iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

5. Dreaming Eagles by Garth Ennis and crew. I know it is a graphic novel but damn this is a good take on generations moving things forward. And it is about killing Nazis and the Red Tails.

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4. Paddy Mayne by Hamish Ross. For those who loved Rogue Heroes, this is a completely different (and more accurate) view of LTCOL Paddy. Less animal and far more hard man and cerebral leader.

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3. How to Win an Information War by Peter Pomerantsev. Must read for anyone in my field. A book about Sefton Delmer instead of one by him. And just as awesome.

2. Total Cold War by Kenneth Osgood. Recently there has been a lot of love for the “Long Telegram” written by George Kennan in 1946. Osgood’s book focuses on implementing policy and process as result of Kennan’s signal flare. The PSB under Ike is worth real study for today.

1. By All Means Necessary by Mike Vickers. An inspiring account of a legend in his field. Key takeaway — ‘When a leader of a totalitarian state tells you what they are going to do, believe them.’ Policy types struggle with this book because his career was about acheiving solutions. Quickly.

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I hit and exceeded the mark in the annual reading challenge this year despite much less public transport commuting 😔 Kept my espionage bent from the past couple of years going but am increasingly focused back on the job at hand. My top 5 reads for for 2024 follow

Jason @jasfourtwo.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

Them: So what were you doing this year? Me: oh, you know, conducting a capability review in record time, writing an integrating concept in record time, being told my work was devaluing the profession of arms … Them: Really? Prove it. Spotify:

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Jason @jasfourtwo.bsky.social · 20/09/2024

Been a bit slack on the battlefield clearance in the #2024GreatPostcardWar . Impacts from @mojo-jojo.bsky.social @rgrimmturner.bsky.social and @doctrinatrix.bsky.social finally plotted. Thanks team!

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Jason @jasfourtwo.bsky.social · 11/08/2024

As long as you kept the shoe rack plans …

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Jason @jasfourtwo.bsky.social · 11/08/2024

Was not allowed close enough … :)

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Jason @jasfourtwo.bsky.social · 11/08/2024

Go abroad for a couple of weeks and my patrol base gets hammered during my absence. Impacts from @fff182.bsky.social X 3 and @tyrellmayfield.bsky.social in the #2024GreatPostcardWar . Thanks team.

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Jason @jasfourtwo.bsky.social · 25/06/2024

Have been travelling so am behind in my #GPW2024 ShotReps. Many thanks to @rgrimmturner.bsky.social @doctrinatrix.bsky.social @krisjand.bsky.social @tyrellmayfield.bsky.social @fff182.bsky.social and my MiL with a random shot from Budapest :)

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Jason @jasfourtwo.bsky.social · 17/05/2024

That Malvern Star 3-speed was the envy of every kid in the neighbourhood in its day. Faded into obscurity with the rise of the BMX in the early 80s. I blame Nicole Kidman and the release of BMX Bandits in 1983

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Jason @jasfourtwo.bsky.social · 04/05/2024

More incoming in the 2024 Great Postcard War. @fff182.bsky.social making me feel old with SLR’s and bayonets, @rgrimmturner.bsky.social seeing the world, @doctrinatrix.bsky.social confirming we have very similar tastes in art! Thanks all!

Jason @jasfourtwo.bsky.social · 07/04/2024

New impacts in the 2024 Great Postcard War. Thanks @tyrellmayfield.bsky.social and @nathankfinney.com X2. Counterbattery on the way!

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Jason @jasfourtwo.bsky.social · 18/03/2024

Consolidated impacts in the 2024 Great Postcard War over the past couple of weeks. Many thanks to @rgrimmturner.bsky.social X2 @marcwjason.bsky.social @krisjand.bsky.social @doctrinatrix.bsky.social @fff182.bsky.social Love seeing what y’all are up to. @tyrellmayfield.bsky.social

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Jason @jasfourtwo.bsky.social · 27/01/2024

Big week of impacts in the 2024 Great Postcard War. Many thanks to @rgrimmturner.bsky.social , @doctrinatrix.bsky.social and @tyrellmayfield.bsky.social for giving me a little peek into your exciting lives!

Jason @jasfourtwo.bsky.social · 16/01/2024

Get back from visiting the fam and find y’all have kept the postie busy in the 2024 Great Postcard War. Thanks @fff182.bsky.social X2, Max, @cagridlock.bsky.social X2, and Dave.

A collection of postcards sent from colleagues in the 2024 Great Postcard War.

