The Edge

Working with Contractors: Culture clash or Positive Partnership?

Contractors always pursue large profit, the customer – a high-quality end product in due time and at a lower cost.  This struggle never ends, but this is natural.

Vladimir Putin^[1]

Getting the best results from the ADF’s increasing use of private contractors calls for a deft ability to straddle the intrinsic cultural differences between military protocol and commercial practices.

Peekaboo with Mars or: How I learned to Love Jus ad Vim and address the Ethical Implications to the Changing Character of War

The contents of this paper reflect my own personal views and are not necessarily endorsed by the Naval War College or the Department of the Navy.

Stockdale Leader Development Concentration Paper Advisor: Dr. Pauline Shanks Kaurin, Ph.D.

The Innermost Heart

1^st place | ADC Sci-Fi Writing Competition 2021

Story by Gareth Abalo

Please don’t fear me. I have come for your stories. Your life has ended but I will remember you.

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Shoot the Trolley

2^nd place | ADC Sci-Fi Writing Competition 2021

Story by Owen Griffiths

When you leave in a hurry, you can forget things. Things like tear gas. Judith Evans used the armoured vehicle’s sensors to pan across the crowd. They were angry. Some of the braver ones were throwing stones. Judith couldn’t understand the shouting. She’d only been in the country for a week and everything still sounded like vowels. It didn’t matter. Jacob had been loaded up with the lingo/cultural modules before deployment.

The Endgame

3^rd place | ADC Sci-Fi Writing Competition 2021

Story by Maj Ian T. Brown, United States Marine Corps

Chipped

Honourable Mention | ADC Sci-Fi Writing Competition

Story by Bryn Smith

‘I, Bryce Francis Taylor, promise that—’  

Taylor looked down at the laminated card. His words merged with those taking the affirmation beside him.

‘—I will well and truly serve the President and the people of the Republic of Australia—’ 

President, Taylor thought. Still can’t believe we don’t have a queen anymore. Her face was still on the money.

Iteration

Honourable Mention | ADC Sci-Fi Writing Competition

Story by Bryn Smith

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‘Test the knot, Frosty.’

Private Sam Frost checked the rope lashed around a thick tree branch while Private Andy Ingram scanned the area with his Advanced F88 rifle. The branch hung over a sharp drop into a dry creek bed about six metres below them, smack in the middle of their patrol route. 

‘Knot’s good,’ Frost said. ‘I’ll get our packs down.’

A Very Normal Military PME Modern Love Story

Honourable Mention | ADC Sci-Fi Writing Competition

Story by Mike Matson

Lisa sat in the departure lounge at LAX tapping furiously on her phone, her right eye starting the twitch she only got when dealing with her mother.

Her boyfriend had dropped her off and said goodbye. It was amicable, but final. The relationship was not headed towards marriage despite the last five years they were together while she was completing her PhD in East Asian Art History at UCLA.

The Doomsday Clock

Honourable Mention | ADC Sci-Fi Writing Competition

Story by SD Chandrasekara

“Time for another story,” the Monk said. “Once upon a time, there was a human race. The human race bumbled along for a long time, generally happily, with the occasional period of unhappiness.”

“Peace was the norm,” whispered one acolyte.

“Over time, as population expanded, and more of humanity came into more frequent contact with each other, that evolved to more generally unhappy, with the occasional period of happiness.”

The Cave

Honourable Mention | 2021 ADC Sci-Fi Writing Competition

Story by Sarah Lucinsky

ONE

Tan

He flicked through the pages of an old book as he waited in line, tapping his foot impatiently. He couldn’t stop thinking about the damn promotion.

Clausewitz & Centres of Gravity Open to Interpretation

Trying to understand the abstruse messages of Carl von Clausewitz’s On War can be both mind-numbing and mind-blowing. However, interpretation is the key to unpacking his obsession with the ‘centre of gravity’ as being critical to how forces generate strength

Where more than twenty interpretations take to the field, the addition of one more cannot be deemed an impertinence. - Isaiah Berlin

An Inclusive War

Introduction