Brett,
I used to work in
IT until the 90s, mostly supporting engineers. I then moved to
databases in banking/finance/pharmaceutical industries while
doing a university degree.
I never served in
the military and I don't have an engineering or a design
degree.
None of these
things particularly bother me since the one thing I did learn
in university is that experts can get stuff really wrong.
Many great
discoveries were made by amateurs.
My degree was
primarily in economics and international relations, so you can
perhaps see how I got that idea.
My interest in
military 'stuff' started when I was still a teenager, though I
was never really attracted to guns or extreme sports.
What interested
me more is why certain high ranking officers made certain
decisions that led to certain outcomes.
Based on my
reading I soon decided that chess was a really 'limited' game.
I took up
wargaming in the 80s, and was enticed into Traveller in the
late 80s, though I wasn't really into RPG because I found
quite a few participants were er...'unstable' and often
irrational for my 'taste'. My interest in Traveller persisted
for only a few years because the one game master (i.e. the
only person who was interested in writing up adventures) moved
away/disappeared.
However, I did
persist with Striker for a time, and even bought the 2nd
edition rules though by this stage I had definite ideas about
wargaming also.
My military
history/warfare research started in the 70s generally focusing
on the Second World War Eastern Front, which led me backwards
in sourcing Soviet doctrinal thinking to the American Civil
War, and forwards into the (at the time) AirLand Battle.
My current
activity is, or rather was, focused on 'selling' the USMC a
doctrine and vehicles designs, however the USMC colonels have
a huge problem in listening to a civilian. They would rather
lie, including to the Congress, and go one wasting time and
money than admit that a civilian has a better idea than they
do. The USMC share this trait with the US Army.
So I'm not a
stranger to being told it isn't possible that I should know
something that 'everyone' disagrees with.
This used to
bother me quite a bit until I discovered research by Greg
Berns (see Iconoclast).
Along the way I
made a few peripheral discoveries, so I'm considering going
into consultancy, helping companies with innovation.
Greg