Bold Brigand Update

Operation Bold Brigand continues, here in my island paradise. Here's an update on some of the things I've worked on this week.

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Arabic:

I got a lot of Arabic done early in the week, and lapsed a bit after that. I did three reviews of my Emirati vocabulary, and listened to a podcast and a half from BBC Xtra. I'm writing this post late Sunday morning, so hopefully by the time I actually post it, I'll have completed a third listening exercise.

Physical Training:

Moving right along...

Business Development:

This week's big accomplishment was to submit around thirty-five job applications. The job market being what it is, I find myself forced to cast a fairly wide net, both geographically and professionally. It feels really tedious, but it's necessary. I'm also recording some more tracks for some more honesty trace work.

Writing Projects:

I spent a lot of time on writing projects last week. I made some major progress on my dissertation follow-up by getting a tentative outline made out; then distributing stuff from what I call the "Weasel Bin" - stuff I didn't use in the final product - into that outline; and finally, by reverting my finished product back into a sort of manuscript format (mainly to make the citations easier to work with), and then distributing that into the outline as well. In doing the last bit, I discovered a few errors with some of my citations, so I painstakingly back-checked them and fixed the errors so that I now have what I believe to be an error-free manuscript to use as a writing sample. My tentative outline is as follows:

CHAPTER 1: A LESSON OVERLOOKED

CHAPTER 2: AUSTERITY, REBELLION, AND RENAISSANCE
2.1 MUSCAT AND OMAN BEFORE 1970
2.2 THE DHOFAR REBELLION, 1970-'76
2.3 THE OMANI RENAISSANCE POST 1976

CHAPTER 3: HUMAN TERRAIN
3.1 HUMAN TERRAIN IN DHOFAR
3.1.1 COHERENT MISSION AND OPERATIONAL MANDATE
3.1.1.1 OPERATIONS FACILITATE POLITICAL GOALS
3.1.2 CREDIBLE HOST NATION ACTOR
3.1.3 CONTROL OF INFORMATION
3.1.3.1 STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS
3.1.3.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL OPERATIONS
3.1.3.3 OPERATIONAL SECURITY
3.1.3.4 INTELLIGENCE COLLECTION
3.2 COHERENT MISSION AND OPERATIONAL MANDATE
3.2.1 OPERATIONS FACILITATE POLITICAL GOALS
3.3 CREDIBLE HOST NATION ACTOR
3.4 CONTROL OF INFORMATION
3.4.1 STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS
3.4.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL OPERATIONS
3.4.3 OPERATIONAL SECURITY
3.4.4 INTELLIGENCE COLLECTION
3.4.4.1 HUMAN INTELLIGENCE
3.4.4.2 SIGNALS INTELLIGENCE
3.4.4.3 GEOSPATIAL INTELLIGENCE

CHAPTER 4: PHYSICAL TERRAIN
4.1 PHYSICAL TERRAIN IN DHOFAR
4.1.1 COMMENSURATE FORCE STRENGTH
4.1.1.1 GEOGRAPHY-DETERMINANT
4.1.1.2 POPULATION-DETERMINANT
4.1.2 INTERDICTION OF INSURGENT LOGISTICS
4.1.3 DENIAL OF INSURGENT MANEUVER
4.2 COMMENSURATE FORCE STRENGTH
4.2.1 GEOGRAPHY-DETERMINANT
4.2.2 POPULATION-DETERMINANT
4.3 INTERDICTION OF INSURGENT LOGISTICS
4.4 DENIAL OF INSURGENT MANEUVER

CHAPTER 5: INTEGRATING FACTORS
5.1 INTEGRATING FACTORS IN DHOFAR
5.1.1 ORGANIC LANGUAGE CAPABILITIES
5.1.2 EFFECTIVE SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCE EMPLOYMENT
5.1.3 EFFECTIVE LOGISTICS
5.1.3.1 LINGUISTS/INTERPRETERS
5.1.3.2 FIELD CONDITIONS
5.1.3.3 FORCE PROTECTION
5.1.3.4 VEHICLE/MATERIEL PROCUREMENTS
5.1.3.5 SMALL ARMS
5.1.3.5.1 COALITION SMALL ARMS
5.1.3.5.2 DHOFARI SMALL ARMS AND MARKSMANSHIP
5.1.4 AVIATION OPERATIONS
5.2 ORGANIC LANGUAGE CAPABILITIES
5.3 EFFECTIVE SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCE EMPLOYMENT
5.4 EFFECTIVE LOGISTICS
5.4.1 LINGUISTS/INTERPRETERS
5.4.2 FIELD CONDITIONS
5.4.3 FORCE PROTECTION
5.4.4 VEHICLE/MATERIEL PROCUREMENTS
5.4.5 SMALL ARMS
5.4.5.1 COALITION SMALL ARMS
5.4.5.2 AFGHAN SMALL ARMS AND MARKSMANSHIP
5.4.6 DEFENSE AND SECURITY CONTRACTORS
5.5 AVIATION OPERATIONS

CHAPTER 6: STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS
6.1 STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS IN DHOFAR
6.2 OPERATIONAL CONCEPTS VERSUS GRAND STRATEGY
6.3 GRAND STRATEGIC LESSONS
6.3.1 CLAUSEWITZIAN TRINITY
6.3.2 POPULATION- VERSUS ENEMY-CENTRICITY
6.3.3 MULTINATIONAL PARTNERS
6.3.4 DISENGAGEMENT VERSUS COMMITMENT
6.3.5 INEFFECTIVE ENEMY
6.4 DHOFAR'S LESSONS FOR REGIONALLY ALIGNED FORCES

CHAPTER 7: PROSPECTS

CHAPTER 8: BIBLIOGRAPHY

So, I'll continue to work on that and other projects this week, preferably with less anal retentive obsession than I found myself demonstrating last week.

World War I Research:

I sort of slacked on the World War I research last week. I have a couple of E-mails and calls to return and some data farming to do this week, so I may try to spend a couple of mornings focused on that in order to feel a bit "caught up". This project is really important to me, but it's also one for which there's less of a deadline or coherent end state, which gives me a bit of flexibility.

Special Projects:

I have yet to do a Demobilization Packing Test. I'll likely do laundry on Monday, and then do a packing test later Monday or Tuesday - it doesn't make sense to do the test without the stuff with which to do the test. One project I did some work on was to put some new clothes into online shopping carts through Amazon, Carhartt, and 5.11. At the moment, all three seem to be out of most of the clothes in my size and my preferred colors, so that'll be sort of interesting if I can't get them lined up before I come home.

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One thing I did that wasn't on the list was to take the night time bus out to St. Margaret's Hope. It's the first time I'd ever crossed the barriers at night, and what I could see was beautiful, although the lights on the bus made it difficult to see very much. I've tended to stay in Kirkwall for most of my stay in Orkney, but I need to make a point of going to see some other sights - and some other islands - over the next few weeks. My big goals are North Ronaldsay and Westray, and the Scapa Flow Visitor Centre and Museum at Lyness on Hoy. Perhaps I'll do one of those this week.