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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 opponent’s armed forces dictated political outcomes. Clausewitz’s dictum—that war is “an act of force to compel our enemy to do our will”—framed the entire modern era of …
Continue reading "Paralysis as Victory: The Architecture of 21st Century Conflict: DeMarco Banter"
I have to admit, I’m old—but not that old. Led Zeppelin was already well established by the time I started listening to rock music. Still, I vividly remember when In Through the Out Door came out while I was in junior high—just before John Bonham’s tragic death in 1980. That moment marked the end of …
The other day, I was deep into prepping a three-block session for a course I’m helping design—focused on small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS), their tactical uses, implications for future warfare, and how we might integrate them into our PME ecosystem. I was bouncing ideas off a friend of mine, running through all the cool technical …
This is not a political piece....just saying... I know everything quickly becomes that... This is a strategic reflection—a thought experiment grounded in humility and foresight. It’s not about parties or administrations. It’s about possibility. About asking a question many don’t want to touch: What happens if America loses the AI race? It sounds dramatic. Maybe …
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 politics—and 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 gift—this time, a replica of Han Solo’s iconic blaster. I considered adding a plaque that simply read: “Who shot first?” 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 craft—so much so that we garnered a nickname: The Masterminds. It wasn’t a boast, but a reflection …
There is something unsettling, even dangerous, about the iconoclast. From the origin of the word itself—a compound of the Greek eikōn, meaning "image," and klan, "to break"—the 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 …
Continue reading "The Strategist with a Hammer: Iconoclasm and the Art of Leadership—DeMarco Banter"
In the evolving landscape of twenty-first-century conflict, traditional domains of warfare—land, sea, air, space, and even cyber—are 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 …
