The Intel Brief.
AI, veteran transition, and the real stuff I'm going through while figuring it out. No schedule. No fluff. Just raw field reports from someone still in it.
Because here's the other thing nobody's talking about: AI didn't just hit veterans. It hit everyone. The same broken systems that failed us in transition are failing civilians in workforce, in healthcare, in education. If you've ever felt like the rules were written by people who never had to live by them, you're in the right place.
Latest Posts
Refreshed hourly from Substack
Aug 1, 2026Building the Machine, Days 14 to 17: The Laptop That Belonged To Disney
What actually happens when the machine underneath your AI stack can’t hold the weight anymore.
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Jul 28, 2026Building the Machine, Day 13: The Dashboard Said Live. The Workflow Said Error.
Credentials went in. The agent built it. Every gate passed and the dashboard turned green. Then I opened the workflow and the AI node was throwing bad request.
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Jul 27, 2026Building the Machine, Days 8-12: The Machine Built An Empty Box And My Gates Said Ship It
I caught up five days of build in one post. The last one ended with my own agent handing me a workflow with nothing in it, and every quality gate I built waving it through.
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Jul 22, 2026Building the Machine, Day 7: The Empty Room Gets Walls
I came back from five days of nothing and built the legal spine, the payment pipeline, and the tracker concept. Then I got stuck in my own contract and couldn’t unlock the next step.
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Jul 21, 20265 Days of Nothing: What Happens When the Machine Builder Stops Building
A build-in-public post with no build in it. Just the truth of what's behind one.
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Jul 17, 2026Building the Machine, Day 6: The Brakes Worked Too Well
I built a checkout flow that takes a $3,500 commitment and walks a customer all the way to their dashboard. Then my own safety system locked me out of my own database.
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Jul 15, 2026Building the Machine, Day 5: I Made My AI Grade My Own Homework.
It Was Half Genius, Half Lost.
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Jul 13, 2026Building the Machine - Day 4: Brakes Before Gas
I’m building an AI that runs my entire business. Before I hand it the keys, I had to make damn sure it can’t do anything I didn’t sign off on. Yesterday I built that.
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Jul 11, 2026Building the Machine
Day 3: I’ll just tell you what I’m building
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Jul 10, 2026Building the machine, Day 2: I locked the vault.
Then I F*cked Up!
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Jul 10, 2026I’m Building in Public Now. Every Day.
A real AI business, built from the studs up and documented daily until it’s done. Here’s the deal - and your out if it’s NOT for you!
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Jul 9, 2026My Server Died Twice Last Night. It Was the Best Thing That’s Happened to This Business.
I sat down to finish some boring plumbing. I got up having built the thing I’m actually going to sell.
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Jul 8, 2026The Last Mile: Why Your AI Agent Can’t Finish the Job
My robot ran my business for three weeks. Here’s exactly where it broke.
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Jul 4, 2026The Real Independence
250 years of a country declaring freedom. 16 days in a jungle learning what freedom actually costs. And a house full of people who know that the best way to celebrate is to not perform a goddamn thing
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Jul 1, 2026The Man Who Flew Home Wasn't the One Who Left
Sixteen days in the Amazon with no salt, no phone, and no one to perform for. I finally met the guy I'd been running from my whole life. He was exhausted.
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Jun 29, 2026The Algorithm Ate My Grief, So I Ate a Plant
An algorithm betrayed me. A plant rebuilt me. And 700 notifications proved I never needed any of it.
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May 26, 2026How I Actually Built It (The Stack, The Failure, and What Finally Worked)
This is the paid version. You asked how. Here’s how.
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May 26, 202622 AI Agents. One Person.
No Employees. Here’s What’s Running Right Now.
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May 25, 202615 Names
I woke up this morning, and before I even opened my eyes, they were already there.
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May 20, 2026I Built an Entire AI Academy With AI.
Here’s What That Actually Looked Like.
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