User:Donvandergriff
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Major Donald E. Vandergriff, who has been called “the most influential major in the U.S. Army,” is an award-winning teacher, writer and lecturer who specializes in leadership education and training. In the United States and all over the world, he has served in numerous troop, staff and education assignments, retiring in 2005 after 24 years of active duty as an enlisted Marine and Army officer.
Major Vandergriff has extensive experience commanding troops, first in Korea, then at the National Training Center, and in two command tours in the Middle East. His units won numerous awards under his leadership, including citations for top platoon and best tank company in European competition. In March 1998, he was selected to teach ROTC at Duke University, followed by appointment to the Georgetown University ROTC Department in 1999-2005. He has also served on several special panels dealing with leadership in the post-Soviet era, including the Army Chief of Staff’s task force on transformational issues and the Vice Chief of Staff’s Objective Force Task Force. His study on the operations of the US-led coalition that entered Baghdad in 2003 was widely briefed inside the Army and eventually covered by the civilian media. As an educator, he taught military science in the Military Science Department and leadership in the Executive Masters in Leadership (EML) program at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. He also was a professor at the American Military University.
In 2002-2003, Major Vandergriff received the Colonel Leo A. Codd Award as the best ROTC instructor in the nation, and in 2004, he was named 3rd ROTC Brigade Instructor of the Year and was runner up for the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) instructor of the year. The Eastern Region ROTC commander, COL Willis, asked him to analyze the ongoing ROTC’s Leadership Training Course (LTC—formally known as “Basic Camp”) and report whether it was evolving with ongoing Army Transformation efforts in leadership development. Vandergriff also serves on the Army Cadet Command Curriculum Review Board (CRRB).
Major Vandergriff also is a widely-published writer. His most recent book is Raising the Bar: Creating Adaptive Leaders to Deal with the Changing Face of War, published in 200X by the Center for Defense Information. He also wrote The Path To Victory: America's Army and the Revolution in Human Affairs, a published by Presidio Press in May 2002. Path to Victory won The New York Military Affairs Symposium award for military history excellence. Secretary of the Army Tom White endorsed the book, noting that Path to Victory would provide a blueprint for the personnel transformation of the Army. Army Times senior writer Sean Naylor referred to it as “(Vandergriff’s) magnum opus - an ambitious take on the need to transform every facet of the Army to prepare it for the wars of the 21st century.”
Vandergriff wrote the chapter "Culture Wars," in Digital Wars: A View from the Frontlines, edited by Robert Bateman (Presidio Press 1999). He also served as editor of Spirit, Blood and Treasure: The American Cost of Battle in the 21st Century (Presidio Press June 2001). In addition, he has written more than 50 articles for military journals, newspapers and online outlets. Most of his writings and briefings and be found at http://www.d-n-i.net/, http://www.military.com/, and http://www.sftt.org/.
Major Vandergriff has lectured extensively on military effectiveness and leader development in the United States and Europe. He has delivered the briefing, “The Revolution in Human Affairs” (available at http://www.d-n-i.net/vandergriff/rha/index.htm) more than 20 times.
He was the first major from the Army to lecture at the Naval War College. He also has lectured at Joint Forces Command, TRADOC Future’s office, The Marine Corps Command & Staff College, The National Defense University, The Industrial War College, The Swiss War College, The Air Force Personnel division of the Air Force QDR Group, and numerous think-tanks, such as the Institute of Defense Analyses (IDA), RAND, and The Center for Strategic Institutional Studies (CSIS), Naval Academy and the National Archives. Since 1999, Vandergriff has delivered hundreds of presentations on leader development and personnel management. In addition, he has briefed several senior ranking generals, senior Army civilian leaders, and members of Congress, including the Secretary of the Army Tom White, Vice Chief of Staff of the Army General Jack Keane, Assistant Undersecretary of the Army John MacDonald, Congressmen Ike Skelton, Jim Sexton and Roscoe Bartlett. He has also lectured members of the personnel subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee. In addition, prominent figures such as US Senator and former Secretary of the Navy James Webb have sought out Vandergriff to brief them one-on-one.
The works of Vandergriff have also drawn academic praise. Renowned military sociologist Dr. Charlie Moskos calls Vandergriff “the most well-known Major in the Army,” while lecturer, author and expert on military personnel issues, Dr. Jonathan Shay refers to Vandergriff as “the most influential major in the U.S. Army”. Journalist James Fallows of The Atlantic Monthly has sought out Vandergriff for consultation of several of his articles, mentioning him in his last piece “Will Iran be Next,” (December 2004). Mr. Fallows has also referenced Vandergriff’s work on his stints on talk shows to include National Public Radio’s The Diane Rehm Show. Syndicated columnist Jason Vest is currently conducting research and interviews to publish an article on Vandergriff in March 2005 as well as writing a chapter in his forthcoming book on the Department of Defense.
Major Vandergriff has also been profiled several articles in prominent newspapers and magazines including the Washington Post, The Atlantic Monthly (on line January 2003 http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/fallows/jf2003-01-08/vandergriff3.htm), The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/archive/content/?030407fr_archive04) and the Army Times as well as the Georgetown University’s The Hoya and faculty paper The Blue-Gray. Major Vandergriff holds a Bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Tennessee and a Master’s degree in military history from American Military University.
