Ian TB
@iantb.bsky.social
Retired #Marine, scribbler, #wargame analyst, podcast co-host, geek. Author of “A New Conception of War” on #USMC reading list. All views my own.
Need a second new book for the new month? Then check out the definitive John Boyd—“Snowmobiles and Grand Ideal” w/ @osinga.bsky.social, also from MCUP:
Order: forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...
Download: www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Mar...
Order: forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...
Download: www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Mar...
February 1, 2026 at 3:29 PM
Need a second new book for the new month? Then check out the definitive John Boyd—“Snowmobiles and Grand Ideal” w/ @osinga.bsky.social, also from MCUP:
Order: forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...
Download: www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Mar...
Order: forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...
Download: www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Mar...
Need a new book for a new month? Check out “A New Conception of War” on John Boyd, the #Marines, & maneuver warfare. If you’re in the #USMC reading it counts toward #PME as it’s on the CMC’s Reading List!
Order: forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...
Download: www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Mar...
Order: forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...
Download: www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Mar...
February 1, 2026 at 3:11 PM
Need a new book for a new month? Check out “A New Conception of War” on John Boyd, the #Marines, & maneuver warfare. If you’re in the #USMC reading it counts toward #PME as it’s on the CMC’s Reading List!
Order: forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...
Download: www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Mar...
Order: forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...
Download: www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Mar...
One of my favorite moments from the Sharpe series is General Nairn’s 15-second distillation of the importance of hours (days, weeks) of staff work and logistics to ensure that the bloody few seconds of combat actually succeeds in achieving its objectives:
January 31, 2026 at 3:23 PM
One of my favorite moments from the Sharpe series is General Nairn’s 15-second distillation of the importance of hours (days, weeks) of staff work and logistics to ensure that the bloody few seconds of combat actually succeeds in achieving its objectives:
Excited to learn that my abstract “Teaching the Tryzub: Lessons from Ukraine in Military Educational Games” has been accepted for the “Games of War” conference hosted by University of Gdansk! It’s on Feb. 24, online, and registration is free.
gamesofwar.ug.edu.pl
gamesofwar.ug.edu.pl
January 28, 2026 at 11:50 PM
Excited to learn that my abstract “Teaching the Tryzub: Lessons from Ukraine in Military Educational Games” has been accepted for the “Games of War” conference hosted by University of Gdansk! It’s on Feb. 24, online, and registration is free.
gamesofwar.ug.edu.pl
gamesofwar.ug.edu.pl
“Our country was founded on law enforcement.”
Founding Fathers: “Ackshually…”
Founding Fathers: “Ackshually…”
January 25, 2026 at 2:24 AM
“Our country was founded on law enforcement.”
Founding Fathers: “Ackshually…”
Founding Fathers: “Ackshually…”
Left: NATO fatalities in Afghanistan.
Right: Coalition fatalities in Iraq.
Some of us, at least, remember.
Right: Coalition fatalities in Iraq.
Some of us, at least, remember.
January 22, 2026 at 11:52 PM
Left: NATO fatalities in Afghanistan.
Right: Coalition fatalities in Iraq.
Some of us, at least, remember.
Right: Coalition fatalities in Iraq.
Some of us, at least, remember.
Maybe not my all-time worst, but definitely up there:
As a fanciful flight of imagination, it’s pretty entertaining. As a work of history, it’s utterly unmoored from anything approaching an evidentiary standard.
As a fanciful flight of imagination, it’s pretty entertaining. As a work of history, it’s utterly unmoored from anything approaching an evidentiary standard.
January 22, 2026 at 12:16 PM
Maybe not my all-time worst, but definitely up there:
As a fanciful flight of imagination, it’s pretty entertaining. As a work of history, it’s utterly unmoored from anything approaching an evidentiary standard.
As a fanciful flight of imagination, it’s pretty entertaining. As a work of history, it’s utterly unmoored from anything approaching an evidentiary standard.
This is a fun game, I’ll play.
Most recent entry on my personal list: a book audacious in its effort to tie John Boyd to every US military problem since Vietnam without ever consulting the Boyd archives in Quantico.
Most recent entry on my personal list: a book audacious in its effort to tie John Boyd to every US military problem since Vietnam without ever consulting the Boyd archives in Quantico.
January 22, 2026 at 12:15 PM
This is a fun game, I’ll play.
Most recent entry on my personal list: a book audacious in its effort to tie John Boyd to every US military problem since Vietnam without ever consulting the Boyd archives in Quantico.
Most recent entry on my personal list: a book audacious in its effort to tie John Boyd to every US military problem since Vietnam without ever consulting the Boyd archives in Quantico.
This map only makes sense if you believe that:
-Russia has an ICBM base in Ukraine
-Russia has ICBM bases in Kazakhstan
-Russia would fire all its nukes at a single American city
-Russia has no ballistic missile submarines
Other than that, 10/10, no notes.
-Russia has an ICBM base in Ukraine
-Russia has ICBM bases in Kazakhstan
-Russia would fire all its nukes at a single American city
-Russia has no ballistic missile submarines
Other than that, 10/10, no notes.
January 21, 2026 at 12:34 AM
This map only makes sense if you believe that:
-Russia has an ICBM base in Ukraine
-Russia has ICBM bases in Kazakhstan
-Russia would fire all its nukes at a single American city
-Russia has no ballistic missile submarines
Other than that, 10/10, no notes.
-Russia has an ICBM base in Ukraine
-Russia has ICBM bases in Kazakhstan
-Russia would fire all its nukes at a single American city
-Russia has no ballistic missile submarines
Other than that, 10/10, no notes.
