Sean Howard

Poetic Decryptions

(of the NATO Warfighting Capstone Concept)

Sean Howard

I. Context

Military-minded: the ‘constant

adjustments’ (till the stone cap

fits). Caesar’s new note of con-

fidence, ‘be where the tides of

march…’ When Command
codes character, what need

to wonder, ‘War,

what is it God

for?’

II. Introduction

‘Intelligence,’ the self

selecting cancer… The

cyber summons: hybrid,

growing scales at speed

… The nuclear age?

Engaged so long,

it’s really

time…

III. Future Warfighting

The alliance between

bodies & bits: AI, habit-

farming… Incomprehens-

ible compression, mass

our God: The Future,

once more, within

breach

War so clear, peace

so foggy! (Dangerous

blurs sticking: offense/

defence, the nuclear con-

ventional.) Our boundless

nest? Yes, poets operating

on Orders: Owen know-

ing, all flags false! True

evolution? Neither

command nor

control!

IV. Warfare Development

Poster buoys, so-be-it

realism: our chiseled cliff

faces, the Future on the blink

of our Eye… (The Cloud’s b-

rain stems...) Outpacing

the cell? The planet

of our sh-

apes

V. The [Fab] Five Imperatives

Cognitive Superiority

‘Constantly,’ improving

our imposture… (Contest-

icles, planliness: threats, cur-

ves we love to handle!) The

Titanic this time? All do-

mains on deck… Just to

be sure to be just,

Faust strikes

first

Layered Resilience

Tough stuff – bouncing

backs, this bed rocks! (Prime

directive? People, support

mechanisms!) Business,

what other agenda? The

new approach to the

Abyss, well posit-

ioned on top

of our s-

elves

Influence and Power Projection

All over the map, Power’s sick project-

ile… (Securities & futures, peace mer-

ging with dividends.) Crisis The Man-

ager! (Taboo-m! Positively antici-

panting…) When arms control

dialogue? Tanking, dri-

ving over the
influence

…

Cross-Domain Command

The instruments the head

starts. The building in the

Lift… (Our new North

Star, 360…) The sold-

ier’s great big oath, I,

Robust – until, in a

flash!, data

night

Integrated Multi-Domain Defence

Nature’s bases? (Multi-

mately, machines make

war?) Angelus domain-

y – my darling knell! –

Alice through the

smart looking-

glass

VI. Critical Enablers

‘Day-zero,’ incoming horizons… (The agile

gates of Hell.) Warnography: grasping the

model’s beautiful backbone, geared to

explicit games. So much hotter, code-

cold blood (can’t you hear the dead

hum?). ‘Ready, aye, ready’: post-

detonations, sweeping the

Clouds from the

path

Sean Howard is the author of six collections of poetry in Canada, most recently Trinity: Tribute Sequences for Robert Graves (Gaspereau Press, 2022). His poetry has been widely published in Canada, the US (including at ē· rā/ tiō), the UK, and elsewhere, and featured in The Best of the Best Canadian Poetry in English (Tightrope Books, 2017).