The Aristocracy of Experience

Years of industry experience, titles and fancy degrees never really got me excited. In the Army, I worked with plenty of officers from West Point who I wouldn't trust to lead a shift at my local McDonald's, and I worked with plenty of NCO's from special operations units with all the tabs and schools you …

Drone Warfare from a grunt’s perspective

Folks love to say that the new and shiny thing "is the future". Air power was the future and would replace ground warfare, tanks and mechanized forces were the future that would replace the infantry, and now we have "drones are the future and will replace (x)". While it would be convenient and a lot …

Enlisted and Officer: Growing Divide

There is a growing divide between enlisted members of the military and officers. One can look at interactions on twitter, or spend some time in uniform and most likely come to the same conclusion. In the previous 20 or so years of war, most of the fighting has been done at the platoon or squad …

Quick Hits: Surgical Strikes

The new year is upon us and we are already rife with controversy in the realm of foreign policy and military options. Almost everyone has heard of and is following the surgical strike that killed General Soleimani at a Baghdad Airfield. Of course, the usual "experts" have weighed in and taken to their foxholes on …

Out of The Army: A moment of clarity on my last day in uniform

When I was ending my time in service in the Army, I had a moment of clarity on my final day of active duty. When you finish your time in service, you go through about a month long process of clearing- it's a bunch of paperwork, confirming you turned in gear, attended a few transition …

Quick Hits: Editorial Decisions

I'm a one man shop here, so there isn't too much in the way of "editorial decisions". I have a log of articles that I've written and ideas for articles to write, select some graphics and try to keep things relatively fresh. One thing I've realized is that the writing process itself does not have …

Quick Hits: New Directions

Over the next few weeks I'm going to be updating the site a bit and might even start some social media accounts for better outreach. I've never been too concerned with numbers; I like to write, and if a few people enjoy what I write, that's great! When I started the website, it was a …

NATO: A Historically Unique Organization

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, originally an agreement between Western European countries and the United States has seen massive change over the past few decades. Started as an alliance that would prevent and counter Soviet aggression against Western Europe, NATO is now a wholesale strategic institution and common framework that the allied nations work under. …

College and Education in the Age of The Internet

One of the biggest issues in America is the student loan crisis. Regardless of what side one's opinion falls on, it can easily meet the criteria of an emerging crisis. There is a massive amount of debt saddled on the shaky foundations of recent college graduates. In the midst of debates about whether there should …

Quick Hits: Leaders Lead

For the past year, I've been working in the medical device industry. I've really enjoyed the work and the people I work with on a daily basis. There's a good mix of personalities and people to keep things interesting, and we all have different backgrounds. One of the things I've noticed in this job, that …