FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kansas — The Army’s Transformation Initiative has thrust the force into one of the fastest modernization efforts in decades.

The class started the way classes normally do. Students filtered into the room, sat down and set their backpacks on the floor.

Teresa Kindred is a Southern writer and storyteller, writing for many newspapers in the South and telling humorous stories about her Appalachian family on radio and television. She loves to chat with ...