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.
When Data And Applications Divorce: Separating The Two Without Tearing The System Apart
When You Cannot Force Compliance: iCAV, Hurricane Katrina, And Lessons In Federation
When You Choose Integration over Federation On Purpose
Guardrails, Not Gates: Designing Systems That Bend Without Breaking
Commitment Over Compliance: How Technical Teams Actually Deliver
Federation Without Owners: The Slow Failure Mode
AI As an Agent of Agents: Federation’s New Middle Layer
Architect as Translator: Earplugs in the off-site Data Hall, Briefing at HQ in DC
When You Become The Interface: A System “Tell” In Disguise
Roles As Protocols: Task Books And Swappability In Crisis
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.