Logo: to the web site of the Swedish Defence University

This chapter examines how human understanding and interaction shape collective sense-making in military contexts, drawing on three conference papers. Anchored in John Boyd’s notion that effective command relies on units operating independently within a shared intent, we explore how teams maintain unity by continuously re-orienting. This requires shared mental representations rooted not only in doctrine but also in knowledge traditionally more associated with the humanities and social sciences.

The first paper, “Team Up for Success: Harnessing Participatory Sense-Making with the Harmonization Emergence Model”, examines “languaging” as a modality of participatory sense-making. It argues that team composition, context, and organizational interfaces shape the emergence of shared meaning and determine whether collective insights can be effectively channelled. The second, “A Set-Based Approach: Searching for the Problem–Solution Eclipse”, proposes five principles to strengthen contextual understanding. It highlights the importance of fostering knowledge communities capable of developing situational awareness through continuous learning and agency, extending beyond the assumptions of traditional operational frameworks. In the last, “Understanding Linguistic Diversity, a C2 Enabler”, the foreign-language effect among Swedish officers using English as an L2 in operational planning is explored. It demonstrates how L2 use influences individual agency and team dynamics, often in unrecognized ways.

Introduction

Who?

This guide is intended to be used by anyone with an interest in military English. You may be serving in the armed forces, a civilian in a company or organization working closely with the military, or a student.

Whatever your role, you may at times need to communicate in a military context in English. The contents of this book are aimed at making this easier for you.

You may use the book by yourself (self-study), choosing topics or skills which are useful to you, or it maybe used with a teacher in class.

The language covered in the book is an example of English for Specific Purposes, in this case military English. It is appropriate for readers with a language level of NATO Stanag 6001 Level 2 or above.

How?

Each unit covers either a type of communication (e.g., briefings, report writing, etc.) or a topic (e.g.,terrain, ranks, etc.). Units consist of language input and exercises. You can either work your way through the book in order or select units of specific interest to you.

The best way to use each unit is to read the input, attempt the practice activities, then read the input again. There is a wordlist at the end of each vocabulary unit, as well as space for your own notes, plus extra tasks which you will find by using the QR codes at the end of the book.

The language included in each unit aims to be an introduction to the topic. To help you find more detailed information, some units also list useful NATO documents related to types of communication or areas of interest. Learn more and access these at: https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/publications.htm

The Harmonization Emergence Model emphasizes that the emergence of a ‘real’ team with truly interdependent members, hinges on their ability to co-create 'Stimmigkeit' or Congruent Shared Meaning, which is an effective shared cognitive representation of the external environment. This increases the likelihood that a team's engagement in languaging would yield the intended effects. In this paper, we explore the effect of using a foreign language (L2) on team members’ ability to engage in participatory sense making (PSM) to reach congruent shared meaning. The study is based on the self-assessments of 31 participants during a multinational exercise as part of the Joint Advanced Command and Staff Programme (JACS-P) at the Swedish Defence University (SEDU). It explores participants own reflections on their ability to mediate information and to engage participatory discourses when sense-making. It concludes that the participants’ ability to develop a nuanced shared meaning or model of the external environment is constrained when using an L2.  We suggest that in multilingual contexts a 'Constructive-Decoherence Approach' could be used. This would allow team members to use of their first (L1) language in the sense-making process, enabling a deeper and more nuanced analysis of the situation, while simultaneously facilitating the integration necessary in multinational or multicultural organizational efforts. 

This paper draws attention to some of the unintended consequences of current planning directives, which not only obscure the true essence of complex endeavours, but may also inhibit the intellectual capabilities of planning teams because of their prescriptive and voluminous nature. In the Set-based Approach (SbA), we introduce five principles aimed at optimizing planning time and reducing the likelihood of making premature assumptions. SbA extends beyond the scope of military operational planning, offering a flexible planning philosophy that enables teams to deal more adeptly with uncertainty. The SbA concept has undergone informal testing during two pilot programs at the Swedish Defence University.

This chapter explores how parallel language use (PLU) and the interplay between English Medium Instruction (EMI) or more specifically English Medium Learning (EML) affects a group of first term undergraduate students in terms of the time it takes them to study, and their ability to use domain specific conceptual terminology in two parallel languages (PLs). It also explores some of the implications of commitment to the PLU of English given in the Declaration on a Nordic Language Policy (DNLP) for undergraduate students during their first term of study. The group under discussion in this case are currently studying to be military officers at the Swedish Defence University (SEDU) at undergraduate level.

This paper introduces the Harmonization Emergence Model (HEM), a model that integrates two key dimensions of harmony: Einheit(coalescing unity) and Stimmigkeit (congruent shared meaning). The HEM, in conjunction with John Boyd's OODA-loop, provides avaluable tool for comprehending how harmonization can emerge within complex endeavors that span organizational, linguistic,and cultural boundaries. By employing these models, our aim is to broaden the understanding of the imperative to shift the focusof Command and Control (C2), beyond mere direction and control towards a function for catalyzing and modulating collaborationamong organizations and actors within a specific context. Our objective with the HEM, is to better understand the 'power to theedge' concept and how C2 could facilitate assemblages (teams of teams) in actively engaging with and influencing the environment.This is guided by the pursuit of Congruence, which represents the metastable shared meaning we seek through Participatory SenseMaking.

This chapter discusses the challenges of facilitating the development of advanced learners of English in the Scandinavian military context. It focuses on meaningful interaction, which relates to military students’ professional language needs and the immediate context of their learning in university programs. These programs include content instruction and military exercises in English on topics relevant to war studies within a Masters degree. The paper describes a series of lessons taught at the Swedish National Defence College that bring together two program components, namely the students need to understand the military content of their subjects in English and their professional English language workplace requirements. It describes how the author used reading comprehension and the genre of presentation to develop a repertoire of questioning strategies for application in the defence workplace.

A presentation about a series of military English lessons conducted with a group of advanced military professionals studying English through CBLT techniques.

A presentation about techniques for promoting learner agency and languaging at advanced level when teaching military professionals on CBLT courses.