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Reposted by Jason

Axel Bruns @snurb.info · 14/01/2024

🚨 Coming up: CFP deadline for our #ICA24 postconference P³: Power, Propaganda, Polarisation, at the @qutdmrc.bsky.social in Brisbane, Australia, on 26/27 June 2024. Organisers: Axel Bruns, @anjabechmann.bsky.social, Jessica Walter, @dkreiss.bsky.social Submit abstracts at bit.ly/p3postconf by 1 Feb.

bit.ly

Paper Submissions — P³: Power, Propaganda, Polarisation

ICA Postconference — QUT Digital Media Research Centre, Brisbane, Australia, 26-27 June 2024 Organising Team: Axel Bruns, Anja Bechmann, Jessica Gabriele Walter, Daniel Kreiss

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Jason @jasfourtwo.bsky.social · 16/01/2024

I know it will change but it has serious Fortitude (set in Alaska) vibes. In Ep 1. youtu.be/egy3n-7DQAU?...

Jason @jasfourtwo.bsky.social · 15/01/2024

So are we all talking about Ep1 of the new True Detective (S4) yet? Because … I have thoughts.

It has only taken half a century but have decided that I found the very best way to ring in the new year. Couple of bottles of Shiraz, @shayl72.bsky.social beside me and binge-watching the complete latest season of Slow Horses.

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And for 5 it was back to fiction. @tyrellmayfield.bsky.social put me onto this ‘classic’ of counterinsurgency. The Centurions is as important for what the characters learnt during combat as it is for understanding how quickly those lessons become deeply uncomfortable truths when it is over.

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Number 4 headed back into history. I saw John Lisle’s “Dirty Tricks Department” advertised on an OSS group and knew I had to get it. It didn’t disappoint. Highlighted the importance of failing fast in development and also holding onto some Crown Jewels.

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Number 3 was a change of pace. The first novel in a series by new author David McCloskey. Damascus Station focuses on the craft of espionage rather than the thrill of covert action. Book 2 is just as good and I understand a third in the series will be published in 2024.

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Coming in at number 2 was a book I have been chasing for years — Black Boomerang. Sefton Delmer’s account of informational Power efforts against the Nazis, and the seemingly unchanging bureaucratic hurdles to achieving outcomes is prescient for its focus on the importance of the right people.

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Easily the standout this year was Lindsey O’Rourke’s “Covert Regime Change”. What absolutely made this number 1 was the effort Dr O’Rourke has gone to in creating a very readable version of what could have been an academically dry monograph. A really important book given the passage of time.

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2023 was a good reading year. Heady mix of fiction and non-fiction, mostly with an espionage bent. Following is my my top five ..

Cover images of the 54 books the author read in 2023

With many thanks to those who participated in 2023’s Great Postcard War. Quite a haul this year from all points of the globe (and beyond). The demise of X had a noticeable impact on SHOTREPS but we’re making it work. @tyrellmayfield.bsky.social

A photo of the postcards received in 2023

Jason @jasfourtwo.bsky.social · 20/12/2023

So that getting public transport to work thing certainly paid off this year. Still a couple on the go as well.

Jason @jasfourtwo.bsky.social · 15/10/2023

Descendants tonight at the Metro in Sydney. Can’t wait to see some punk royalty live with @shayl72.bsky.social

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Jason @jasfourtwo.bsky.social · 02/10/2023

Go away again and successfully dodge some more incoming in the #2023GreatPostcardWar .Splash from @tyrellmayfield.bsky.social and @cagridlock.bsky.social . Thanks! Outgoing from my current loc as well.

shayl72.bsky.social @shayl72.bsky.social · 25/09/2023

Reposted by Jason

Finished another Aussie World Heritage Walk with @jasfourtwo.bsky.social over the past week or so. Up close with the Northern NSW granite belt. 🤙

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Jason @jasfourtwo.bsky.social · 25/09/2023

Displaced from primary and went bush for a bit sneakily avoiding multiple impacts in the #2023GreatPostcardWar . Thanks @rgrimmturner.bsky.social X2 @fff182.bsky.social and Greg K

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Jason @jasfourtwo.bsky.social · 02/09/2023

Finally watched #Tenet . Have decided Christopher Nolan retains the innate ability to completely scramble my humanities-aligned brain in a way no other Director has ever achieved. Still deciding whether Interstellar or Tenet hurt more.

So, while the books in the original list are good, there’s just so much more to choose from to help you think about the employment and impact of new tech, both on the enemy and on the psyche of your own people. Enjoy!

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There’s also a couple of good authors producing works that are less ‘future war’ and more ‘war tomorrow’ with our current kit. Keep an eye out for Nick Ryan’s WW3 techno-thriller series and also the ‘Winds of War’ series by William Dietz.

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Once you’ve done them his new series starring our same Aussie main character is two books into an extended series. It, like a couple in the published list, is focused on Taiwan.

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Then I think you really need to give F.X. Holden’s Future of War series a good run. Digital only, each book explores future conflict in a different domain buildings more complete picture through the series. The best bit of course is one of the key characters is an Aussie ;) My favourites

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Firstly I don’t think you can go past Brian Michelson’s Warbot 1.0. Brian builds characters and emotion that is not quite there in some of those chosen for the original list. The best bit of his book though is how quickly the shock of a new enemy TTP just becomes ops normal in the following days.

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