"How the West Really Lost God"

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Originally Posted by marct

Strangely enough, that may be one of the best ways to present it. Hmmm, "29 Haikus and Koans for the COIN Warrior"??

Marc

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Several of the analysts who "work" for me (using a very broad definition of that term) are of the school that says, "Never say something using 10 words if you can think of 50." I'm the opposite.

Seriously, the book Write Tight by William Brohaugh changed my life. I implore anyone who writes to read it. I try and re-read it once a year or so.

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Originally Posted by SteveMetz

Several of the analysts who "work" for me (using a very broad definition of that term) are of the school that says, "Never say something using 10 words if you can think of 50." I'm the opposite.

Seriously, the book Write Tight by William Brohaugh changed my life. I implore anyone who writes to read it. I try and re-read it once a year or so.

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Also this famous essay by George Orwell sums it up beautifully:

http://http://www.k-1.com/Orwell/ind.../language.html

I have a copy on my desk at work, and when I finish any piece I want to get published, I check my words against it. I am taken by the phrase " Have I written anything unnecessarily ugly?".

I believe that once you have read (and 'got') Orwell's essay you cannot regard a lot of modern writing with respect.

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Originally Posted by SteveMetz

Several of the analysts who "work" for me (using a very broad definition of that term) are of the school that says, "Never say something using 10 words if you can think of 50." I'm the opposite.

Seriously, the book Write Tight by William Brohaugh changed my life. I implore anyone who writes to read it. I try and re-read it once a year or so.

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As an analyst here I edit as much or more than I write. Favorite words or traits:

Conduct--we conduct more than the New York Symphony. As a result we put more emphasis on the"conduct" in our thinking than we do in what we are actually doing. Mission statements get longer and longer. As for commander's intent, pull up a couch, light a pipe, and prepare to wander.

IOT also spelled out "in order to" used as expanding filler for "to"

'ing on any verb. After readING too many 'ING words, my ears and my mind end up ringING and I cease thinkING.

And of course, passive voice because one should never identify who actually is responsible.

Favorite article on this subject: "The Caudal Appendage of the Domesticated Ruminant" by Horace Rundell, republished in Army magazine in 2006 or so as the "50 Years Ago in ARMY" entry.


Tom

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Originally Posted by Tom Odom

As an analyst here I edit as much or more than I write. Favorite words or traits:

Conduct--we conduct more than the New York Symphony. As a result we put more emphasis on the"conduct" in our thinking than we do in what we are actually doing. Mission statements get longer and longer. As for commander's intent, pull up a couch, light a pipe, and prepare to wander.

IOT also spelled out "in order to" used as expanding filler for "to"

'ing on any verb. After readING too many 'ING words, my ears and my mind end up ringING and I cease thinkING.

And of course, passive voice because one should never identify who actually is responsible.

Favorite article on this subject: "The Caudal Appendage of the Domesticated Ruminant" by Horace Rundell, republished in Army magazine in 2006 or so as the "50 Years Ago in ARMY" entry.


Tom

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This is one of my recent favs:

"Deterrence achieved via the threat of cost imposition or the denial of the prospect of success certainly cannot impact the likelihood of a nature disaster."

Military Support to Stabilization, Security, Transition and Reconstruction Operations Joint Operating Concept, December 2006, p. 10.

Tom,

Just read the 'cows tail' article on 'looksmart' via google. superb.

Mark

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Originally Posted by SteveMetz

This is one of my recent favs:

"Deterrence achieved via the threat of cost imposition or the denial of the prospect of success certainly cannot impact the likelihood of a nature disaster."

Military Support to Stabilization, Security, Transition and Reconstruction Operations Joint Operating Concept, December 2006, p. 10.

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I was going to say that the goose who wrote that line should have it included in his OER, then I remembered that it wouldn't make any difference because irony is a dead in our modern militaries.

I thought I had clarity by the short n' curlies with my take on that Sufi poem.
PM pastiche? - sounds like a post-modern haiku title