Qualified to manage you but not old enough to drink

[Buck Turgidson]

 

Earth sucks.  It is full of Holy Rulers who don't get my erudite references to Robert A. Heinlein.

[Holy Ruler]

Earth sucks.  It is full of Holy Rulers who don't get my erudite references to Robert A. Heinlein.

Heinlein sucks. I write real-life scientific war books.

[Buck Turgidson]

Real-life scientific war books suck.  There's not enough boobies in them, and besides, Sun Tzu pretty much nailed that subject down 2600 years ago.  Contemporize, man...

[Holy Ruler]

Sun Tzu sucks. No body gets closer to their enemies these days.

[Buck Turgidson]

Bah, that's just fashion.  It is the old challenge of the bow vs the spear, skirmish vs shock.  Hammer and anvil tactics still rule, and wars still cannot be won without closing with the enemy on the ground.  Obfuscate modern sensors and communnications, and we are back to wielding clubs and cburritos jaws.

And Sun Tzu still applies even if you don't close with the enemy, proving that art trumps science.  Especially poignant today, and in this thread, is the last chapter...

[Holy Ruler]

Bah, that's just fashion.  It is the old challenge of the bow vs the spear, skirmish vs shock.  Hammer and anvil tactics still rule, and wars still cannot be won without closing with the enemy on the ground.  Obfuscate modern sensors and communnications, and we are back to wielding clubs and cburritos jaws.

And Sun Tzu still applies even if you don't close with the enemy, proving that art trumps science.  Especially poignant today, and in this thread, is the last chapter...

[Pterrydactyl]

Sun Tzu is required reading at the Us Army Intelligence School/Academy.  I know.  I graduated from there.

Also, I'm intrested in your real-life scientific war books.  What are the exactly?  Fiction or non-fiction?  Guides, Biographies?  Where do they classify?  How do you get research?

[Buck Turgidson]

Yeah - I would be interested in knowing too.  My favourite military author/analyst is JFC Fuller.  Who is yours?

[Holy Ruler]

Mine is Karl Popper (ok, I know he wasn't into military shit, but whatever).

Also my real life war books are not scientific per se, but they deal with guerilla groups in a certain country and how they rose to power (kinda).

[Buck Turgidson]

An interesting subject.  Revolutionary method - based on successful revolutions like the Christian, Mohamedian, American, French, and Russian have a lot in common:

- started by a few intellectuals (or God, Allah...etc)
- create a clear manifesto, bible, koran (ie dogma)
- Get the buy-in of key economic interests
- Get the Army on your side
- Wage a successful war
- propagandize like hell
- fight the inevitable counter-revolutionaries once they get organized
- design nice uniforms

It is a process and a formula that is quite repetitive in history.  The more difficult challenge is how to beat an insurrection, whether by intra- or trans-state actors...

Have you published?

[Snowbound Milk]

*reads first post*

K.

*reads last post*

rite...

[Buck Turgidson]

Don't have to be old enough to drink to revolt...or write books about it.

[Pterrydactyl]

Somehow I keep going back to wanting to write my book in modern military intelligence.  But, I know that I'd probably end up in a secret CIA prison in Alaska...

[Buck Turgidson]

My grandfather was in intel at the end of WW2, and helped plan the Canadian D-Day landing.  He stayed around after the war for 2 years to use his intel skills to put families back together (think about the scale of destruction and displacement...).  I asked why he stayed and didn't come back to see family & friends, and he said he had some things to atone for.  It's the only thing he ever said about the war, to anyone since he returned.  Today he is in an old-vets home with advanced Alzheimer's, and the only people he remembers in the whole world, including his children, are the names of his first anti-tank gun crew.  I wish he'd written something down - I can only imagine the knowledge and experience he had and has now lost.

[Pterrydactyl]

unfortunately, because of what I did, most of what I would write is classified and I don't feel like getting charged with treason.

[Holy Ruler]

An interesting subject.  Revolutionary method - based on successful revolutions like the Christian, Mohamedian, American, French, and Russian have a lot in common:

- started by a few intellectuals (or God, Allah...etc)
- create a clear manifesto, bible, koran (ie dogma)
- Get the buy-in of key economic interests
- Get the Army on your side
- Wage a successful war
- propagandize like hell
- fight the inevitable counter-revolutionaries once they get organized
- design nice uniforms

It is a process and a formula that is quite repetitive in history.  The more difficult challenge is how to beat an insurrection, whether by intra- or trans-state actors...

Have you published?

Mohammedan is an insult, please don't call Muslims that again.

Also, I am published, but not the book itself. Do you subscribe to IHS Jane's?

[Buck Turgidson]

No, Jane's is too expansive and my interests are as up to date.

Why is Mohammedan an insult?  I lived in the middle east for 7 years, and thought I knew the difference between that and Muslim.

[Pterrydactyl]

I've heard of it being "insulting" before.  It was one of the terms we were told not to use when interacting with the population.

[Holy Ruler]

Calling a Muslim Mohammedan is like calling a Christian "Cross Worshiper" - unless you personally don't mind. It also implies that Islam is a religion founded by the Prophet Mohammed, when in reality what we believe is that Islam is a continuous religion, and that the Prophet was the last messenger with the last book. We also believe in Jesus, Moses, Abraham, etc.
Also, GS, I wouldn't know how expensive Jane's is because I have a Gratis subscription to a couple of its publications   (WIT and Sentinel)

[Pterrydactyl]

Actually, I think it may be a bit closer to "bible thumper".