After examining the calendar for 2015, I realise how very little time I have to get across the deep and complex field that is strategy. I have a thesis to write on civil-military relations, and I have become incredibly fascinated by strategy. I’ve hoarded all the books that were recommended by strategists far and wide and have started reading them. While I have an extensive bibliography after a year of study, I also like Matt Cavanaugh’s efforts over at WarCouncil.org for his WarBooks initiative. If anything, it is reassuring to see that, despite the rumours, airmen also read (I like LtCol Dave ‘Sugar’ Lyle’s bookshelf and recommendations! Nice books!).

But the more I read, the less I seem to know. I feel like I am a rock that has been dropped into a pond; at the centre of ever expanding concentric circles that reveal ever more avenues to explore. It is both exciting and intimidating.

If only I had more time. If only I had started studying strategy much earlier! If only I had access to The Matrix — I could plug it into my brain and wake up shouting, ‘I know strategy’! Unfortunately, until that system is invented I will just have to learn to read faster and keep sneaking in that strategy reading in the spare moments at work (which, I have to say, is starting to get in the way of my research).

I also rely on you, the milbloggers, to keep me focused and inspired by your enthusiasm for the subject. I first started this blog to engage with the mil-blogsphere and to practice writing. I want to connect with others out there who are passionate about strategy and the study of war, because I want to understand the frameworks and rationales that underlie the vital decisions made by generals and statesmen about expending blood and treasure ‘in the national interest’ — to understand how nations will use force to protect what it considers to be vital to its existence: what will we fight for; what will we die for? These are important questions that require a lifetime of study and analysis. I may have started late, but better late than never!