Looking Back at 2023
A Swiftian retrospective on the first year of The Tactical Notebook
Fear not, Gentle Reader. The “Swift” of this Swiftian retrospective is neither Taylor nor Jonathan. Rather it is Eben Swift, late of the US Cavalry, who created (or, to be more precise, imported) the format that, by the time I had become a (terribly handsome) young Marine, had evolved into the Five Paragraph Order.
Situation
The Tactical Notebook has been up and running for a little more than twelve months. (The first proper article, on the subject of the non-commissioned officers of the armies of the German Empire, rolled off the press, so to speak, on 10 December 2022.)
In that time, The Tactical Notebook has published some six hundred and eighty articles. (Substack tells me that the number is seven hundred and nine. However, I subtracted from the total aggregators and other navigational notices.)
Mission
The Tactical Notebook tells tales of armies that are, armies that were, and armies that might have been. In doing this, it deals with matters - whether aspects of military history, critiques of recent conflicts, or counter-factual speculations - that have received little attention in the English-speaking world.
In keeping with this mission, The Tactical Notebook pays special attention to such things as operational culture, the armies of the Edwardian era, mortars, non-commissioned officers, anomalous armored vehicles, the armies of smaller states, obscure conflicts, amphibious operations, decision games based on history, decision games used in the past, and the structure of military units.
At first glance, the resulting mix of articles bears an uncanny resemblance to the offerings at a yard sale. Upon closer inspection, a pattern appears. In keeping with the motto everything old is new again, it employs the insights gained, and patterns gleaned, from the study of the past to shed light upon contemporary conflicts and other present-day problems in the overlapping realms of war, warfare, and warfighting.
Execution
Though I have tried to publish a fresh article every day, the rhythm of publication remains irregular. Sometimes, two or three articles appear on a given day. At other times, two or three days will pass without a post.
This pattern owes much to the peculiarities of the production process. Thus, I often find that it makes more sense to devote a morning to the framing of a series or the making of maps for multiple posts than the soup-to-nuts assembly of a single article. Similarly, the appearance of particular pieces is often delayed by facts that resist confirmation, illustrations that refuse to be found, and beautiful ideas that fail to make sense when laid out on a page.
I attempted to overcoming these obstacles by establishing monthly themes. (Remember Soixante-Quinze September, Ost-Front October, and Ooh-Rah November?) When it came to efficiency of production, these worked well. Indeed, they worked too well, leaving me with lots of extra material at the end of each month. (With that in mind, I have decided to release themes (such as the current collection of games and articles about the Winter War) from the ropes that tie them to the calendar. Thus, without either fanfare or concern about the precise date of publication, I will be follow a theme until it reaches a natural stopping point.)
Another way to harmonize production and posting involves the filling of “dead air days” with aggregator pages and links to articles on the blog our partner publication, the Warfare Mastery Institute. The former offer opportunities to discover events, ideas, practices, and structures that may have escaped their attention. The latter lead to material that complements, in both substance and style, the articles and games found in the pages of The Tactical Notebook.
Administration and Logistics
A link to an article called Making the Most of the Tactical Notebook has taken the place of the buttons that invite readers to subscribe, support, and share. Thus, if you wish to do those worthy things (and I hope that you do), please follow that link.
Similarly, if you wish a summary of the benefits that we offer to readers who support the Tactical Notebook by taking out a paid subscription, please visit the page called Welcome Aboard.
Communications
If you wish report problems with subscriptions, request source documents, or order signed copies of my books, please send a message to oninfantry@gmail.com.
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