Community of Practice

Honorary Members

Ben Zweibelson

Ben Zweibelson is the Director for the U.S. Space Command’s (USSPACECOM) Strategic Initiatives Group (SIG) located at Colorado Springs, Colorado as of February 2022.

Previously, Ben was the lead design educator/facilitator for U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) through the Joint Special Operations University as a full-time contractor from January 2015 through February 2022 (7 years). During that period, Ben provided design education and real-world facilitation across USSOCOM, the Department of Defense and the U.S. Government, academia and industry as well as internationally and at numerous war colleges and military programs/units.

A retired U.S. Army Infantry officer and veteran of multiple combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, Ben has an undergraduate degree (BA in Fine Arts) in Graphic Design from the University of Connecticut, three different master’s degrees (Louisiana State University, Air Command and Staff College, US Army School of Advanced Military Studies) and a doctorate in Philosophy from Lancaster University (UK).

While in the Army, he earned the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Expert Infantryman’s Badge, Master Parachutist Badge, Pathfinder Badge, Air Assault Badge, and the Ranger Tab. He was awarded four Bronze Star Medals during combat deployments in addition to numerous other awards and citations.

Breaking barriers to deeper understanding: how post-modern concepts are ‘value-added’ to military conceptual planning considerations

Author: Ben Zweibelson Author’s Note: this article attempts to stimulate further discourse on what the military…

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Design Theory and the Military’s Understanding of our Complex World

Author: Ben Zweibelson Author’s Note: Before readers pull their hair out in frustration at yet another…

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Incompatible Systems of Logic: Why Design Should Integrate the Mechanistic, Reductionist, and Linear Logic of Military Detailed Planning

Author: Ben Zweibelson Download PDF

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To Design or Not to Design: In Conclusion

Author: Ben Zweibelson Introduction Excerpt: Is Design a necessary methodology for the U.S. Army? By codifying…

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To Design or Not to Design (Part Five): Doctrine and Design: How Analogies and Design Theory Resist the Military Ritual of Codification

Author: Ben Zweibelson Editor’s Note: This essay is part five of a six part series on…

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To Design or Not to Design (Part 4): Taking Lines out of Non-Linear; How Design Must Escape ‘Tacticization’ Bias of Military Culture

Author: Ben Zweibelson Editor’s Note: This essay is part four of a six part series on design.…

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