Non-Fiction
Context in Context
Submitted as part of coursework for an MSc in International Development Management University of East Anglia (UK), 2023
This essay explores how international development projects are framed, comparing formal project management models with real-world donor practices. It argues that chaotic systems — marked by complexity, feedback loops, and fractal patterns — offer a more realistic lens for development work. Drawing on chaos theory, the paper advocates for a new paradigm in project context design, one that recognizes the unpredictable nature of human systems and challenges donors to move beyond rigid, Western-centric toolkits.
Tags: International Development, Chaos Theory, Project Design, Donor Strategy, Systems Thinking
Scars on the Heart of Our Nation
Published in the Kingston Whig Standard and the Globe and Mail on 11 November 2009, this letter was written while I was deployed in Kabul, Afghanistan.
A Remembrance Day reflection written during a deployment in Afghanistan, this letter honors Canada’s fallen by urging readers to do more than remember — to emulate the courage, duty, and decency of those who served. It challenges Canadians to transform remembrance into civic action and moral resolve.
Tags: Remembrance Day, Military Ethics, Patriotism, Public Service, Afghanistan
The YAG Era Draws to an End
Published in Naval Reserve LINK, Vol. 17, No. 2, September 2008
Bilingual publication (English & French)
A farewell to the YAG training tenders, this reflection weaves naval tradition, technological evolution, and organizational culture into a meditation on transformation. Drawing parallels between the YAG’s long service and the enduring need for institutional courage, it challenges the next generation to shape the Navy’s future with vision and integrity.
Tags: Naval Training, Institutional Reform, History, Reflection, Organizational Culture
Slaughterhouse Rules
Published in Canadian Naval Review, Vol. 1, No. 3 (Fall 2005)
Type: Commentary / Organizational Critique
A satirical yet serious challenge to entrenched military culture, this essay calls for the metaphorical slaughter of sacred cows — those unquestioned habits, assumptions, and bureaucratic reflexes that stifle transformation. Drawing on institutional insight and historical analogy, it pushes leaders to reject obedience for its own sake and embrace courageous, creative reform.
Tags: Organizational Culture, Military Reform, Satire, Institutional Change, Leadership
The Dangers of Doctrine
Originally published in Maritime Security Working Papers No. 5 (1996)
Republished in Baltic Defence Review No. 5 (2001)
This essay dissects how military doctrine, originally intended to professionalize, has evolved into a system that stifles creativity, fosters intellectual stagnation, and reinforces bureaucratic self-preservation. With sharp historical analogies and a call for creative brain-building, it challenges officers to reclaim learning as an act of resistance and strategic vitality.
Tags: Military Education, Doctrine, Creativity, Strategic Culture, Bureaucracy
Sovereignty Suicide
Presented at the Society for Military and Strategic Studies Conference, Calgary, Alberta, February 2004
Co-authored with Mark W. Shepherd
This essay challenges the myth of Canadian moral exceptionalism by arguing that the nation’s declining defence posture risks eroding its sovereignty. Drawing on realist theory, historical precedent, and the evolution of Canada-U.S. defence relations, the paper contends that without meaningful investment in its armed forces, Canada risks becoming diplomatically irrelevant and strategically dependent — a sovereign nation in name only.
Tags: Sovereignty, Defence Policy, Canada-U.S. Relations, Strategic Decline, Foreign Policy
Presentation to the Senate
Delivered to the Senate Standing Committee on National Security and Defence 29 November 2004
A sharply argued presentation linking Canada’s defence capability to its sovereignty, economic resilience, and national identity. Delivered before a Senate committee, it challenges the false dichotomy between defence and social spending, and makes the case that a credible military is not a cost to be weighed against prosperity — it is its foundation.
Tags: Sovereignty, Defence Policy, National Security, Economics, Senate Testimony