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In 2007, the National Defense University and the NDU Press published a new edition of The Armed Forces Officer. That book was written in the period from 2002 to 2005 as a 21st-century version of a work originally published by the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 1950. Three subsequent editions followed throughout the last half of the 20th century. The 2007 edition was drafted by representatives of the national Service academies, with additional contributions by the Marine Corps University.

A few years ago, senior leaders in the Department of Defense decided that the times called for a new edition of the book. To accomplish this task, NDU turned to two people who had played key roles in writing and editing the 2007 version, Dr. Albert C. Pierce, NDU’s Professor of Ethics and National Security, and Dr. Richard Swain, a retired Army colonel and former Professor of Officership at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Together, they produced this 2016 edition of The Armed Forces Officer.

NDU is proud to publish this new book as part of its ongoing efforts in “Educating, Developing, and Inspiring National Security Leadership.”

—Frederick M. Padilla
Major General, U.S. Marine Corps
President, National Defense University