August Cole, co-author of “Ghost Fleet,” discusses future technological warfare with Marine information group in Okinawa

Photo By Cpl. Tanner Lambert | August Cole, co-author of “Ghost Fleet,” speaks to a Marine with III Marine Expeditionary Force Information Group during a writing workshop at Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan, June 5, 2019. Cole conducted this workshop to mentor and assist Marines and Sailors on their writing. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Tanner D. Lambert)  

CAMP HANSEN, OKINAWA, JAPAN

06.04.2019

Story by Lance Cpl. Tanner Lambert 

III MEF Information Group     

CAMP HANSEN, OKINAWA, Japan – August Cole, co-author of “Ghost Fleet,” participated in a forum hosted by III Marine Expeditionary Force Information Group on June 4, 2019. This forum began in a lecture format about “Ghost Fleet” and shifted into a question and answer portion after.
Many of the technological and computerized advancements described in “Ghost Fleet” bears a striking resemblance to the operations of III MIG. “Ghost Fleet,” written by Cole and P.W. Singer, describes a near future in which superpowers are engaged in open conflict on a world war scale. Cyberspace is no longer a science fiction novel. The ramifications of a weak cyber network not only play out in Cole’s novel but fall under the domain of defensive cyberspace operations – one of III MIG’s newest companies.
“One of our goals was to talk about some of the assumptions that people no longer challenge and problems that are too big to tackle,” says Cole. “And show, not just tell, but show why they must be addressed seriously.”
The necessity to challenge these assumptions and ask questions about the future is key to progress. Throughout the information environment, these questions are of primary concern to Marines of III MIG; this forum allowed an opportunity to engage in discussion with one of the men who probed many of those questions in a fiction novel.
“Our aim is to challenge the way people view the world and give them something tangible to facilitate that discussion,” says Cole.
Cole’s visit also included a writing workshop and a battle sites tour across Okinawa. The writing workshop allowed Marines with an interest in writing to pick the brain of a successful author and gain insight into the writing process. The workshop also morphed into a discussion on how Cole and Singer viewed the effect their writing has on the military community.
“I think it’s easy to underestimate your adversary,” says Cole. “It was important in ‘Ghost Fleet’ to really walk forward some of the technological developments we’re seeing. This is a really important way to tell the reader, but also the policy community, that we should not underestimate our adversaries.”
37th Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Robert B. Neller has placed “Ghost Fleet” on the reading list he advises all Marines to read. Neller states that “Ghost Fleet” “…kind of opens up the aperture and makes you realize that the future is here. It’s not five to 15 years from now.” With information warfare being the domain of III MIG, Cole and Singer’s book has and will continue to make an impact on the evolving dialogue within III MEF’s Information Group.

• Date Taken: 06.04.2019
• Date Posted: 06.11.2019 04:57
• Story ID: 326386
• Location: CAMP HANSEN, OKINAWA, JP