Boy, when you’ve lost racist crackpot Bill Lind, you really have lost middle America:
January 19, 2026 at 6:45 PM
Boy, when you’ve lost racist crackpot Bill Lind, you really have lost middle America:
Maneuver warfare starter kit part 3: when you’re done reading, #wargame the concepts in my card game from @thedietzfoundation.bsky.social, designed to capture maneuver warfare & modern conflict while fitting in your cargo pocket: #USMC #Marines
dietzfoundation-org.square.site/product/mane...
dietzfoundation-org.square.site/product/mane...
January 13, 2026 at 2:37 PM
Maneuver warfare starter kit part 3: when you’re done reading, #wargame the concepts in my card game from @thedietzfoundation.bsky.social, designed to capture maneuver warfare & modern conflict while fitting in your cargo pocket: #USMC #Marines
dietzfoundation-org.square.site/product/mane...
dietzfoundation-org.square.site/product/mane...
Maneuver warfare starter kit part 2: there was much more to John Boyd’s than what the @USMC absorbed. For the first time in print form, get Boyd’s ideas on competition and survival in his own words from @MC_UPress.
Download: www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Mar...
Order: forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...
Download: www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Mar...
Order: forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...
January 13, 2026 at 2:30 PM
Maneuver warfare starter kit part 2: there was much more to John Boyd’s than what the @USMC absorbed. For the first time in print form, get Boyd’s ideas on competition and survival in his own words from @MC_UPress.
Download: www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Mar...
Order: forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...
Download: www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Mar...
Order: forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...
Maneuver warfare starter kit part 1: “A New Conception of War” from @mcupress & on the @usmc_commandant Reading List since 2019! Learn about @marines intellectual reform after Vietnam & how John Boyd influenced it.
Download: www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Mar...
Order: forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...
Download: www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Mar...
Order: forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...
January 13, 2026 at 2:21 PM
Maneuver warfare starter kit part 1: “A New Conception of War” from @mcupress & on the @usmc_commandant Reading List since 2019! Learn about @marines intellectual reform after Vietnam & how John Boyd influenced it.
Download: www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Mar...
Order: forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...
Download: www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Mar...
Order: forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...
New year, new chance to grab your own maneuver warfare starter kit! Read the history, dig into the concepts behind the history, then play the game!
#MCUP @thedietzfoundation.bsky.social #USMC #Marines
#MCUP @thedietzfoundation.bsky.social #USMC #Marines
January 13, 2026 at 2:13 PM
New year, new chance to grab your own maneuver warfare starter kit! Read the history, dig into the concepts behind the history, then play the game!
#MCUP @thedietzfoundation.bsky.social #USMC #Marines
#MCUP @thedietzfoundation.bsky.social #USMC #Marines
Rewatching the #Solo movie, found a fun Easter egg that’s some deep lore. Lando talks about winning a moon “in the Oseon belt,” which of course is where two of the “Lando Calrissian Adventure” novels take place.
January 10, 2026 at 1:35 AM
Rewatching the #Solo movie, found a fun Easter egg that’s some deep lore. Lando talks about winning a moon “in the Oseon belt,” which of course is where two of the “Lando Calrissian Adventure” novels take place.
Not sure the fire-eaters are taking into consideration the fact that because Greenland is part of Denmark, it has access to the most powerful set of both fixed and scatterable obstacles known to man (H/T to others):
January 9, 2026 at 12:07 PM
Not sure the fire-eaters are taking into consideration the fact that because Greenland is part of Denmark, it has access to the most powerful set of both fixed and scatterable obstacles known to man (H/T to others):
My thanks to John Bicknell & the Cognitive Crucible for the chance to talk about my new book! His first question about how I saw the current strategic landscape hit hard.
Answer? It needs Boyd’s strategic perspective. Desperately, urgently, immediately.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
Answer? It needs Boyd’s strategic perspective. Desperately, urgently, immediately.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
January 6, 2026 at 2:39 PM
My thanks to John Bicknell & the Cognitive Crucible for the chance to talk about my new book! His first question about how I saw the current strategic landscape hit hard.
Answer? It needs Boyd’s strategic perspective. Desperately, urgently, immediately.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
Answer? It needs Boyd’s strategic perspective. Desperately, urgently, immediately.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
#YearInReview it was a privilege throughout 2025 to shine the light on the amazing things #Marines and sailors supporting #Marines do across the operating forces in the “Marine Pulse” podcast from @warontherocks.bsky.social
warontherocks.com/premium/mari...
warontherocks.com/premium/mari...
December 31, 2025 at 8:21 PM
#YearInReview it was a privilege throughout 2025 to shine the light on the amazing things #Marines and sailors supporting #Marines do across the operating forces in the “Marine Pulse” podcast from @warontherocks.bsky.social
warontherocks.com/premium/mari...
warontherocks.com/premium/mari...
#YearInReview one of my favorite activities this year was an off-the-wall examination of the foo fighter phenomenon in WWII with @motheroftanks.bsky.social:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...
December 31, 2025 at 8:11 PM
#YearInReview one of my favorite activities this year was an off-the-wall examination of the foo fighter phenomenon in WWII with @motheroftanks.bsky.social:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...
#YearInReview it wasn’t all Boyd and #wargaming this year. It was great to contribute my speculative fiction piece “Steel Rain” to “The Future of Air and Space Power” edited by Dr. Heather Venable:
www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/A...
www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/A...
December 31, 2025 at 8:00 PM
#YearInReview it wasn’t all Boyd and #wargaming this year. It was great to contribute my speculative fiction piece “Steel Rain” to “The Future of Air and Space Power” edited by Dr. Heather Venable:
www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/A...
www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/A...