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The Obsolescence of Decisive Battle The strategic logic of the 20th century rested on a singular premise: wars are decided on the battlefield. The state that destroyed its opponentโs armed forces dictated political outcomes. Clausewitzโs dictumโthat war is โan act of force to compel our enemy to do our willโโframed the entire modern era of …
Continue reading "Paralysis as Victory: The Architecture of 21st Century Conflict: DeMarco Banter"
This is not a political piece....just saying... I know everything quickly becomes that... This is a strategic reflectionโa thought experiment grounded in humility and foresight. Itโs not about parties or administrations. Itโs about possibility. About asking a question many donโt want to touch: What happens if America loses the AI race? It sounds dramatic. Maybe …
Part I: The Metaphysics of the Force: A Syncretic Foundation The enduring cultural resonance of the Star Wars saga is inextricably linked to its central metaphysical concept: the Force. More than a mere plot device, the Force serves as the philosophical and spiritual bedrock of its universe, a complex tapestry woven from the threads of …
The Hype Cycle: A Mirror for Institutional Behavior In the world of technological forecasting and organizational transformation, few conceptual tools have had the lasting impact of the Gartner Hype Cycle. Introduced in the mid-1990s by the research and advisory firm Gartner, Inc., the Hype Cycle sought to explain a recurring pattern: how emerging technologies rise …
Continue reading "The Innovation Trap: How the USAF Gets Stuck in the Hype Cycle: DeMarco Banter"
I came across this piece shortly after it was published in late October '24. I have left it open on my computer ever since and I go back to it often. It is quite telling, yet every time I ponder writing about it, I feel the pull of politicsโand I hate that. This is not …
Continue reading "Time to Reload: Strategic Velocity, Defense Reformation: DeMarco Banter"
We had an AUiX teammate PCS this week. As is tradition, we give our PCSing officers a Star Wars-themed farewell giftโthis time, a replica of Han Soloโs iconic blaster. I considered adding a plaque that simply read: โWho shot first?โ But as I floated the idea, I realized only about half the room caught the …
As a squadron commander, I spent countless hours with our team in Air Operations Centers around the world, developing strategy, writing operational plans, wargaming, and wrestling with the ambiguity that defines modern conflict. We were serious about our craftโso much so that we garnered a nickname: The Masterminds. It wasnโt a boast, but a reflection …
There is something unsettling, even dangerous, about the iconoclast. From the origin of the word itselfโa compound of the Greek eikลn, meaning "image," and klan, "to break"โthe iconoclast has always been defined in opposition to sacred norms. In its earliest usage, the term described those who quite literally smashed religious images during the Byzantine Iconoclasm …
In the evolving landscape of twenty-first-century conflict, traditional domains of warfareโland, sea, air, space, and even cyberโare now accompanied by a more elusive and insidious front: the human mind. Dubbed "cognitive warfare," this emerging domain does not target physical infrastructure or conventional forces, but the very frameworks individuals and societies use to perceive, interpret, and …
Friedrich Nietzsche warned us: โHe who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.โ It was a 19th-century philosophical warning about moral corruption and existential danger. Today, it reads like a headline. Nietzscheโs famous quote appears in …
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