RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Through its publications, INSS provides rigorous, forward‑looking research and analysis on critical national security issues that support the joint warfighter and inform Department of War decision‑makers.

 

Research and Commentary

Results:
Tag: Warrior Ethos

Statue of Don Quixote in Guadalaja, Mexico

Aug. 3, 2026

Don Quixote as Morality Play: Lessons for Warfighter Identity and Ethos

Professional Military Education (PME) has long been anchored in the canonical insights of Clausewitz and Sun Tzu, foundational thinkers whose frameworks continue to inform an understanding of strategy and operational engagement. In their latest Open Journal of Philosophy article, Dr. Elise Annett and Dr. James Giordano contend that Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote offers a profound and unconventional lens for PME pedagogy and leader development, particularly when regarded as a meditation on identity, virtue, and the tension between ideals and lived realities.

U.S. Marine Corps 1st Lt. Connor Rooney, left, a logistics officer with Combat Logistics Battalion 24, Combat Logistics Regiment 27, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, is awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal during CLB-24's Warrior’s Night as part of Mountain Training Exercise 1-26 at Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport, California, Feb. 10, 2026. Warrior’s Night is a tradition that usually follows major training exercises and is held to build camaraderie and celebrate accomplishments while honoring unit history through ceremony, toasts, and shared activities. Exercises like MTX 1-26 prove Marines’ ability to provide flexible and responsive combat service support during high intensity combat operations in contested and mountainous terrain. Rooney is a native of Illinois.

Feb. 27, 2026

A Phenomenologic Approach to the Warrior Experience and Ethos

Military identity emerges through the lived, imaginative, and moral experience of service. This paper introduces enchantment—the cognitive, narrative, and symbolic structuring of meaning—as a foundational dimension of military life that sustains commitment, moral coherence, and disciplined action under conditions of risk, ambiguity, and existential strain.