One word motivated me to begin blogging: Destroy. It was September 10, 2014, the day before the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and President Obama was outlining his strategy to counter the threat posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). While addressing the nation President Obama said “Our objective is clear: We will degrade, and ultimately destroy, ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counter-terrorism strategy.” I was stunned. I was speechless. I felt like Marlon Brando as Colonel Kurtz in “Apocalypse Now” describing his reaction to horrors he had seen on the battlefield, “I cried, I wept like some grandmother. I wanted to tear my teeth out; I didn't know what I wanted to do!” Surely President Obama and his staff understood that destroying an ideology, without inflicting the kind of physical destruction the U.S. and our allies did to our enemies during World War II, was impossible. At most, based upon U.S. political will and world opinion, all the U.S. could do was undertake efforts to manage threats of this kind. They knew that right? Didn't they?

Since I began blogging last September I have been fortunate to meet many people who share my passion. They represent all ranks, services, and include aid workers, novelists, educators, and others.

Partly to give my ideas a voice, and partly to exorcise various demons associated with the President’s speech and other deployment experiences, I purchased a domain name, established a Twitter account, and three days later wrote and self-published my first blog post: “World War II, Foreign Policy, and the Global Effort to Manage Threats” As I began to write I wondered if there were others like me. As I searched the internet and Twitter I came across Ty Mayfield and an outstanding piece he wrote called “Fighting the Narrative: The First Step in Defeating ISIL is to Deny it Statehood.” I then realized that I was not alone in the blogosphere. Later that week I sent Ty a very formal e-mail sheepishly introducing myself as a fledgling blogger. Ty immediately responded and the next thing I knew I was sitting across from Ty and John DeRosa receiving a hip pocket class on Blogging 101 and being treated like an old friend.

Shortly thereafter I met Nate Finney who published my piece “Anatomy of an ‘Intelligence Failure’” on The Strategy Bridge. Since I began blogging last September I have been fortunate to meet many people who share my passion. They represent all ranks, services, and include aid workers, novelists, educators, and others. Many of us were recently encouraged to join the Military Writer’s Guild. I am fortunate to have been accepted as an Associate Member.

The Military Writer’s Guild is, to me, the embodiment of the phrase “The sum of the whole is greater than the parts.”

I joined the Military Writer’s Guild for several reasons. First, I wanted to position myself to pass on what I have learned to others, in the same way Ty Mayfield, John DeRosa, and Nate Finney kindly did with me. Second, I wanted to be surrounded by like-minded individuals who not only love to write, but are also deeply interested in the military and national security affairs. Third, I see the Military Writer’s Guild, and the pieces we write, as embodying what I tell my coworkers in the policy world of the Executive Branch “We are changing the world, one keystroke at a time!” The Military Writer’s Guild is, to me, the embodiment of the phrase “The sum of the whole is greater than the parts.”