Army doctrine writers embrace AI to speed knowledge to the force
At Fort Leavenworth, doctrine isn't waiting years to reach the field anymore. Writers at the Combined Arms Doctrine Directorate (CADD) are using AI and smart workflows to compress timelines without lowering standards.
Their stance is simple: AI is a tool, not a shortcut. As CADD Director Richard Creed, Jr. put it, the goal was never to "let AI write the books," but to equip experts with better assistants and better data.
What changed: small wins that compound
Writers now use an internal tool connected to approved databases to surface historical vignettes in minutes instead of days. That's a direct boost for authors trying to illustrate a complex point with credible history.
They also use AI to "break the blank page." As Lt. Col. Scott McMahan explained, the model may generate three paragraphs and only one sentence makes the cut-but that sentence can unlock momentum.
The four-part playbook CADD rolled out
- Foundational training for all writers: Everyone learns approved AI tools and applies them immediately to real work.
- One "master gunner" per division: Each team has an AI expert who helps tackle hard problems and finds advanced uses.
- Built into the Doctrine Developer's Course: AI best practices are taught from day one to future doctrine authors.
- Purpose-made software in the works: CADD, the Combined Arms Center, and industry partners are building a tool for doctrine writers-especially helpful where people and time are scarce.
AI as a junior officer, not an author
McMahan's guidance is practical: "You treat it like a resourceful and motivated young officer who might not know all the information, but they can certainly assist you in cutting some corners and being a little more efficient." Even shaving minutes at the margins speeds delivery to Soldiers.
Creed echoed that the tech is a force multiplier when paired with human skill: train everyone, assign one expert per team-like making all Soldiers combat lifesavers and putting a medic in each platoon.
Guardrails that keep quality high
- Human review of every line: "Humans will review every line of what an LLM produces for accuracy," Creed said. No exceptions.
- Data access matters more than model hype: "Access to the data is the foundational measure of whether the tools are useful to us."
- Watch for hallucinations and outdated sources: An AI-generated test question once pulled from an outdated manual-caught only because the reviewer was an expert. Subject matter expertise is non-negotiable.
Practical takeaways you can apply as a writer
- Codify your workflow: Train everyone on approved tools, name one go-to expert, and publish team guardrails.
- Break the blank page: Use AI for outlines, alternative angles, and example paragraphs. Keep the one sentence that moves your draft forward.
- Search beats scroll: Connect your knowledge base to a retrieval tool so you can pull credible references fast. No access, no value.
- Automate admin: Let tools handle grammar, readability, and status tracking so experts focus on the hard thinking. Consider dashboards for publication pipelines.
- Source check every claim: Require citations, verify against authoritative docs, and flag anything the model "remembers" without proof.
- Teach prompt discipline: Clear intent, scope, sources, constraints, and review criteria cut errors and speed edits.
What this means for your team
You don't need a massive platform to see results. A simple training plan, one team expert, a vetted toolstack, and ruthless human review will compress your cycle time and free editors to focus on substance.
Do what CADD did: treat AI like a well-briefed assistant, wire it into your data, and hold the line on accuracy. Speed follows.
Tools and further reading
- Combined Arms Doctrine Directorate - official info on doctrine and initiatives.
- AI Learning Path for Technical Writers - tactics for documentation workflows, knowledge bases, and editorial automation.
- Prompt Engineering - methods to reduce hallucinations and get reliable outputs.
- Power BI - useful for tracking publications and building lightweight reporting.
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