Writer and researcher. Current: Crisis Team at Amnesty, Conv Defense NRF at Stimson. Formers: EOD, OIF/OEF x 3. Author of STAMPEDE, THE LONG WALK, etc.
SYOTR
Joined September 2010
- Tweets15.2K
- Following602
- Followers13.9K
- Likes8.5K
Pinned Tweet
Some very cool news: my first novel will be published Summer 2027. It's a modern Western, and I'm back to writing about war. Thank you to the many writers and first-readers who helped me make this book the best it can be. More soon.
Tom Skerritt’s Red Badge Project has helped tons of veterans work through post traumatic stress through writing. I was honored to help teach one RBP workshop in Seattle years ago. Skerritt walked the walk and was the real deal. Rest in peace.
Brian Castner retweeted
In the Taconics, discovered a unique bookstore in barn at 1786 Wilson Homestead, Hebron, N.Y. It’s well stocked, redolent of old books & the woman who runs it is a delight. Picked up some Steinbeck, Faulkner, Dostoyevsky & Tolstoy. I’ll be busy for a bit. #WritingCommunity #books
Brian Castner retweeted
In Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East, we are seeing early drone warfare. I would equate this to where Ukraine and Russia were in 2023. The diffusion of drone technology and tactics will increase, particularly whenever the Russo-Ukraine war ends. I doubt that we are prepared.
One thing that is becoming more common is “PMC” type and drone companies hiring foreigners who did drones in Ukraine for work. The main problem with that, is that anyone can learn to fly a drone in 14-21 days. Give them 6 weeks and they’ll be hitting targets. What they don’t learn in-depth typically is the tactics behind drones (especially for the 6 monthers) or get a good grasp on signals/frequency and all the overly nerdy shit involved in that realm.
Not understanding frequencies and drone tactics in general will create a lot of scenarios such as this as outside of the Ukrainian war, front areas are not saturated with signals and hundreds of drones flying around so it’s much more easy to pinpoint launch positions and also signal locations.
“One of the sources who works for Congo's government said that Rwandan forces backing the M23 rebels may have surprised them by tracking a drone used for surveillance operations to their location.”
reuters.com/world/africa/eri…
Every journalist and conflict investigator should read this as step by step instructions on what NOT to do.
Incredible @NPR story on how Fox journalists got killed in Ukraine after the lead reporter ignored repeated security warnings and took his team into a battlefield they had been told to avoid. A Russian missile then destroyed their car. npr.org/2026/10/04/nx-s1-573…
Brian Castner retweeted
Sophisticated AI phishing scam I nearly fell for. A journalist supposedly from Reuters reaches out with a request that sounds plausible because it is an AI that has read what I've been posting and I quite often get DMs like this.
They want to schedule a call chat a bit and then send a calendly link (again all sound legit as is an AI and urls arent full visible in x DMs). They have an account on X that superficially look legit, has been seeded and is 10 years old with reasonable number of followers. The calendly link is a phishing scam to capture your X account. This stuff is going to get wild, with agents.
Brian Castner retweeted
I liked the world better when the news came on for 30 minutes and then we did other shit for 23 1/2 hours. Now the news follows you around all day like a hobo begging for change.
We're hiring a new digital investigator focused on weapons and armed conflict. Come work with us: careers.amnesty.org/jobs/vac…
Brian Castner retweeted
By the sounds of it, 'The Collected Letters of Wendell Berry' would be a huge tome going by all those who have said Mr. Berry wrote a letter back to them.
Brian Castner retweeted
“I have come to see that quiet lives on the land are just as important as any politician’s or celebrity’s life, yet they are usually unsung and unnoticed – often fading into the earth without any, except family, to remember them or write them down.” @gracyolmstead
plough.com/articles/wendell-…
Brian Castner retweeted
My issue with reading Wendell Berry is after only a couple of pages I want to put the book down and go outside and do farm chores.
Brian Castner retweeted
"Growth and death, gravity and decay, [this] is the chief work of the world." - Wendell Berry
We knew this was coming, he was 92(!), but it makes me sick to my stomach all the same.
You don’t even need to read the farming and ecology essays. Read “That Distant Land,” his short story collection, for a portrait of the kind of community we should aspire to.
Brian Castner retweeted
An all-time banger of a poem by the great Seamus Heaney. Stop scrolling; take your time with it.
Brian Castner retweeted
NEW: Today, the IDF announced "it has been decided to initiate a criminal investigation of the incident" into the deaths of Hind Rajab, the Hamada family and the two paramedics who went to rescue them. 1/
Two years ago, we investigated what happened 🎁 wapo.st/3SEjUoF
Brian Castner retweeted
The Washington Post has solved the months-long mystery of attacks on three fishing boats near the Galapagos.
They're part of a covert CIA program, with a spy plane -- w/ its ownership hidden behind an LLC -- oriented toward each boat before the strikes wapo.st/4wYbG9R
Brian Castner retweeted
This might be the most beautiful thing I've read in my life. What a privilege to be alive in 2026.
ordinaryabundance.com
Brian Castner retweeted
What happened to the great liberal institutions of the West? The only way we'll know is if people inside them tell the truth. @Tyler_A_Harper gives us another piece of the puzzle:
.@Tyler_A_Harper landed his dream job, a tenure-track position at an elite liberal-arts college—but he found himself “being treated like a racial prop rather than a professor.” Read more in our newest cover story: theatln.tc/uAlYLOai
