bailaviborita
06-20-2012, 19:12
Article: http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/irregular-warfare-and-the-two-minds-of-the-venture-capital-green-beret
Excerpts:
I did not surrender idealism when our only child was born, but rather I came to see the world and its strengths, flaws and dangers specifically in terms of her future. ...But when our child was born I was able to stop looking at the world through the biases of my own beliefs and ambitions and to begin to see the world she would live in.
When I finally stepped back from my own path to look at the world as it related to her future, I did so with the eyes of a seasoned investor entrepreneur and former soldier. I looked with a mind trained to recognize potential for Return on Investment, to model Risk and Uncertainty and to design courses of action which realize returns in hostile environments. And it quickly became apparent to me the greatest threat to the future of our now three year old daughter was not competing ideologies or politics, a clash of religions or civilizations, nor was it a nuclear armed rogue state or stateless terrorism.
The real threat is the ever expanding pool of disaffected youth, peoples and communities available to the siren call of the enemies of freedom, the very freedom we who are blessed with seem to so carelessly take for granted. The more specific concern which came to mind was the ever increasing pool of those willing to support the modern Totalitarianism known as Fundamentalism, and this even while the standard of living for most of Earth’s seven billion inhabitants is improving.
... the organization trained to employ the Mind of the System and the Mind of the Disruptor to promote stability and development in the most dangerous parts of the world is SF. Yet, though the members of the Regiment are skilled at governance and security, and many of the economic development resources have been put in place, Green Berets are lacking in the business and investing knowledge and experience essential to set the conditions for internally driven, sustainable local economic development.
When combined, these thoughts led to the realization SF could add Entrepreneur and Venture Capital training to its already extensive capacities with minimal investment and disruption. And should such occur, the Green Beret’s mission of freeing the oppressed of the world would be greatly enhanced. So, at the age of forty one, and after a seventeen year break in service, I returned to the Army to serve as a Green Beret with the purpose to better understand how these capabilities could and should be added. And after completing the Special Forces Qualification Course, I drafted and put forward a proposal for the Economic Development Program which was provided to the Commandant of the Warrant Officer Institute and the Command Warrant for Special Forces.
...A direct analog for the Special Forces Regiment would be the:
Mind of the System (Investment Bank) – Group & Battalion – employing doctrinal operations, resources, models and metrics to ensure sustainment and moderate expansion and return on investment in the overall Area of Responsibility;
Mind of the Disruptor (Venture Capital Fund) – Company & ODA – employing dynamic, situation and resource availability dependent operations, models and metrics to establish and expand stability and to realize substantial return on investment (sic, mission success) at lower input volumes and costs and with greatly accelerated rates of return in the Area of Operations.
Good news is the rebalancing of the SF Mind will not require a rewrite of who the Green Beret is or what he does and how he does it. Nor will it take much time or be a generational change. It does mean where we now mostly pay lip service to the importance of unconventional thinkers, we will have to early identify and promote those who possess and develop both the Mind of the System and the Mind of the Disruptor.
...in the under or undeveloped parts of the world, the role of the Green Beret is to set the conditions such that disruptive new systems arise or existing systems may evolve and begin the process whereby higher level assets can get involved and bring their many resources to bear.
...since the birth of my child, since becoming a father, I cannot stop thinking as a father. As a father I don’t care about all those ethereal and higher ideals and beliefs, about ideology or politics. All I care about is the future for my child. And when I look in the eyes of the fathers here, I see the very same desire for a better future for their children, and telling them to fight with and for me is not enough to build a real, sustainable and trusted relationship on. I have to be willing and able to use the Mind of the Disruptor when applying Mind of the System assets and resources, to establish or improve the local economy which in-turn improves the standard of living for the local father who is standing next to me as the bullets and RPGs fly around us.
This is the second of four articles. They are excerpted from two papers which can be provided upon request and which are the kernel for my upcoming thesis. The next article will talk about how the Economic Development Program would function and be added to the SF curriculum and practice.
EM Burlingame has lived and worked as an executive in the US, Asia and the EU and has successfully raised investment for his own technology ventures in Silicon Valley and been a Venture Capitalist and Investment Banker responsible for investing in very early stage technology, telecommunications and internet media companies. EM recently completed the Special Forces Qualification Course and is now serving with 1st Battalion 1st Special Forces Group and is currently deployed to Afghanistan where his Operational Detachment Alpha is conducting Village Stability Operations. EM still serves as Founder and Director of the Emerio Foundation, a non-profit focused on training entrepreneurs and increasing the rate of investment in very early stage companies.
