with writing about military theory, I'd like to explain why I do so on the internet, readable for just about everyone.
One obvious reason is I don't get paid for this stuff - if I was, the results would most likely be kept out of the internet.
Second, nobody's going to make use of this stuff in an actual army anyway. No, seriously - nobody!
Third, others publish articles, studies or books with military thought, and these forms of publication are just as easy to access.
Fourth, few armies would be able to make use of my ideas anyway. Armies are bureaucracies with inertia, and in most cases an attempt to introduce a new idea causes more friction and trouble than it pays dividends.
I expect that no force that could be an actual threat to Europe proper in the long term (up to two decades) would be able to improve itself by adopting an idea of mine (if any can ;) ).
So overall, I'm in the extremely comfortable situation of being harmless. This offers me the freedom to publish some (not all) thoughts on military theory here in such an easily accessible form - just for fun.
By the way; it might be possible to hire me for my thoughts and work on mil stuff (done lots of consulting work and studies in my actual job before), but there's no think tank culture in Germany.
S Ortmann
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"but there's no think tank culture in Germany."
ReplyDeleteisn't that because Germans prefer to actually get things done instead of just talking about them?! :)
No, that's the Scandinavians and the Dutch.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of think tank culture rather stems from the organisational strength of parties in Germany (save for head of government candidates it's party first-candidate second here - and campaign funds are party funds) and the same for the organisational strength of labour unions (waning, though).
There's no real funding for substantial think tanks here.
"Fourth, few armies would be able to make use of my ideas anyway. Armies are bureaucracies with inertia, and in most cases an attempt to introduce a new idea causes more friction and trouble than it pays dividends."
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see you develop this idea a bit further, not that you're lacking in topics to post about or anything...