Field Notes are stories from the field that show doctrine colliding with reality. Field notes are how I document what actually happened when systems, people, and missions intersected under pressure. Some went well. Some went sideways. All of them taught me something about how resilient systems really work.
These aren’t case studies cleaned up for a conference. They’re honest accounts from disaster deployments, federal systems work, wildfire operations, and coalition environments where the stakes were real and the playbook didn’t always apply.
Field Reports are deep dive applications of the doctrine to concrete problems. Where Field Notes tell short stories from the field, Field Reports walk through the full analysis, the numbers, the trade-offs, and the recommended moves. Most reports began as work I did for myself or a colleague, then cleaned up so others can reuse the thinking without repeating all the research and analysis.
New Here? Start With These:
Field Guides
The Mobile Mapping Unit That Changed Everything – How a self-funded 26-foot truck taught me (mostly) everything I know about forward-deployed systems
What The Katrina Book Was Really For – Why I wrote a book for Rhode Island USAR (narrative infrastructure, not vanity publishing)
Systems Built On Heroics Are Brittle – What Hurricane Florence cost me, and why “can-do culture” eventually breaks people
(Publication dates reflect when documentation was published, not when the work occurred).
These field notes draw from 20+ years of work (2005-2025). Some were written immediately after the events. Others were written years later when I finally had the distance to see the patterns clearly.
Publication dates reflect when I made the work public, not when the experience happened. You may notice evolution in voice and clarity across pieces. That’s because they were written at different points in my career, then published when I finally had the platform and capacity to share them.
Why Field Notes Matter
Doctrine guides explain principles. -> Field notes show what happens when those principles meet reality.
Doctrine is prescriptive. -> Field notes are descriptive (including when I got it wrong).
Doctrine is timeless. -> Field notes are time-stamped and context-specific.
If you want to understand the doctrine, read the guides. If you want to see where it came from (including the mistakes that led to it), read the field notes.
You Remember My Values, But Not Yours
Hoover Dam Lessons: “Proudly Maintained By Mike E.”
Bay St. Louis: Trust Before Logos After Hurricane Katrina
Stranded in Vienna, Responsible in Kyiv
Culture As Invisible Spec: Training A Media Specialist For Wildland Fire
Human Contracts Under The Air Picture
Respect The Envelope: Why Legal Is Not Always Safe
Gates That Matter: Task Books, Checkrides And Real Safety
Interfaces Break First: Designing For Partial Truth
Golden Datasets: The Tracks Everyone Trusts
Flying The Picture: What A Little Cessna Taught Me About Mission Systems
Living With Incomplete Pictures: Notes From High Tempo Systems
Proudly Maintained: Why Systems Need A Nameplate
Disaster Response Staging Areas Are The Wrong Time To Start Trust
How Field Notes Connect to Doctrine
Field notes don’t just tell stories. They anchor the doctrine guides with concrete examples.
For instance:
- The Mobile Mapping Unit story explains why federation works where integration fails
- The Katrina Book story shows narrative infrastructure in action
- Systems Built On Heroics explains why capacity matters more than can-do spirit
If a doctrine guide references a field note, it’s because that story proves (or complicates) the principle.