Excerpts:
I did not surrender idealism when our only child was born, but rather I came to see the world and its strengths, flaws and dangers specifically in terms of her future. ...But when our child was born I was able to stop looking at the world through the biases of my own beliefs and ambitions and to begin to see the world she would live in.
When I finally stepped back from my own path to look at the world as it related to her future, I did so with the eyes of a seasoned investor entrepreneur and former soldier. I looked with a mind trained to recognize potential for Return on Investment, to model Risk and Uncertainty and to design courses of action which realize returns in hostile environments. And it quickly became apparent to me the greatest threat to the future of our now three year old daughter was not competing ideologies or politics, a clash of religions or civilizations, nor was it a nuclear armed rogue state or stateless terrorism.
The real threat is the ever expanding pool of disaffected youth, peoples and communities available to the siren call of the enemies of freedom, the very freedom we who are blessed with seem to so carelessly take for granted. The more specific concern which came to mind was the ever increasing pool of those willing to support the modern Totalitarianism known as Fundamentalism, and this even while the standard of living for most of Earth’s seven billion inhabitants is improving.
... the organization trained to employ the Mind of the System and the Mind of the Disruptor to promote stability and development in the most dangerous parts of the world is SF. Yet, though the members of the Regiment are skilled at governance and security, and many of the economic development resources have been put in place, Green Berets are lacking in the business and investing knowledge and experience essential to set the conditions for internally driven, sustainable local economic development.
When combined, these thoughts led to the realization SF could add Entrepreneur and Venture Capital training to its already extensive capacities with minimal investment and disruption. And should such occur, the Green Beret’s mission of freeing the oppressed of the world would be greatly enhanced. So, at the age of forty one, and after a seventeen year break in service, I returned to the Army to serve as a Green Beret with the purpose to better understand how these capabilities could and should be added. And after completing the Special Forces Qualification Course, I drafted and put forward a proposal for the Economic Development Program which was provided to the Commandant of the Warrant Officer Institute and the Command Warrant for Special Forces.
...A direct analog for the Special Forces Regiment would be the:
Mind of the System (Investment Bank) – Group & Battalion – employing doctrinal operations, resources, models and metrics to ensure sustainment and moderate expansion and return on investment in the overall Area of Responsibility;
Mind of the Disruptor (Venture Capital Fund) – Company & ODA – employing dynamic, situation and resource availability dependent operations, models and metrics to establish and expand stability and to realize substantial return on investment (sic, mission success) at lower input volumes and costs and with greatly accelerated rates of return in the Area of Operations.
Good news is the rebalancing of the SF Mind will not require a rewrite of who the Green Beret is or what he does and how he does it. Nor will it take much time or be a generational change. It does mean where we now mostly pay lip service to the importance of unconventional thinkers, we will have to early identify and promote those who possess and develop both the Mind of the System and the Mind of the Disruptor.
...in the under or undeveloped parts of the world, the role of the Green Beret is to set the conditions such that disruptive new systems arise or existing systems may evolve and begin the process whereby higher level assets can get involved and bring their many resources to bear.
...since the birth of my child, since becoming a father, I cannot stop thinking as a father. As a father I don’t care about all those ethereal and higher ideals and beliefs, about ideology or politics. All I care about is the future for my child. And when I look in the eyes of the fathers here, I see the very same desire for a better future for their children, and telling them to fight with and for me is not enough to build a real, sustainable and trusted relationship on. I have to be willing and able to use the Mind of the Disruptor when applying Mind of the System assets and resources, to establish or improve the local economy which in-turn improves the standard of living for the local father who is standing next to me as the bullets and RPGs fly around us.
This is the second of four articles. They are excerpted from two papers which can be provided upon request and which are the kernel for my upcoming thesis. The next article will talk about how the Economic Development Program would function and be added to the SF curriculum and practice.
EM Burlingame has lived and worked as an executive in the US, Asia and the EU and has successfully raised investment for his own technology ventures in Silicon Valley and been a Venture Capitalist and Investment Banker responsible for investing in very early stage technology, telecommunications and internet media companies. EM recently completed the Special Forces Qualification Course and is now serving with 1st Battalion 1st Special Forces Group and is currently deployed to Afghanistan where his Operational Detachment Alpha is conducting Village Stability Operations. EM still serves as Founder and Director of the Emerio Foundation, a non-profit focused on training entrepreneurs and increasing the rate of investment in very early stage companies.