[Matt at Feral Jundi] So as I write this, it is December 31, 2019, and I am trying to boil down the last decade of contracting and war into some kind of sense. I have been working as a contractor for over 15 years now, and the last decade has been a whirlwind. lol It is amazing that I am still alive, still doing doing this stuff, and still heavily blogging and writing about this industry. So I still have a passion for it all and it is fun and interesting to me to share what I know with the readership.That conversation and sharing has transferred to other platforms these days, and specifically Facebook. It is the preferred platform for information sharing, from what I have experienced, and it is where I get the most interaction with the readership. It is also faster than using the blog, and fits in with my OODA when it comes to ground truth and feedback. Speed is everything when it comes to the information world, and social media platforms have amplified my ability to interact with the world of contracting and war. Of course being there in person, on the ground is the ultimate, but for one individual like myself, trying to get a feel for what is going on out there, then social media is where it is at.
The blog is where I put unique content that needs to be recorded. But then I get the most value out of time spent, being on social media. You also see other big players do the same. Eeben Barlow of EO and STTEP fame is very active on FB. Erik Prince is active on LinkedIn. Tim Lynch of Free Range International is active on FB and in the podcasting world. Frank Gallagher of WPS fame is very active on FB... Instagram, Youtube and Podcasts, WhatsApp, etc. are huge in the modern era. That interaction, and the thousands of pages and groups and ’tribes’ are where today’s readership exists, and that is where I go to connect. I would much prefer human interaction, but with the scope of this industry, this is the best way I know of to interact with it.
Over the years, I have shared hundreds of open source ideas and news stories at FB, Twitter, the blog, LinkedIn, etc. and I am constantly trying to battle through the noise to get to the truth of the matter. So what have I learned and observed over the last ten years of contracting and war? What have I synthesized from this analysis? What are the lessons learned?
The best way I can organize this, and display my thoughts is to go through categories and describe the various phases of that category. That will give the reader, now and into the future, a good snapshot of where the industry was at, at this point, and where it came from. I might even do a little prediction.