Broadly speaking, three things happened with the Saturn V and its payload during an Apollo mission. 1. Launch — building momentum very slowly. 2. Second stage — ejecting whatever was expendable to focus remaining valuable resources on what was important. 3. Command Module — precisely navigating to the destination.

This seems like a reasonable analogy for life, and it’s entirely possible that many organizations navigate through similar stages, as is the case for the Military Writers Guild.

Launch

The Guild is less than one-year-old. It consists mostly of seasoned writers, communicators, and leaders. However, much like the astronauts who manned the Apollo capsule, we find ourselves in a stage of life none of us has ever experienced exactly. In that place, building momentum takes focused energy and usually results in a lot of noise and pressure as things heat up, but when the smoke starts to clear, we can exhale and see things moving in the right direction. This is one of those moments. After weeks of careful consideration, planning, writing, reviewing, doing, surveying and voting, the Guild has coalesced the ideas and intents of its members into a moment of achievement.

We are delighted to congratulate Diane Maye and Phil Walter, the first of two exemplary MWG participants promoted from Associate Membership to full Membership.

The process for promotion was rigorous. Both Diane and Phil were nominated by more than two Members and evaluated in the following areas: Connection (social media), Communication (newsletter, email response time, Google groups, and Slack), Guild Participation (committees, etc.), Writing Projects (as associate members), and Self-Improvement as a writer/editor. Their participation truly sets the standard of excellence for future Guild members.

The final step of the process is to submit the vote to the members. Each member has the opportunity to review the nomination summary of the Associates.

Second Stage

The stated purpose of the Military Writers Guild is “to gather writers committed to the development of the profession of arms through the exchange of ideas in the written medium.” Many writers have already achieved some level of success and have experience navigating the ins and outs of online and in-print publication, but some writers have and will continue to approach the Military Writers Guild with uncertainty about the commitment and experience required to contribute. For those individuals we continue to develop our Associate Membership program. One member described it this way: “As someone who is extremely busy the Associate Member track gave me a way to participate, to see if I could balance it with the rest of my life.”

Additionally, the Guild intends to help foster a strong peer ecosystem focused on writing about military affairs through our ability to, “Advocate, Collaborate, and Promote.” For an Associate Member that means mentorship and a wide audience to share ideas with before publication. The committee chairs and leadership have worked hard to establish a vector for the growth of the Guild, and this election of two new members is another milestone on that journey. As a Guild, we have set our sights on the stars and set some truly audacious goals for development of Associate Members and for the accomplishment of the Guild as a whole. Perhaps the minutia of the Associate Member program is less entertaining than the weekly interviews that appear here or the written pieces, but robust policy and process is is where the rubber meets the road. In the words of Gen. George S. Patton, “Gentlemen, the officer who doesn’t know his communications and supply, as well as his tactics, is totally useless.” The potential for future members excites us as we begin to leave the earliest stages of our organizational growth and focus on precisely navigating to our goals.