The State of #MilTwitter

What the heck happened to #MilTwitter? 

I’m not sure that the concept of #MilTwitter was a thing before I pulled the plug. Sure, there were military people on Twitter, but it wasn’t encapsulated as this borg-like conglomerate. Now, every day seems to feature #MilTwitter cannibalism, ‘pwning,' take-downs, implosions, and lots and lots of wholesome mildad-posts.

If I had to boil it down, Twitter seems very much today how Facebook looked five years ago. 

I’m not against any of this, by the way, it’s just a different environment now and I’m still getting used to it.

I even tried to bring back #FollowFriday last week. 

As much as things have changed, they’re really the same. It’s important to remember that the platform is calibrated for emotions - and manipulating them. It’s not hard to get attention, just make an emotional appeal. See any tweet that includes FFS or JFC.

In terms of how to navigate these waters safely, I found this post on a “tale of two influencers” to be instructive. 

Personally, I’m not interested in having a public conversation about common military topics - uniforms, drill and ceremony, or hair. One of the first things I learned when I got out of the Army (the first time) was that there are certain things you just can’t talk about with military folk because they're laden with emotion. At the time, I wrote that those topics were PT, shooting, and combatives. If I re-wrote that post today (which I won’t), I’d say it’s anything for which there is a common military experience - hair, uniforms, marching - the list goes on.

It’s not worth wading into these discussions because they cost a tremendous amount of mental and emotional energy and don't move the dial. Why bother?

Maybe this is just a part of getting older, but I’ve found myself taking this approach more and more in my professional life as well. If I’m talking with a colleague about a course of action or decision and I’m asked my opinion, I may give it, but if I don’t feel particularly strong about it (and the outcome won’t be significantly affected), I’ll say so. 

“This is my opinion, but I’m not emotional about it."

My bias towards action has increased and my desire to pontificate about alternatives has waned. 

There are pitfalls, for sure, but so much time and opportunity is wasted trying to perfect things when a pretty good solution already exists, with few negatives. 

You’ve heard this in Patton’s famous quote:

“A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week."
 

How’d we get from the state of #MilTwitter to COA Dev? Not sure, but it seems like classic CTG.
 

Things that grabbed my attention
 

The adventures of Alex Thompson. I listen to a podcast called “New Middle East Books” which, as you would imagine, is a podcast about new Middle East books. This recent episode featured the fascinating story of Alex Thompson, a Navy veteran who went on to travel to Egypt in the wake of 9/11 to study Arabic with fundamentalist Muslims, work with US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and complete a PhD in Islamic Studies. I haven’t read the book (yet) but his story is incredible and Alex’s warmth and enthusiasm glows in the interview. What would Alex (or any of us) have done had there been no 9/11?

The Cognitive Crucible. I have no idea how I’ve missed this podcast which discusses what they refer to as “cognitive security.” It’s a podcast on Information Warfare - writ large. I started with this recent episode that interviewed Mark Mitchell, former Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict (ASD(SO/LIC). There are not that many podcasts that deal exclusively in IW/IO, so I’m glad to have found this one. Thanks to @AllBeretsMatter for inspiring me to capture IW podcasts. He did something similar for SOF podcasts a couple of months ago - you should sign up for his newsletter.

Very Bad Wizards. This episode starts with a discussion on some recent studies on remembering and humor. All fascinating stuff, but what I want to point out is their discussion on William James’ chapter on “Habit” (1890). If you read as much as I do on productivity and happiness, you likely have come to the point where you realize that the most important thing is building good habits and a good routine. A not-insignificant portion of our life is automated, things we do all the time because we’ve made them a part of our routine. The episode is worth listening to if that’s interesting to you. You can also go straight to the source and read the chapter.

The best new ideas come from old books.

“The great thing, then, in all education, is to make our nervous system our ally instead of our enemy. It is to fund and capitalize our acquisitions, and live at ease upon the interest of the fund."

So true. It is the sum of the things we do daily that make us who we are. Build the routine you want and reap the rewards.
 

Carrying the Gun

Relaunched the Facebook page, which will share new and old CTG articles daily. It's lonely right now.

This month:

Clash of Loyalties. An epic war film produced with funding from Saddam Hussein and the Ba'ath party. A truly bonkers story that features Oliver Reed bar-hopping in Baghdad during the Iran-Iraq war.
General Votel on FTGN Podcast. I wrote two articles after listening to this interview with General Votel. One that captures some of the great back and forth. And another reflecting on what it means to reflect (I promise it’s not as meta as it sounds).
Some recent articles on Chinese political warfare. I really think I’m going to have to learn Chinese.
PSYOP Deep-Dive: The Shining Path. The PSYWAR podcast did a deep dive on psychological operations in Peru. I hope they do more of these.
Operations in the Information Environment. One of the best conversations on modern day information operations I’ve heard, from the Irregular Warfare podcast.
“The Mother of Special Forces." In the game Metal Gear Solid 3, “The Boss” is called the “Mother of Special Forces.” The actual “Father of Special Forces” is Colonel Aaron Bank.
Killing them softly. So thankful to Christopher for allowing me to post this on CTG. I’ve had this copied/pasted into a note for ten years. When Kings of War went down, it was lost. One of the best essays on the modern (and problematic) conception of “the warrior."
 

You only have time for one, maybe two hobbies

There’s a very small portion of the CTG audience who mostly come for the gaming stuff. There isn’s as much of that on the blog these days, but if you’re pining for it, I’ve been putting up shots from MGS3 - which I recently started playing - on Instagram. 

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Thanks!

-Don