Top all-time · #3636
The Angry Staff Officer
Personal blog · angrystaffofficer.comhistorycareerculture
The Angry Staff Officer is a personal blog at angrystaffofficer.com about history, career and culture. Since 2015, 21 different Hacker News readers have linked it 28 times, most often “Anatomy of a World War I Artillery Barrage”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-09, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (12) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link this blog for military analysis of Star Wars, military sci-fi and other fiction, written by a serving US Army staff officer. Posts also cover history and doctrine.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 12 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
An Army blogger, engaging in a snark-filled dialogue on leadership, history, and Star Wars, not necessarily in that order.
Most-linked posts?
- Anatomy of a World War I Artillery Barrage2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2016-07-04
- Why 1866 Set the Stage for Two World Wars2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2017-04-19
- Stop Calling Us Warriors (2016)2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2017-07-27
What Hacker News says?
> If you believe this, does the 2A give people individual rights to own tanks, missiles, nukes, chemical weapons? This question seems loaded, especially after how you started it with "if you believe this" when I already stated the foundational belief I have, but I'll take your question in good faith. Citizens can already own rockets and missiles? Yes, they can, which is why there's private space companies. That has…
Comment linking /2017/03/20/a-short-history-of-the-militia-in-the-united-states/
on “The ACLU Has Lost Its Way”Submitted Why 1866 Set the Stage for Two World Wars as a story · 225 points
HN discussionI came across this somewhere (probably here) recently. https://angrystaffofficer.com/2016/07/01/anatomy-of-a-world-...
Comment linking /2016/07/01/anatomy-of-a-world-war-i-artillery-barrage/
on “After 100 years World War I battlefields are poisoned and uninhabitable”Submitted Thaddeus Kosciusko as a story · 213 points
HN discussionFor many more variations on Star Wars in terms of the modern military, check out Angry Staff Officer's posts: https://angrystaffofficer.com/category/star-wars/ One of my favorites is "Skywalker on Trial": https://angrystaffofficer.com/2016/07/11/skywalker-on-trial-...
Comment linking /2016/07/11/skywalker-on-trial-the-galactic-code-of-military-justice/
on “Rogue One – An Engineering Ethics Story”Submitted Anatomy of a World War I Artillery Barrage as a story · 144 points
HN discussionSimilar analysis by the Angry Staff Officer, who really is a U.S. Army staff officer. He writes critically about the military aspects of Star Wars. "Rebel Insurgency: Without Hope or Method" is worth a read. [1] https://angrystaffofficer.com/category/star-wars/
Comment linking /category/star-wars/
on “The Star Destroyer and Imperial Military Doctrine”Submitted Failure Mechanisms in Democratic Regimes – An Army's Role as a story · 126 points
HN discussionThanks for that recommendation. Though on a different topic, I found the following post particularly interesting: "Failure Mechanisms in Democratic Regimes – an Army’s Role" https://angrystaffofficer.com/2025/03/02/failure-mechanisms-... I submitted it now for discussion on its own: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44084653
Comment linking /2025/03/02/failure-mechanisms-in-democratic-regimes-an-armys-role/
on “The Logistics of Road War in the Wasteland”Submitted Diversity: The U.S. Military's Not-So-Secret Weapon ( as a story · 5 points
HN discussionIf you like this sort of analysis, read The Angry Staff Officer.[1] That blog is written by a serving Army officer. He and his buddies analyze Star Wars, Game of Thrones, and even Barbie from the perspective of people who do this as their day job. [1] https://angrystaffofficer.com/
Comment linking /
on “The Logistics of Road War in the Wasteland”Submitted Stop Calling Us Warriors (2016) as a story · 3 points
HN discussion[0] Tell Me Something I Don't Know - Trivia show with a twist, hosted by Steven Dubner of Freakonomics fame. [1] How I built this - Interviews successful entrepreneurs on their background, motivations, challenges etc. in building their businesses. [2] Revolutions - Podcast on some of the biggest political revolutions in history. I am going through season 2 (American Revolution against the British Empire). [3] War St…
Comment linking /war-stories-podcast/
on “Ask HN: What Podcasts are you listening right now and why?”Submitted Classic Military Quotes Brought into the Modern Era as a story · 3 points
HN discussionAngry Staff Officer has written about LotR a bit: https://angrystaffofficer.com/2019/10/20/warfighter-helms-de...
Comment linking /2019/10/20/warfighter-helms-deep/
on “US Special Operations Command picks Anduril to lead counter-drone in $1B deal”Submitted Center for Galactic Lessons Learned: A Military Leadership Analysis of Star Wars as a story · 3 points
HN discussionApologies, I had conflated the flying of Confederate streamers formerly with the US Army and Navy[1] and later (and still currently) with various state national guards[2]. Also a decent blog post on the topic: https://angrystaffofficer.com/2018/02/13/a-murky-heritage-th... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_War_Campaign_Medal [2] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321951579_Confedera...
Comment linking /2018/02/13/a-murky-heritage-the-u-s-army-the-civil-war-and-memory/
on “Marine Corps Bans Public Display of Confederate Flag”Submitted What a 98-Year Old Children's Book Teaches Us About AI as a story · 2 points
HN discussionIf you like this sort of analysis, read Angry Staff Officer.[1] This is written by a U.S. Army staff officer who sometimes critiques military SF. [1] https://angrystaffofficer.com/category/star-wars/
Comment linking /category/star-wars/
on “Patlabor 2, the Movie: realistic portrayal of modern aerial combat”Submitted Did You Mean It? as a story · 2 points
HN discussionActual military officer (at the time of writing) doesn't thing much of "warrior mindset" even _in the army_: https://angrystaffofficer.com/2016/12/14/stop-calling-us-war... Worth reading together with the OP article.
Comment linking /2016/12/14/stop-calling-us-warriors/
on “Law Enforcement's "Warrior" Problem”Submitted What’s in a Name: The Problem with “Warfighter” as a story · 1 points
HN discussionThe books exist, but those books are read by few outside military leadership. The good ones come from leaders who have been there, and they skip over the basics. Being able to talk to a chatbot that can get people past the classic military mistakes could make a force far more effective. Maybe. It's not going to create a Giap or a Rommel, but it might keep a force from repeating classic military mistakes. There's a b…
Comment linking /
on “How the Terrorist Group Boko Haram Uses Frontier AI”Submitted Assuming Command: A Guide for Incoming Company Commanders as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Pandora’s Inbox: The Army and Social Media as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted How I Lost at Patriotism – And How We All Lose as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Why 1866 Set the Stage for Two World Wars as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
