Ian Kummer

I'm a former US Marine fire support specialist, and also worked for about 10 years as a public affairs specialist in the US Army National Guard and Reserves. For that reason I will mostly opine about the "information operations" aspect of current events. Please see my "about" page for more information. If you would like to reach out, you can email me at ian.michael@readingjunkie.com

Why Is Trump So Unpopular?

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Trump is not ruining the system, he is a product of the system. And saying “average president” here is like standing in a sinking boat and saying there has only been an average of one inch of water on the floor for the past 10 years. Trump is particularly unpopular because a fairly large percentage … Read more

The “Starship Troopers” Doctrine That Failed In Ukraine

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If you read US military theory from around the mid-late 1990s up to 2021 you will see that their vision of future conflict was, literally, pulp fiction like Starship Troopers and Falkenberg’s Legion. Superbly trained light infantry with digital communication networks in the hands of every soldier and post-scarcity fire and air support. Unfortunately, not … Read more

2001: A Space Odyssey is a great but flawed movie

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2001: a Space Odyssey is a story about monoliths. The monoliths are the macguffin that drives the plot forward, starting with the first monolith that taught ancient proto-humans how to use a club for hunting and war. This journey continues to the end, when the spaceman is led by the last monolith into a Windows … Read more

A Note About Morality

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People are flawed, but if their culture’s stories continually emphasize the importance of doing the right thing, then there is a higher chance that they will when the time comes. In the American film Saving Private Ryan, Upham convinces his squadmates to free a disarmed German rather than murder him. The movie portrays this as … Read more