most complicated ideas are presented in an accessible way. Avoid jargon.
- Your audience does not necessarily share your outlook, background, and store of knowledge; write with that in mind.
Essay Format:
- Please use AP Style for the content of your piece; that is, for matters including abbreviations, capitalization, forms of address etc.
- Your article should use the Chicago Manual of Style for formatting and citations. Begin each new paragraph without indenting the first sentence. Use footnotes only—do not use endnotes. Do not include bibliographies or works cited listings.
- Use one space only between a punctuation mark that ends a sentence and the first word of the next sentence. All punctuation goes within quotation marks in accordance with AP Style.
- Default to standard American English for spelling and punctuation.
- Avoid hyperlink citations.
Helpful notes and Resources
- Doctrine is about warfighting operations and organization. Avoid focusing on specific technologies or government policies. Instead, focus on how the technology changes the application of doctrine or how the interaction of the policy and doctrine creates friction that doctrine can address
- Read the doctrine that you are proposing to change carefully. Proposed changes may already be covered or may not be appropriate for the operational level of warfare. This contest is focused on operational doctrine and not tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs).
- Read AFDP 1-1 Mission Command and listen to the AF Doctrine podcast: Lessons Learned in Doctrine – Ep 4 – “Go Help Americans,” A Mission Command Case Study with Lt Gen (ret) Marshal “Brad” Webb. The podcast is available on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and DVIDS.
- If you are relatively new to operational doctrine, we are very excited you are participating. To help you have the best chance at winning, take a moment to either read the doctrine primer on doctrine.af.mil or listen to the What is USAF Doctrine podcast to ensure that your proposed changes are appropriate for doctrine.
Doctrine links:
www.doctrine.af.mil (USAF operational doctrine)
www.jcs.mil/doctrine/ (Joint Doctrine)
Podcast links:
Air Force Doctrine Podcasts on Apple
- Doctrine is about warfighting operations and organization. Avoid focusing on specific technologies or government policies. Instead, focus on how the technology changes the application of doctrine or how the interaction of the policy and doctrine creates friction that doctrine can address
- Read the doctrine that you are proposing to change carefully. Proposed changes may already be covered or may not be appropriate for the operational level of warfare. This contest is focused on operational doctrine and not tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs).
- Read AFDP 1-1 Mission Command and listen to the AF Doctrine podcast: Lessons Learned in Doctrine – Ep 4 – “Go Help Americans,” A Mission Command Case Study with Lt Gen (ret) Marshal “Brad” Webb. The podcast is available on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and DVIDS.
- If you are relatively new to operational doctrine, we are very excited you are participating. To help you have the best chance at winning, take a moment to either read the doctrine primer on doctrine.af.mil or listen to the What is USAF Doctrine podcast to ensure that your proposed changes are appropriate for doctrine.
Doctrine links:
www.doctrine.af.mil (USAF operational doctrine)
www.jcs.mil/doctrine/ (Joint Doctrine)
Podcast links:
Air Force Doctrine Podcasts on Apple
Submission Guidelines
- Word Documents Only
- Simultaneous submissions are acceptable. The LeMay Center wishes to encourage Airmen and Guardians to write. However, please inform us upon submission if your work is being considered for publication elsewhere. If your work is accepted elsewhere, please inform us immediately as you may be ineligible for dual publication and the top prize.
- We will accept only first-publication articles (previously published articles will not be accepted). Work submitted for academic requirements that is not officially published elsewhere IS acceptable.
- Provide a brief biographical statement. In addition to your Word attachment please include a brief biographical statement (e.g. “Maj Jones is a an air mobility pilot and currently a student at ACSC.”). Please also provide links to your X (formerly Twitter) handle and your LinkedIn profile, if applicable.
- You may also need to include any relevant institutional caveats.
- Authors requiring official review before an article can be published should secure permissions prior to submission.
- If you create any custom images, figures, or tables for your article, please attach separately the highest possible quality of image for our use. Give credit for any images you do not create.
- Word Documents Only
- Simultaneous submissions are acceptable. The LeMay Center wishes to encourage Airmen and Guardians to write. However, please inform us upon submission if your work is being considered for publication elsewhere. If your work is accepted elsewhere, please inform us immediately as you may be ineligible for dual publication and the top prize.
- We will accept only first-publication articles (previously published articles will not be accepted). Work submitted for academic requirements that is not officially published elsewhere IS acceptable.
- Provide a brief biographical statement. In addition to your Word attachment please include a brief biographical statement (e.g. “Maj Jones is a an air mobility pilot and currently a student at ACSC.”). Please also provide links to your X (formerly Twitter) handle and your LinkedIn profile, if applicable.
- You may also need to include any relevant institutional caveats.
- Authors requiring official review before an article can be published should secure permissions prior to submission.
- If you create any custom images, figures, or tables for your article, please attach separately the highest possible quality of image for our use. Give credit for any images you do not create.
The Prizes
Top essay will be purchased from the author for $1,000.
The Commander of the LeMay Center, Maj Gen Wright, will coin the top three essay authors.
Top three authors will be highlighted via Air University social media and AUiX
All essays of publishing quality will be combined into the following issue of The LeMay Papers (AU Publishing Publication). Top essays will be submitted for publishing in an online journal.
Key Dates
11 Sep 2023
Submissions Open
10 Dec 2023
Last Day to Submit
This will be the final day you can submit your essay.
1 Feb 2024
Winners Announcement
Remember to look back and see who won!
Submit Your Essay
Amplify The Message
Share with #USAFDoctrine or #IDIEssayContest
#USAFDoctrine on X (formerly Twitter)/Facebook
Join the Conversation
Contacts
Mr. Joseph (Bill) DeMarco
joseph.demarco.4@us.af.mil
Mr. Tony Montelepre
tony@auix.org
Mr. Jeremy VanEgmond
jeremy@auix.org
Major Nicholas (BADGER) Underwood
usafdoctrine@us.af.mil