I was inspired by an article over at The Pendulum called On Writing. The article finally forced my fingers into typing out this blog post. I was fortunate enough to have spent the last year pondering, writing and arguing about strategy, war, politics and military operations. Throughout the year, I toyed with the idea of starting a blog as a means to distil the myriad ideas and perspectives I encountered along the way, but was deterred by feelings of inadequacy and intimidation — I am a mere strategy Padawan who is a long time lurker of many blogs on strategy and war. I thought it would be time to start writing — to start getting thoughts on paper and get into the habit.

Even Luke Skywalker had to start somewhere. He learned how to weild the lightsaber by getting amongst it — learn by doing!

In my younger years, as karateka, my sensei used to pair up the junior students with the senpai (senior students) during bouts of sparring. There was no better way for juior students to learn how to spar than to force them to raise their standard by fighting a superior opponent. My intent is not to ‘fight’ in a belligerent sense, but to engage and respectfully argue with those who wish to do so, in order that I learn from those with vastly superior knowledge and experience in the fields of strategy and warfare.

Doctrine Man was right — as a military professional, I have an obligation to give back to my profession. The only way to do that is to get into the rumble, to write, discuss and debate. So here I am — out of the shadows and ready to engage and ready to learn.